A.G. Wine Review
While I agree that the 1982 is stellar for a majority of 1st, 2nd, and even some 3rd through 5th growth Bordeaux wines of this year, we should not lose sight of the fact that, this vintage, or any vintage, not all dry red wines have what it takes to be stellar after 30 years in the bottle. In fact, some have expired past their prime and should be considered as artwork and left on display or sent to auction. I recently had the opportunity to sample just such a bottle of wine on New Year's Day 2012.
Chateau Mouton Baronne De Phillipe en homage a Pauline Baronne Phillipe de Rothschild from the Paulliac, Medoc region of Bordeaux France.
The interesting thing about wine reviews, are, we will all agree to disagree and that the rating of wine is a very subjective matter and upon my research on this vintage nothing could be closer to the truth. Evidence suggests that there are some, willing to wax away excitedly about this vintage till the end of time, but truth be told reviewers comments range from the vintage being, in balanced to, over ripe, to having the ability to cellar for another decade.
Here are my insights on this wine from the 1982 Bordeaux vintage.
The wine has an opaque appearance in the glass. The color spectrum on the other hand is evident of a wine showing its age in the bottle with colors of medium to light brick red core working its way outward to an increasingly lighter orange edge and watery rim.
The nose is immediately overwhelmed with a sense of alcohol which upon aeration quickly focuses to equal amounts of under and overripe fruits, herbaceous and earthy qualities. Working through the initial sensations I discovered a wine full of cassis and black cherry, tar, and tobacco.
The palate exposes the wine’s complexity in its development with under ripe sour cherry to over ripe black cherry, cassis, spice box, and tobacco leaf with an undertone of mature oak presence and a damp earthen quality. The wine structure has become unbalanced with an overcharged sense of higher acid taking over the characteristics from first sip to final finish in the mouth. The wine’s structure also indicates a medium alcoholic sensation, medium fine tannins and a, even drying sensation culminating into a medium long finish on the palate. The wine has a sensation of being hot, overtly herbaceous and overly acidic suggesting under ripe harvesting which supports the 11.5% alcohol labeling and overtly herbaceous sensation in the wine and a higher acidic structure left in the bottle at this point.
My conclusion of this wine has left the impression that, for all its complexity, the wine is showing its full maturity within the bottle and is now 5-10 years past its end point for optimal enjoyment. I compare this to my notes on the 1982 Chateaux Kirwan Cru Classe that I experienced last year, which indicates better quality, and balance, demonstrating inconsistency within the 1982 vintage at this point and that the "1982 Stellar Vintage status" should be based solely on, the producer, their estate terroir, the vineyard management of the vintage, and conditions at time of harvest.
Ultimately, wine collectors and connoisseurs, will agree to disagree here, but the facts of structured analysis should remain, and be your first and last tools in making informed decisions on vintage wine investments, to bottle aging and determining maximum enjoyment end points with a cellar collection, without getting caught up in the hype and emotional stigma that a "stellar vintage" is ageless and has the ability to cellar well or drink well, even when a wine indicates it is well beyond its point of optimal enjoyment.
If you are fortunate to have the 1982 Bordeaux vintage within your private cellar, I professionally recommend you consider inspecting these wines now and decide on whether to enjoy your investment throughout the remainder of 2012 or consider utilizing them for cellar display purposes only or auction them off as necessary to enjoy the profits of cellar investing.
If you are interested in further synopsis of the 1982 Vintage from Bordeaux France follow this link:
http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/twentyyearson1982.shtml
Wishing you,
...optimal drinking enjoyment.
Cheers! A.G.
No comments:
Post a Comment