The Black Bottle

Château Cos d'Estournel

Saint-Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend 1982

Popped and poured; enjoyed from red Solo cups over the course of a few hours. This bottle of the 1982 showed very well today. It pours a deep garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with moderate staining of the tears and fine sediment. On the nose, the wine is vinous with beautiful notes of black currants, black plum, mixed brambles, tobacco, some green pepper, graphite, leather, earth, and soft warm spices. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin (integrated) and medium+ acid. Confirming the notes from the nose. The finish is long. 1982: the vintage that keeps on giving. Drink now through 2042+. — a month ago

Zach, Paul and 11 others liked this
Somm David T

Somm David T Influencer Badge

Nice treat. 👍🍷

Château Pontet-Canet

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2008

With air this developed nicely showing mostly black fruit, cassis with sweet spices, graphite, cedar, leather & tobacco — 8 days ago

Daniel, Ted and 16 others liked this

Château Mouton Rothschild

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 1995

The most showy bottle I’ve had of this wine, 95 Mouton is in a terrific place, and an absolute classic, with Paulliac power and concentration, fine grained tannins and hugely persistent finish. Fantastic with the legendary EMP duck! — a month ago

Matt, Paul and 11 others liked this

Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2006

Somm David T
9.2

The 2006 Bordeaux vintage. The vintage while wasn’t Bordeaux’s best, it certainly wasn’t one of its worst. It had the unenviable position of following a grand 2005 vintage. I think better than 2000, maybe 09 & 10? Jury is still out. The Bordelaise also got greedy and raised their prices from 05. That was a mistake when it came to selling the 2006 vintage and it laid another layer of bad taste in consumers minds.

I really enjoy Pichon Lalande’s style/craft. The 06 is good, not great. In fact, I enjoyed this better w/o the lamb.

The fruits are just ripe. Velvety, rounded M+ tannins. Brambly blackberries, dryish black plum, black cherries, black raspberries, strawberries, some raspberry hues, oak barrel shavings, graphite, dry soils, dry tobacco & leather, dry clay, soft but dark spice, some dry herbs, soft baking spices- clove, nutmeg, cinnamon & vanillin, light milk chocolate, caramel hues, black tea, anise, some mid berry cola, dry & withering, dark & red flowers, violets, decent, round acidity, balanced, neatly structured/tensioned with an elegant finish that lasts just over 90 seconds and falls on dry earth and soft, dark spice.

Still acceding and has 15 plus yrs of good drinking ahead. Could make a case for rounding up to 93.

Paired w/ Grilled Rack of Lamb, Served with Rosemary Jus, Fondant Potatoes and Steamed Broccoli.

@EK148
— a month ago

Ira, Ceccherini and 21 others liked this

Château Margaux

Premier Grand Cru Classé Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 2011

Could do with more time in the bottle but it's a special occasion afterall. Noses rose petals, vanilla, leather, capsicum and tobacco, black fruits and pencil shavings....and date I say onions! Huge body. Palate is savoury yet so layered and structured. Dark chocolates galore with a generous scatter of sea salt. Harmonious! Precise! — 21 minutes ago

Opus One

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2021

Aidan’s 21st bday. amazing bottle of OPUS ONE — 11 days ago

Ted, Dawn and 1 other liked this

Marchesi Antinori

Tignanello Toscana Super Tuscan Blend 2015

Sweet and Smokey. Loved this. Perfect mix of ripe dark fruits and kick. Great length. Half bottle. Awesome! — 23 days ago

Dave, Jean-Philip and 22 others liked this
Audrey Nadeau

Audrey Nadeau

Wine Glory!

R. López de Heredia

Viña Tondonia Reserva Rioja Tempranillo Blend 2012

I don‘t know. This has so much oak it overpowers everything. Might need another 10 years to be approachable. Cigar box, black berries. Deep, big and profound. I am not sure I would spend 70$ on this. It needs much much more time. Probably needs to be open for 2 days. Out of the machine at the Wine House in LA. — a month ago

Scott@Mister, Zach and 5 others liked this
Vin d’Ottawa

Vin d’Ottawa

We have a 2007 Magnum and plan on holding for a few more years. Well-aged Rioja is a treasure

Château Palmer

Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend 1983

Slightly lighter garnet core , lighter terracotta rim . Quite muted on the nose , quite herbal and spiced notes, some red plum and floral sous bois , black tea . After a while this opens up slightly , showing a bit more detail , but never jumps out and grabs your attention as other bottles have. On the palate this is better , with the roundness and slightly sweet , red plum , summer fruits , sous bois and lightly herbal , grafite tinged , saline finish of reasonable length . Quite refreshing acidity and suave tannins . On this basis drink now and over the next few years. However , there are better bottles out there . This was disappointing compared with other bottles I’ve had , though the palate was more sound and it wasn’t flawed. A bit of a perplexing bottle. — 24 days ago

Scott@Mister, Ira and 19 others liked this
Doug Powers

Doug Powers

I bought a case of this wine on original release, and still have 5-6 left. Last one I opened, with ‘82 Pichon-Lalande and ‘82 Gruaud-Larose, it was CLEAR WOTN, it blew me away, nearly perfect. Of course, as my brother always tells me, there are great wines, but great bottles are never guaranteed!! Cheers!
Andrew Cullimore

Andrew Cullimore

Great anecdote @Doug Powers and very true. That event of yours must have been a fantastic experience! I have had this Palmer 83 a few times and it normally is a fantastic experience, seductive , aromatic … yesterday , was below par … from a beautiful looking case from an excellent UK cellar … but there you go! Nothing is guaranteed. Hopefully the next bottle will be back to par !

Château Latour

Premier Grand Cru Classé Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend 2005

A knockout left bank Bordeaux. I’ve read that the 2005s may go longer than the potentially even more vaunted 2000s and I might agree based on this bottle. Decanted 5 hours. Cork in perfect shape. Amazing depth of fruit and a ton of Bordeaux earth. Nose goes on and on as does the finish. Was an excellent pairing but a very good but simple roast chicken. — 14 days ago

Ira, Neil and 16 others liked this