Château Labégorce Zédé Margaux cru bourgeois exceptionnel (suspended classification) 1999 – Alc. 12.5% was a lovely example of Médoc from this unfashionable but often elegant vintage. It was at its peak, I think, with a fragrant Margaux bouquet of fine red fruit and flowers and a gamey (veering to barnyard) streak together with a medium bodied harmonious, discreetly structured and quite long palate still showing some expressive primary fruit and fresh acidity underpinned by some secondary development including minerals and by some gamey darkness which added complexity. This went very well farmhouse chicken in a creamy sauce laced with coffee; 16/20++.
Was the gamey streak brett? Perhaps, but I don’t know and don’t really care. Well, hold on, maybe I should mark the remaining bottles for quite quick consumption.