1983 VCC and 1995 BAMA
Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2022 11:28 pm
Last weekend of any real wine drinking for a while and the 1979 Bordeaux horizontal got postponed so I decided to open a few that I have wanted to try for a while. First time opening my own bottle from either producer and they did not disappoint.
1983 VCC- Wonderful acidity on opening that is subsiding nicely. Showing some of the dark, slightly sweet fruit underneath. This was likely once a very masculine wine that has now softened just enough to be really pretty. Great color, no bricking. Somewhat similar to the 1982 from the Thursday dinner this year. But I found that to be a bigger, harder wine than this. Early on I found this to be better without food than with. It really allowed the layers of flavors to melt and last in my mouth. Wonderful purity of fruit, balanced by fantastic spice notes and rounded as a nearly perfectly balanced wine that had so much going on that over 5 hours, it was almost always better by itself than with food. Just wonderful. 96-97pts
1995 Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre- Opened this last night and finishing the last glass today with the VCC. This is what truly old school Bordeaux must taste like. I've only had wines like this a handful of times, and most were much older than 1995. Little to no fruit early on, and it was a bit of a struggle to love it. However with air, it gained density and unfurled layers of pretty/sweet red fruit that really balanced the wine. Very lean, but not thin. Not the longest finish in the world, but really benefited to having food. The rillettes and cheese really bring out the flavors of this wine. It may have fallen off just a tad on the second day but is still very similar to last night. 93-94pts
1983 VCC- Wonderful acidity on opening that is subsiding nicely. Showing some of the dark, slightly sweet fruit underneath. This was likely once a very masculine wine that has now softened just enough to be really pretty. Great color, no bricking. Somewhat similar to the 1982 from the Thursday dinner this year. But I found that to be a bigger, harder wine than this. Early on I found this to be better without food than with. It really allowed the layers of flavors to melt and last in my mouth. Wonderful purity of fruit, balanced by fantastic spice notes and rounded as a nearly perfectly balanced wine that had so much going on that over 5 hours, it was almost always better by itself than with food. Just wonderful. 96-97pts
1995 Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre- Opened this last night and finishing the last glass today with the VCC. This is what truly old school Bordeaux must taste like. I've only had wines like this a handful of times, and most were much older than 1995. Little to no fruit early on, and it was a bit of a struggle to love it. However with air, it gained density and unfurled layers of pretty/sweet red fruit that really balanced the wine. Very lean, but not thin. Not the longest finish in the world, but really benefited to having food. The rillettes and cheese really bring out the flavors of this wine. It may have fallen off just a tad on the second day but is still very similar to last night. 93-94pts