Bordeaux 1986 dinner in London

[KevinH]

Ten of us gathered at Piccolino’s in London to look at a range of 1986 Bordeaux at 40. Food was simple, charcuterie, steak and fries and cheese. We had a good mix of wines on show and I think the overall sense of the vintage is that it is still pretty hard going. it is a singular vintage. Still tannic, quite a lot had pronounced green notes but the best are still impressive. Some are starting to tire but others have years left. Quite a few had a mix of both primary and tertiary notes at the same time. This is what we had



2017 Clos des Lunes Lune d'Argent - France, Bordeaux
Tarragon, melon, touch of wool on the nose. Green fruits. Quite rich and mouthfilling but comes up a little short. Big rather than refined. Still looks and tastes quite young. (89 pts.)
2015 Château La Louvière Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Smoky nose, still quite a bit of oak, grass, herbs, ripe plums. Pretty classic White Graves. Smoky yellow fruits, oak still, becomes quite toasty but enough fruit to carry it. Youthful profile and decent wine. (90 pts)

1986 Vieux Château Certan - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Big plummy nose, ripe and full of fruit, touch of cassis and blackberry intermixed. Quite green on the nose. Some of that green makes it into the flavour, tannic but they are manageable. Quite old school Bordeaux, not that bothered about ripeness. Almost left bank fruit profile. Rich red fruits but a touch austere. Not trying to please. (91 pts.)
1986 Château Troplong Mondot - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Lots of ground coffee bean on the nose with some nice red fruits. Red fruits flavour with a touch of toffee - sign of age. On the downslope for me but still enough here to be interesting. (90 pts.)
1986 Domaine de Chevalier - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Bit of madierization on the nose, showing its age. Not much fruit there, touch mushroomy. Better flavour, just about hanging on. Red fruits with a bit of gravel. In decline on this showing. (88 pts.)
1986 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Green bushes, loads of them. Some cassis saves the day. Still tastes young and underripe. Very herbal. Some thought it corked but I don’t think it was as it developed in the glass and showed some better fruit density later on. Nice to try but I won’t be seeking it out. (90 pts.)

1986 Château Gruaud Larose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Classic nose, cassis, gravel, ripe red fruits. Didn’t detect any funk. Classic old school Bordeaux with great density and polish. Cool fruited, still young but drinking well. Burly but good lingering finish. I’d be very happy to drink this again. (93 pts.)
1986 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
A first bottle was a bit out of condition so a second was opened. Touch of marshmallow on the nose but cedar and red fruits develop as it opens up. Solid wine, old style Leoville Barton, not like the modern riper wines of today. Red fruited with a touch of cedar and cigar box. Drinking well but a bit foursquare (90 pts.)
1986 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
This bottle had been checked for TCA and recorked at the chateau in 2011 so it was in good condition. Classic lifting St Julien nose with redcurrant, cedar, gravel. Great red fruited refinement, tannins in check, very cedary red fruit, touch of currant. My style of Bordeaux. Very good finish showing real class. Serious wine when you get a good bottle like this. (94 pts.)
1986 Château Léoville Las Cases - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
I’ve always had mixed views on this Chateau. Some bottles really sing and are amongst the very best Bordeaux there is. Others, sometimes from the same vintage, just leave me cold. This was one of those. Touch of mushroom on the nose, slightly green and leafy. Nose shows some age though there is red fruit there too. A mix of youthful and age markers at the same time. Better flavour, loamy, red fruits, touch of cedar. Quite decent wine, no mistake, this was the group’s clear favourite. I had it down in fifth place. It just didn’t do it for me. Tends to sit in the glass being a bit grumpy. (91 pts.)

