Patrick Martin's TN on the '96 captured my imagination the other day, and then Daniel died so I looked to see which Bordeauxs were kosher so that Bob and I could open something in his honor. Lafon Rochet turned out to be a kosher producer, and though none of my bottles are marked 'kosher edition' I decided this would definitely suffice.
Deep ruby garnet color appropriate for it's age. It seemed pretty open on the test pour, but we decanted for an hour before dinner and indeed released both more flavor and aroma. Black cherry, cassis, minerals, cedary oak, and green tobacco were all there thoughout, and the wine is balanced with respect to acidity and tannins. The best part was that as we've watched this over the years (I started with a case) it has seasawed from tasting all black fruit to all red fruit and back to black again, and where each stage was interesting it is only now that the two come together and that it shows as you would hope it to, as good classic claret. Terrific for the price (I paid just $17 for mine, and yes I know that's not MSRP); should hold here for years.