1975 Bordeaux at the 50 year mark

[Comte Flaneur]

1975s at Noize Restaurant, Fitzrovia Central London

To celebrate the birth year of Leon the organiser. Ominously the day before the dinner a cabbie shunted him on to the pavement, which put paid to his bottle of 1975 Chateau Margaux, but fortunately the 1975 Mouton survived. More importantly Leon emerged unscathed as did his bike.

We got off to a good start with 2008 Pol Roger Rose, which had a dark hue, and was vinous and delightful. if you could sum up this wine in one phrase it would be 'strawberry fields forever'…93 pts

For the main event of 1975 clarets we went with convention and poured the right banks first.

Magdelaine, fourth of a four bottle batch. The last one was oxidised, and the one before that was magnificent. This was a good bottle. Lovely tertiary nose of rich residual fruits, church pew and dusty library. Plummy fruit, with tobacco and cigar box and perfectly resolved on the palate…but there was something missing: it didn’t follow through like great bottles do and it only had a modest finish. I think this was just old/old fashioned rather than tainted as a couple of the group suggested…90

La Gaffeliere had a superb nose of truffles, porcini, shoe polish and shoe leather; old school, fine and resolved, very lovely and satisfying, right at the end of its drinking window…93

A decent start with the La Gaffeliere a clear winner in the first flight

We had three wines in the second flight

Giscours had notes of blackcurrant leaf, which was initially confused by some for cork taint. But this wine just got stronger and stronger in the glass. Abundant Margaux berry fruit presence, with signature Margaux tobacco and cigar box, perfectly resolved, rich, with an inviting warmth, not to be confused with softness or lack of substance. Really superb mature Margaux, wonderful claret…94

Leoville Lascases was remarkable. It still arguably needs more time! Ink and pencil lead, tobacco and cigar box; still youthful, rumbustious tannins and lively fruits still duelling! Still has an austere and tannic persona. I think this would have been very challenging to drink even at the age of 30, and it is only starting to mellow at the age of 50. A caricature of LLC. Quite riveting. The rest of the table liked it more than I did, because in my opinion its flight-mates delivered more pleasure and if a wine takes this long to come around that is surely not necessarily a good thing? But you have to say this is immense and impressive…93

Cos D’Estournel was a beauty and the most complex and nuanced wine in this flight, with star anise, cloves and other herbs, smoke, oriental tea and blood orange. It was fully resolved, with pitch perfect fruit ripeness, with myriad nuanced complexity and good length on the palate, mellowing with lovely equilibrium. It was a spicey smokey masterpiece with a touch of class that not even the Giscours could match and it was not fighting yesterday’s wars like the LLC, enthralling claret...95

What a fabulous flight that was!

On to the third and final flight

La Lagune…only faintly corked but the undeniable whiff of TCA emerged a few minutes after pouring – we had our fingers crossed that it would go the other way, but alas no…NR

La Mission Haut-Brion...Smoke on the water - duh duh duh, duh duh dur nur - wild camp fire, camphor with a oxidative note, which recedes, rocky minerality which reminds me a bit of the still painfully young 1996, full-bodied and masculine, a wine which takes no prisoners, but very alive and sensuous, bristling with energy, sensational, thrilling, memorable…wine of the night…97 pts

Mouton-Rothschild was a good bottle – the one with the iconic Any Warhol label I have had it several times and it has ranged from dead/nearly dead, to sensational…sensational was 15 years ago on a dreamy night in June outside in the City of London. Last night’s bottle of Mouton was commendably complex and expressive, but it conspicuously lacked energy not just compared to its flight mate, but in an absolute sense too. Another one at the end of its drinking window. A delightful Mouton drinking well, but a dowager…92 pts

Rauzan Segla came off the bench and had to take its track suit off and warm up at short notice. I don’t remember much about it apart from it being impressively structured, with plenty of dark fruit left, robust and a commendable showing…92

These 1975s frankly performed far better than we dared to hope, and some of them have quite a few more years left – I suspect the LLC will outlive most of us. A quite memorable evening and for me an emotional farewell to this controversial vintage as my remaining three bottles were in the mix. So happy to end my acquaintance with 1975 Bordeaux on such a positive note.

[greatbxfreak]

No Right Bank wines??

[Nicklasss]

Izak, I saw Magdelaine and La Gaffelière starting flight for the reds.

Very nice Comte. From the read, I feel also that you had a better général résultat of thèse 1975 than expected. Showing that good bottles of 75 deliver a lot. La Mission seems extatic!

There is a rumor you would do a visit to Lewiston in Maine, end of July. That could be extatic too!

[Comte Flaneur]

No Right Bank wines??

Rtfq

[Comte Flaneur]

Izak, I saw Magdelaine and La Gaffelière starting flight for the reds.

Very nice Comte. From the ready, I feel also that you had a better général résultat of thèse 1975 that expected. Showing that good bottles of 75 deliver a lot. La Mission seems extatic!

There is a rumor you would do a visit to Lewiston in Maine, end of July. That could be extatic too!

It is not 100% impossible but will need me to undo other plans
It is more likely than being shat on by an Andean condor whilst walking down 5th Avenue

[greatbxfreak]

Ian,

Oops, I meant some from the upper shelf, but I admit I was too quick to post my comment. Sorry.

[Comte Flaneur]

Ian,

Oops, I meant some from the upper shelf, but I admit I was too quick to post my comment. Sorry.

Yes Izak sadly no Cheval Blanc, Ausone or Petrus and the organiser had a biking accident and the bottle of Ch Margaux got smashed

[ericp]

Very nice notes Ian. I was quite pleasantly surprised at the collective quality of the wines at age 50 remains so high. I was certainly expecting a few of them to have crashed and burned. Serious shame about the Margaux!

[JimHow]

It was during a hangover from a bottle of 1975 Leoville Las Cases the night before that I created BWE on February 26, 2000.
I remember it as being very tannic but delicious, with a lot of sediment... 25 years ago.

[DavidG]

Wonderful notes as always Ian. I recall ‘75 and ‘78 Cos being very nice drinks back in the late ‘90s. Not blockbusters but delightfully complex.

[RPCV]

A recent bottle of the 1975 Mouton was also "very good" but I'll drink the remaining couple soon. Pure and quite delicious, but my lot has entered the drink sooner than later phase. Pleasant and quite good with food, this wine is not going to compete at a tasting. Best with the right cuisine.

[Gerry M.]

I tried the 75' Ch Giscours four years ago and it was very, very nice. I still have one bottle left that I sourced from Cellar Raiders and was toying with opening it soon. Great to hear the positive news!

[stefan]

Great notes, as always, Ian.

I still buy 1975s from time to time because my daughter-in-law was born in 1975 and my son prefers 1975s to wines from his birth year, 1974 (duh now). 1975 La Lagune is variable, but fine when it is in sound condition and not corked. Giscours was excellent even by 1990--this was in the glory period for Giscours. It was arguably the third best Margaux then.