1978 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (750ml)

The 1978 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Château de Beaucastel came up rst, poured completely blind. I believe this is the last vintage of Jacques Perrin. It shows moderate bricking commensurate with its age, and an endearing, mellow bouquet of Earl Grey, pre...

1981 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (750ml)

One of the all-time great classics, the 1981 is fully mature and should be consumed. It’s a big, sweet, candied fruit bomb offering notes of smoke, pepper, dried herbs, truffles, leather, cedar, as well as black and red currants. Full-bodied and opulent, ...

1983 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (750ml)

The 1983 Beaucastel had never been one of my favorite vintages for this wine, but it has begun to finally turn the corner and soften up and is now looking very promising indeed. I have had this wine four or five times in the last couple of years, and it h...

1985 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (750ml)

Showing a youthful red color with some slight lightening at the edges, the 1985 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape has a beautiful Beaucastel funk nose with ripe raspberries, earth, leather, mushroom and sauvage notes. Perfumed, nuanced and complex...

1989 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape (750ml)

The 1989 is inkier/purple in color than the 1990, with an extraordinarily sweet, rich personality offering up notes of smoke, melted licorice, black cherries, Asian spices, and cassis. Full-bodied and concentrated, it is one of the most powerful as well a...

1982 Chateau Certan De May - Pomerol (750ml)

Château Certan de May Pomerol 1982: This is a reminder of how great 1982 is for Pomerol. People talk about Petrus or Le Pin as benchmarks for the year (I prefer Lafleur) but this wine from Certan de May is very, very impressive. It shows an amazing comple...

1982 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou - St. Julien

From my cellar, the 1982 Ducru-Beaucaillou is one of the most youthful of the Médoc crus classés today. Unwinding in the decanter and glass with a rich bouquet of blackcurrants, licorice, cigar wrapper and loamy soil, it's full-bodied, fleshy and muscular...

1982 Chateau Gruaud Larose - St. Julien

A massive wine that is clearly of first-growth quality in this vintage, the 1982 Gruaud Larose remains a youngster. A broodingly dense, thick, unctuously textured, inky/plum/garnet/purple color offers up scents of beef blood, steak tartare, cassis, herbs,...

1982 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion Pessac

2000 Chateau Lafleur Pomerol (750ml)

Tasted at Justerini & Brooks agency tasting in London. The Château Lafleur 2000 is a monumental wine. Imagine a Harley Davidson thundering down the tarmac. Wouldn't you want to get on? It has an extremely intense, but ineffably pure nose with more mineral...

1989 Chateau Latour - Pauillac (750ml)

1982 Chateau Le Bon Pasteur Pomerol

The few critics that Michel Rolland still has need to taste this wine to understand a wine that was fabulous to drink young, yet at age 27 continues to perform incredibly well. A classic Pomerol, it boasts a dark garnet color with only slight lightening a...

1982 Chateau Le Gay Pomerol (750ml)

Made by the same team that produced the perfect 1982 Lafleur, this wine had been forgotten in my cellar. While it's clear that the new owner, Catherine Pere-Verge, has made some amazing wines since 2005 (especially the 2008), the 1982 is a wine for the ag...

1989 Chateau Leoville Barton St. Julien

The bottle of 1989 Léoville-Barton is probably the best I have encountered over the years; indeed, it is better than a bottle opened by Lilian Barton-Sartorius when I visited the property a few weeks earlier. It has a comely old-school claret bouquet of r...

1982 Chateau Leoville Barton - St. Julien

Still one of the most backward wines of the vintage, Leoville-Barton’s 1982 is a wine of huge extract, high tannin, and a somewhat ancient style that recalls some of the Bordeaux of the late forties. The color is still a dense, even murky, opaque ruby/gar...

1982 Chateau Leoville Las Cases St. Julien

I have had perfect bottles of this cuvee, but, perplexingly, the bottles from my cellar tend to be broodingly backward and require plenty of coaxing. This huge wine is, in many ways, just as massive as Leoville Barton, but it possesses a greater degree of...

1988 Chateau Margaux Margaux

The 1988 Chateau Margaux is a wine that was always overshadowed by the succeeding pair of vintages and like many 1988s, appeared rather conservative and lacked flair. However, I was gobsmacked by the performance of this wine at 28 years of age. Deep and c...

1983 Chateau Margaux - Margaux

One of the wines I opened to celebrate the end of harvest in Burgundy this year was a bottle of the 1983 Château Margaux, and I was blessed with a perfect cork, something that isn't a given with this vintage. Offering up beautiful aromas of sweet cassis, ...