Madiran AOC - Château Bouscassé 1997 – Alain Brumont – Alc. 12.5%.
This is the basic cuvée. I wrote on the Vieilles Vignes 1997 cuvée last October and, re-reading the notes of that, I could almost write the same here. This was the VV –
"Château Bouscassé AOC Madiran Vieilles-Vignes 1997"
"It is the charm of the occasional smile of an austere, rugged and upright country gentleman. But I have never seen him smile before in other vintages."
"C: Very dense. N: Well developed with strong notes of wet leather and a background of ripe acidic plum and some raspberry. P: Fully open with good body and “gras”, lots of dark fruit like damsons (but even some hints of "sweetness"), quite ripe tannic structure with a broadening and crescendo to the rear of palate and long diminuendo thereafter. Aromas are as on the nose with a touch meat and acidity is marked but appealing with a touch of minerality. A fine wine, 17,5/20, which went beautifully with rare steak and a rich périgordine sauce."
"This is the first time I have glimpsed some hedonism in a Madiran and I am tempted to put it down to that ubiquitously “easy” vintage, 1997. And at barely 10 years old it is young for a Bouscassé VV to be showing expressively. Of course, really macho Madiran enthusiasts may mark it down for these reasons."
So what were the differences in the basic cuvée?
In the aromas, I didn’t get any raspberry here but the plum was more forward and the wet leather was perhaps even more marked. On the palate, I could hardly talk of “sweetness” and, though far from short, “long diminuendo” no longer comes to mind. The overall impression is slightly more rugged but still a fine gutsy wine; 16.5/20.
I have eleven more bottles left. Yum!
Do you have a source there that has the '97 or thereabouts vintage available? Would you care to name the source? I really need to stock up on Madirans...