Red Bordeaux

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

2 cases In Stock

'Consistently scoring between 98-100, the superb 1982 Margaux may be slightly bigger, bolder, and more masculine than vintages produced over the last 15-20 years. Its dark plum/purple color is followed by notes of melted tar intermixed with sweet cassis and floral underpinnings. Very full-bodied and dense for a Chateau Margaux, with a slight rusticity to the tannins, it boasts blockbuster power, richness, and impressive aromatics. It appears set for another 30-40 years of life.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

3 cases In Stock

'One of the all-time great Ducrus, probably matched or eclipsed by several recent vintages (i.e., 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008). The 1982 is still 5-8 years away from full maturity, but it exhibits a dense ruby/plum/garnet color to the rim as well as a sweet perfume of forest floor, spice box, cedar, and copious quantities of black fruits. Medium to full-bodied and beautifully pure with sweet tannins, this wine has aged more slowly than I initially expected. It is the finest Ducru Beaucaillou produced after the 1961 and before the 2003.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

'During its first 10-12 years of life, this was a perfect wine, but it now seems to be in a stage where the fruit is still present, but the previous exuberance and intensity have faded slightly. There is plenty of amber at the edge, and this medium to full-bodied wine shows notes of menthol, cedar, spice box, plums, and black cherries. Owners of 750 ml bottles should plan on consuming it over the next 4-6 years.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

'This wine remains one of the legends of Bordeaux. It has thrown off the backward, youthful style that existed during its first 25 years of life, and over the last 4-5 years has developed such secondary nuances as cedar and spice box. The creme de cassis, underlying floral note, full-bodied power, extraordinary purity, multilayered texture, and finish of over a minute are a showcase for what this Chateau accomplished in 1982. The wine is still amazingly youthful, vibrant, and pure. It appears capable of remaining fruity and vibrant in 2082! Thank God it is beginning to budge, as I would like to drink most of my supply before I kick the bucket. This is a great, still youthful wine, and, on occasion, one does understand the hierarchy of Bordeaux chateaux when you see the complexity and brilliance of this first-growth. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2050+' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

4 cases In Stock
1 case In Transit – Arriving Shortly

"This wine seems to be just beginning to turn the corner and was excellent in its most recent tasting. For much of its life it has been a stunning wine, not far off the mark from the prodigious 1982. The color is still a healthy dark garnet with some amber creeping in at the edge. The wine shows a very distinctive nose of asphalt, tobacco, and cigar box, intermixed with some sweet cherries and black currants. In the mouth it is medium to full-bodied, but the fruit seems to be ever-so-slightly fading. In the finish, the tannins and acidity are beginning to poke through. Nevertheless, this is still underrated and always a sleeper vintage for Pichon-Lalande, but it requires consumption." Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Transit – Arriving Shortly

'The 1985 Lafite is revealing more class and complexity than I predicted. A moderately intense, cedary, woody, herb and berry-scented bouquet is attractive. The wine is open-knit and ripe, with fine tannins, sweet, medium-bodied, mineral, and cassis-scented flavors, fine depth, and a graceful, harmonious feel. It is beginning to blossom and appears to possess more depth and character than I had thought.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

"This wine has turned out to be better than I originally thought. Made during a period when Montrose was flirting with a lighter style, the 1986 is one of the beefier efforts from that short-lived, stylistic detour. The wine reveals a dense ruby/purple color with only a hint of lightening at the edge. Fleshy, muscular, and powerful, with aromas of red and black fruits, earth, and spice, this medium to full-bodied, still tannic, brawny Montrose is not yet close to full maturity. It possesses a layered, chewy character, along with plenty of unresolved tannin in the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2025. Last tasted 10/97" - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

2 cases In Transit – Arriving Shortly

'The 1986 Leoville-Las Cases, which Delon continues to believe is his finest vintage in the eighties (even eclipsing the 1982), still exhibits a black/purple color with no signs of age. The nose offers up aromas of exceptionally ripe cassis fruit intertwined with scents of vanillin, minerals, and spices. The wine is full-bodied, exceptionally well-delineated, and phenomenally concentrated. Still unevolved and youthful, this is one of the most profound Leoville-Las-Cases, but for my palate, it remains a notch behind both the 1982 and 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2003-2030. Last tasted 3/97' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

