Red Newt Cellars

Château Léoville Barton

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend 1988

Shay A
9.2

Annual birthday WWC hosting. As normal, 1 sparkler, 3 whites, 4 reds, 1 dessert, all presented blind.

Fun to open birth year wines around your birthday, especially when you can do a Bordeaux and Napa side by side. While not a great vintage, this held up well after a few hours and presented as expected. Clean and zero Brett. Great color! Deep ruby with hardly any bricking. Leather, cassis, vanilla pipe tobacco on the nose. Sporting a good bit of dusty red and black fruits (mostly tart raspberries and blackberries), there was a little savory truffle note mixed with an herbal and mocha finish. Still quite grippy. Pretty.
— 9 days ago

Pinotman, Tom and 18 others liked this

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1983

Birth year Latour for our 700th wine on Delectable! Very mature but still with lots of life. Leather, graphite and earthy notes and still so much power. A great pleasure to drink! — 2 days ago

Paul, Ted and 5 others liked this

Château Gruaud Larose

Saint-Julien Red Bordeaux Blend

Vintage 1995 | Vanilla, forrest wood, true to type, well balanced but also tannins - very good effort — 3 hours ago

Doctor, Jan and 6 others liked this

Château Margaux

Premier Grand Cru Classé Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1993

Elegance, finesse and restraint. Always a pleasure to drink! — a day ago

Paul, Dick and 17 others liked this

Château Mouton Rothschild

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1986

Initially this was incredibly closed, but after 2 hours in the decanter it’s starting to open, tannic, very structured, very 1986 in its leanness, but incredible depth and length, not perfect, but still outstanding!! — 2 days ago

Jim Powers
with Jim
Tom, Ron and 11 others liked this
Bob McDonald

Bob McDonald Influencer Badge

Lean doesn’t sound so good.
Doug Powers

Doug Powers

@Bob McDonald, I personally have mostly felt that 1986 Bordeaux reds have always shown super tight and structured, but without the riper, rounder fruit of other vintages like 1982, 1985, 1989 and 1990) — so, my use of “lean” is really intended to convey that the fruit never completely overcomes the harsh tannins and structure. I would say that after a few hours in the decanter, I’d be pretty confident that it will easily last another 10-20 years, or more. Ultimately I like my Bordeaux to show a little more elegance and charm. Hope that helps.
Bob McDonald

Bob McDonald Influencer Badge

@Doug Powers Thanks for your thoughts Doug. I recall Jancis commenting on this wine “wondering if the tannins would ever resolve”. Obviously built for the ultra long haul. I might try my first one in the next year or so.

Château de Beaucastel

Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red Rhône Blend 1998

Though I’m not enthusiastic on this producer, 1998 CdP consistently delivers magic. — 17 hours ago

Shay, Ira and 2 others liked this

Château Cos d'Estournel

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 1989

Wonderful nose! On the palate… it’s elegant, light, fresh and sinewy, — 5 days ago

Martijn, Peter and 4 others liked this

Château Cheval Blanc

St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend 1976

Garnet core , terracotta rim . Spiced red fruit undergrowth , touch of brown sugar , grafite , tobacco , dried mushroom, touch of smoke . On the palate quite elegant red fruited , dried cranberry , red currant , still very much alive , just enough acidity. Slightly short on the finish , but with a round palate and a slightly sweet , brown sugar tinged finish . Still very much alive and enjoyable . Better than expected — 11 days ago

Bob, Billy and 12 others liked this
Bob McDonald

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Wonderful
ESF

ESF

Wowza

Château Palmer

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1978

Wifes birth year wine was so impressive. Smoke and leather, very polished. Reminded me of a great Pinot. Great experience — 2 days ago

Paul, Ted and 5 others liked this

Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2003

This had lots of rich dark berry fruit with notes of graphite, sweet, savory spice, cedar, leather & tobacco — 9 days ago

Shay, Scott@Mister and 7 others liked this
Shay A

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Love this ‘03!