Chris England

9.3

Off year Pape Clement @ £76 but one of the best in 07 😁 & drinking lovely today 👍

🍇 51% Cab S, 46% Mer, 2% Pet V & 1% Cab F

🍷 Opaque ruby

👃 Flinty mineral & gravel stones oozing through crushed pencil lead in dirty blackcurrant & dark mashed plum w/ soggy earth, farmyard & soft oak

👄 Med body of rich ripe blackcurrant & dark plum in earthy mocha & liquorice infused with crushed mineral rocks

🎯 Med+ dirty dark fruits surrounded with mocha, liquorice & minerals — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.0

A wine from Anthony that's finally ready. Just kidding. It's the volatile acidity holding this wine together. Completely resolved tannins. Ripe lean; blackberries, dark cherries, blueberries. It's almost all fruit with just a hint of earth and minerality. Fun to drink. I always like to ask, what were you doing in 1978? Nice of Lilian Barton to model the bottle for my photo. Thank you for bringing this wine. A real treat to try. — 9 years ago

Evan Bloom

9.3

What a treat. From the company to the antics of the cork removal, all was fantastic. Not surprised with some immediate mustiness on the nose, giving way to a rich but smooth aged blue cheese, mushrooms, soy sauce, earth, and just a faint hint of dried red fruit. Over the next 20 minutes the glass development was out of control, changing with each and every whiff and sip. Earthy umami, oxidative, and and slightly stewed reds to begin quickly opened to nice dried strawberries on the palate and nose, and advancing to moderately subdued ripened strawberries and cranberries- after 61 years and still kickin with fruit! Amazing. Then after about 20 minutes of rapid metamorphosis, it gave in and decided to fade to a very pleasant sipper...awesome. — 10 years ago

with Rajiv and Tim

Mike Saviage

9.1

Light reddish amber, translucent color. Beautiful bouquet in the nose with notes of cherries and earth. In the mouth the fruit is less present and the finish is short. Great old rioja nose, but fruit is past it's prime. Drink up. — 8 years ago

Alex Xu

9.7

Incredible. Jaboulet family apparently inconsistent in final years of ownership, but this one had everything. So dense still, with lots of kalamata olive, olive brine, cherry, blackberry, black pepper, leather, cured meat, earth. Savory, sweet, powerful, elegant, hit every end of the taste spectrum. Super long. In magnum — 9 years ago

Guy Davies

8.9

1999. Slightly underwhelming. Nice stuff, earth and meat on the nose, relatively light body, bit of a smoky finish, but not that long. If blind I would have had this as something more humble. — 10 years ago

Matthew Christ

9.1

Really delicious out of the bottle. A little fatter and rounder with time. Still amazing, but I think this is has more earth and texture as the bottle opens. Air hurts not helps — 10 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.4

This was drinking beautifully & starting to reach its prime. Perfumed nose of red currants and cassis, graphite, licorice, earth, tobacco and rose petal. — 8 years ago

Peter Wassam

9.8

A softened ruby color. Beautiful balance, everything in harmony. Wet earth, raspberry, cinnamon, a whiff of truffle, intoxicating nose. So much ripe, fresh red fruit on the palate. Such soft tannins, damson plum, a mineral streak running through. Drinking a 15 year old wine for 15th anniversary of diabetes. This is splendid in the moment — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.2

The nose on this wine is stunning baring the alcohol heat. Perfumed red florals and candied dark and lighter red fruits. While the wine is truly elegant, the alcohol is seriously burning the back of my throat. The bottle reads 14.1 but I think over 15 degrees. Maybe, they wanted to save on the higher alcohol tax. The wine starts so beautifully only to burn the back of my throat. The fruits are ripe, elegant and beautifully soft. Blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, raspberries, faint back palate of strawberries, sweet/soft leather, black licorice, violets & roses, rich delicate & sweet wet black earth, soft light baking spices, caramel, milk chocolate, figs & dates, amazingly sweet dark minerals, touch of black tar, touch of spice and a rich long elegant dark fruit liqueur finish. I would score this wine higher if it didn't punish my palate and throat with the burning alcohol finish. — 9 years ago