'After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity?
The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

'Dark plum/garnet/ruby, with more color saturation than the 1989 or 1990, this wine has notes of new saddle leather intermixed with smoked beef, tapenade, vanilla, and an almost chocolatey mocha character. Some moderate tannins still need to be integrated, but this medium-bodied wine has excellent grip, depth, and overall character. As it has aged, it seems to have developed more personality, depth, and style than the more highly renowned 1989.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

5 cases In Stock

'The 1988 is a medium-bodied wine without the depth and intensity of fruit of the 1989. It has high tannins, good ripeness, and it is another Medoc that appears to recall the style of the 1966 vintage.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

3 cases In Stock

"The 1988 Pichon-Baron promises to be one of the half-dozen superstars of the Medoc in that vintage. While it may not rival the 1989, its significantly lower price makes it a wine that should appeal to those who want an excellent bargain in a great Pauillac from a good vintage. Surprisingly large-scaled for a 1988, it is deep in color, rich, tannic, and medium to full-bodied. When mature, it may resemble the successful 1966 (similar texture, weight, and character)." - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Transit – Arriving Shortly

'The 1988 offers a classic bouquet of violets and blackcurrants intertwined with lavish quantities of toasty new oak. Medium-bodied, concentrated, but extremely hard and tannic, this elegantly wrought, slightly herbaceous wine possesses a tougher texture and more astringent tannins than usual. It has begun to reveal more sweetness of fruit, but the wine is slightly compact and angular. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2015.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

'Once again this estate revealed its excellent quality/price ratio. As one taster so appropriately stated after learning the identity of both the 1989 and 1990 Sociando-Mallets, "I'd rather have the '89 or '90 Sociando-Mallet than the '89 Margaux or '90 Mouton in my cellar." Both wines showed surprisingly well, performing at second or third-growth levels. The 1989 reveals a youthful, unevolved purple color, followed by a sweet nose of black fruits, minerals, and vanillin. The wine is extremely young (much more so than most 1989s), with medium to full body, good tannin, and not nearly as much of the vintage's soft, evolved personality in evidence. Dense, rich, and concentrated, this wine needs another 4-5 years of cellaring; it should keep for 20+ years.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Transit – Arriving Shortly

'I have always enjoyed the 1989 La Lagune. At first I thought it was marginally superior to the 1990, but they are essentially equivalent in quality, although the 1989 possesses less fat, and a more ruggedly tannic structure. The color is a healthy dark ruby, and the wine offers up a smoky, sweet vanillin, jammy berry-scented nose with aromas of weedy tobacco. The wine is medium-bodied, with excellent purity and richness, and gobs of red and black currant fruit nicely dosed with new oak. The wine's grip is more noticeable than in the 1990, and the finish more attenuated, but still impressively long.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Transit – Arriving Shortly

'This wine continues to lose out to its younger sibling, the 1990. Aromatically, the dark garnet (some amber is beginning to creep in at the edge) 1989 seems fully mature until it hits the palate. There is big, spicy, cedary, sweet cherry and black currant fruit, along with some tobacco notes in the impressive aromatics. On the palate, the wine is more narrowly constructed, medium-bodied, with excellent richness on the attack but then some relatively dry, dusty tannins in the finish. This kind of performance tends to suggest the wine needs to be drunk sooner rather than later. Anticipated maturity: Now-2016. Last tasted, 9/01.' - Robert Parker

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

1 case In Stock

The 1989 has an intense bouquet of creamy blackcurrant fruit and exotic spices. There is even a touch of the famous Pauillac lead-pencil smell. Medium-bodied, rich and alcoholic, this voluptuous-styled wine has all the components necessary to seduce tasters for the next 8-12 years. Anticipated maturity: 1994- 2008. Robert Parker.

Photos and further information available upon request. Enquire »

2 cases In Stock