1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
I finished a case of this a few years ago and didn’t think any of them were fully ready. So interesting to get the opportunity to taste it again. Cassis nose but a bit musty. That blew off as it opened up. Still tannic, nice but one dimensional cassis fruit with a touch of green. Solid wine but I’ve never loved it in this vintage. Consistent with previous ones I’ve had. (90 pts.)
1986 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
One of three bottles I bought on Uvine many years ago and I think my last remaining bottle from that source. This looks so dense in the glass, more substance than the glass of 86 Mouton sat alongside it. Slightly bovril notes on the nose, a hint of coffee too showing some age. But this also majors on dense cassis. Bold, dense youthful cassis fruit. One dimensional but you have to love it. The weightiest wine of the night. Bold fruit and a touch meaty. Power rather than subtlety but impressive in its way all the same. (92 pts.)
1986 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Bold cassis nose, touch of meat juice, hint of green pepper but this has a nice savoury edge to the rich fruit. Still tannic and youthful but plenty of cassis. Nice complexity. Not profound, but manages to combine both power and sophistication in the way a first growth can do. Years left but a good wine now. (93 pts.)
2001 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Impromptu bottle opened at a tasting of 1986 Bordeaux was perhaps a little unfair on it as it made it look a little thin. Like a fly half being put into the scrum. Touch of rubber on the nose, but red fruits develop, cedar, modern and lush in comparison. Full, soft red fruited charm but a weak, watery finish which I associate with this vintage and its harvest rain. I look forward to trying it again next month in the better context of other 2001s (90 pts.)

1988 Château Coutet Barsac - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
A recent purchase and in great condition with a light gold colour. Loads of barley sugar and medicinal botrytis, almonds, spearmint and some depth. Classic Coutet. Big minty flavour, medium sweet, fine fruit with a toffee note. A very good Coutet. (92 pts.)

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks Kevin. Here are my notes

Aperitif - dry white Bordeaux

2017 Clos des Lunes Lune d'Argent

Muted on the nose, quite diffuse, ripe and fat. Really dull…85 pts

2015 Château La Louvière Blanc

Excellent texture, rich, ripe and nuanced with clever use of oak; long finish, very classy …92

F1 – Pomerol, Pessac and Margaux

1986 Vieux Château Certan

Sexy, rich-fruited and tobacco-infused nose, which screams merlot. Beautifully resolved and harmonious on the palate, round and rich but not soupy. Arguably the most pleasurable wine of the night…93

1986 Château Troplong Mondot

Marshmallow and chocolate eclair on the nose leading into a similarly confected and somewhat brittle but gloopy palate. A curiosity which felt like it could let go at any time, but it held on through the night…86

1986 Domaine de Chevalier

Not much on the nose and ponderous on the palate with none of the DDC leitmotifs we look for. Dull and going nowhere….85

1986 Château Palmer

I immediately got TCA but the palate was quite lively with leafy cabernet and black pastille, which made me reconsider my initial impression. I know this wine pretty well having shared a case of it and it can be variable. At best this was a disappointing bottle. Eventually the TCA became more noticeable. Good bottles of this are sensational but this one was sadly corked…NR

F2 - St-Julien

1986 Château Gruaud Larose

A bit of a stalwart over the years and a standard bearer for this vintage, the Gruaud 1986 is classic and foursquare, with bold fruit still in evidence. It has always been a big-framed and dense on the mid palate and has been drinking well for many years. Compared to a more pristine bottle I accidentally opened a couple of weeks ago this had a bit more of the Cordier funk, and was a notch below that one, but still very much one to own in this vintage…93

1986 Château Léoville Barton

Bottle one: opened 24 hours earlier, like the Norwegian Blue it was either dead or just resting…NR

Bottle two: alive but difficult to coax anything out of it…little on the nose, blocky, awkward and joyless on the palate. A noticeable failure for Leoville Barton especially given the wonderful wines produced there in the 1985, 1988 and 1989 vintages…85

1986 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

With the new bright orange label recorked at the chateau in 2011 – avoid Ducru 86s with the trad dull yellow label – this was similar to the Gruaud – foursquare and old school, red fruited and well resolved with a long finish. Certainly not the last word in charm, but nevertheless a highly accomplished wine and a tad more classy than the Gruaud…93

