Part of a really fun tasting last night at Scott's house was the following pair of wines from the finest estate in St. Emilion.
1966 Chateau Cheval Blanc
Apparently the cork disintegrated on opening. I am not sure how long it had been open, but the first sniff I had was quite open, with the fruit still evident, and an interesting, meaty element. The tannins had melted away, and overall the wine was very fine, if a little thin. Fast forward to the end of the evening, and the '66 had opened up a great deal. The fruit had deepend and become sweeter, and the meatiness stronger and smokier. It had become an outstanding, complex wine with no sign of any immediate potential of fading.
1967 Chateu Cheval Blanc
This wine was more of an enigma. Initially it was rather funky, fruitless and overshadowed by the '66. There wasn't anything truly wrong with it, but more that there was nothing to distinguish it. Fast forward again, and while it never gained the depth of the '66, it displayed some of the same meaty, smoky character, with much more subtle fruit. It was similarly resolved to the '66, just not as much of wine wine (understandable given the vintage).
A big thanks to Scott for opening these 2 wines, especially the '67 as it's a birth year bottle for me (and him as well).