1986 Château Léoville Las Cases

Big-framed, graphite and inky, cassis and lead pencil, with layered complexity, this benefitted from being opened at 11am that morning but still could use some more time to age and improve further. Effortless class here. The group's and my wotn with one dissenter…95

F3 - Pauillac

1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Some around the table thought this might be corked, but it turned out not to be fortunately. Unlike the Lascases this is now fully mature and resolved, moving into the tertiary spectrum but with pleasing trademark Comtesse burnt raspberry notes and alluring leafy greenness and tobacco notes. This improved in the glass and was perhaps the most charming left bank on the table last night (which admittedly isn’t saying much), but its - relative - ethereal charms elevated up the pecking order just above Ducru in my book…93

1986 Château Lynch-Bages

I was really looking forward to reacquainting myself with this wine because – like Pichon Lalande – Lynch Bages was on fire in the 1980s. But I came away disappointed as this came across as dense, awkward and charmless…88

1986 Château Mouton Rothschild

Like the Mouton 82 the Mouton 86 was famously awarded 100 points by several critics. I must have tried this nearly a dozen times and only twice has it come close to fulfilling that promise. Like many 1986s this is notoriously variable, and last night’s bottle, which had a lowish ullage, was a good one, but, alas, not a great one. It had an encouraging and noticeable youthful, bright, resplendent hue, with black pastilles and noticeable mid-palate density and power. Like the Pichon it improved in the glass and had more a bit more gravitas and complexity than the Gruaud and the Ducru, but never quite reeled in the Lascases. Like the LLC it will last for many more decades, but give me the 1985 or the 1989 Moutons over this for current drinking and many other vintages like the 1996, 2009, 2010 and the 2016 will eventually surpass it…94

Richard’s bonus wine

It was tough sledding last night so Richard in an effort to lighten the mood pulled the Leoville Barton 2001 rabbit out of his hat. Afterall this wine never fails to deliver the goods…

2001 Château Léoville Barton

Gosh this was even more awkward than the 1986s that preceded it! Something wooden, rubbery and blocky about this, and it tasted ever so young. Not obviously flawed either…hmmm…86

1988 Château Coutet Barsac

No notes, but this didn’t quite hit the high notes as I had expected, but still a pleasure to have a glass with which to unwind…90

Last night was a salutary lesson in debunking the myth that the greatest ever Bordeaux wines were produced in the 1980s. One of the reasons why so many of these wines disappointed is because of the selection, or lack thereof, and with a lot of green and unclean stuff going into the mix many of these wines lacked the precision you find in modern wines.

[JCNorthway]

Thansks to both of you for the notes. I've only tasted a few of those wines over the years. Fortunately for me, those that I've tasted were mostly your higher rated wines. Very interesting perspective with enough data points to draw some conclusions about the vintage overall.

[JCNorthway]

So is Piccolino’s in London a decent place to dine there that is not "over the top?" I note that it has multiple locations, so not a one off.

[KevinH]

It is a chain. It has a decent private room separate from the main, busy restaurant. They do a decent steak but you don’t really go for the food. It used to be quite cheap but prices have gone up a bit recently. Other London restaurants that have decent corkage rates and do very good food are La Trompette, a 1 star restaurant in Chiswick in west London, and Noizé, a French restaurant that is more central.

[stefan]

It is particularly interesting that you two differ on the wines.

The biggest surprise for me is that the 1986 Mouton did not rate higher. It has been 15-20 years since I last I drank this wine. At that time, the 1982 Mouton was showing better, but I thought that the 1986 might surpass the 1982 in 15-20 years. My bad, apparently.

[JimHow]

I don't think it has been 15-20 years since you last drank it, Stefan, Stuart has brought it to BWE events multiple times.
I agree, 1986 Mouton is one of my top 5 greatest wines of all time.
I have consistently rated it "the best finish ever" on multiple occasions.

Great reports, Kevin/Ian.