A little while back, I was invited to join a group of 7 other people for dinner when one of their regular members couldn’t make it. The wine theme was anything from the Margaux appellation, so how could I refuse? All wines were served blind, with the tasting order randomized by the restaurant staff.
1979 Château du Tertre Margaux. The first wine is probably the palest-colored of the whole line-up, with a bit of a cloudy appearance to it in the glass. On the nose, it shows off lovely scents of old leather, mushroom, cedar, ash, tomato leaf and bell pepper to go along with cranberry and red currant fruit down deep. In the mouth, it’s very nicely-aged and resolved, with lots of pretty accents showing up in the flavor profile of tangy red fruit and savory earth tones. It’s light to medium-weighted, but really coming alive with food and putting on some weight through the tangy middle before tailing off on the finish later in the evening. This is refined, classy and tasty, with a great old Bordeaux feel all the way around.
1979 Château Palmer Margaux. This is an even better wine than the previous one, delivering greater concentration and a sense of gentlemanly class on the nose, where it shows off a finely-perfumed core of purple violets, lavender, herb, dark cherry, menthol, caramel and mocha. It’s a soft touch all around, really inviting the taster in. On the palate, it’s warm and friendly, very pleasing from start to finish. There are no hard edges anywhere, and the texture is all finesse and class. There’s still moderate concentration of red berry fruit flavor and fine spice accents, with generous and juicy acidity giving the wine very fine lift and an easy sense of flow. It’s drinking tremendously well and was definitely one of the wines of the night.
2000 Château Dauzac Margaux. This wine features dense and giving aromas of black currant, plum, charred wood, dark chocolate and menthol—getting better and better the longer you stay with it. In the mouth, it’s dark and somewhat serious, with a smooth texture and a generally polished glycerol feel with just a bit of sneaky tannin coming in late. It delivers lots of black fruit flavor and toasty spices that are maybe a bit youthful but tasty and yielding. This may improve a bit more with time in the cellar, but it’s worth checking in on now, too.
1989 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux. This is pleasing on the nose, featuring aromas of tobacco leaf, limestone, black cherry, plum, wood and dusty earth elements that just work together nicely. In the mouth, it’s softly-textured, but charismatic and slightly lush in its flavors of chocolate, black currant, blackberry, tobacco and Asian spices. Gentle, but slightly sticky tannins come forth on the finish, but this is drinking pretty nicely for my tastes.
1986 Château Rausan-Ségla Margaux. This is dark and serious-smelling, giving off dense aromas of loamy earth, menthol, dark chocolate, pen ink, black currant and blackberry fruit. In the mouth, it’s decidedly thick, dense and fudgy, with an interesting streak of singed iron running beneath the core of blackberry fruit. It feels quite virile and impressively youthful still to me, with a lot of years left.
2003 Château du Tertre Margaux. This is totally sexy and exotic right from the first sniff, showing delightful facets to the aromas of sandalwood, balsam, spiced blueberries, tobacco, cassis and all kinds of spice notes. Even though it’s sort of obviously showy, it’s just so much fun that it’s impossible not to get suckered in by its charms. In the mouth, it’s gentle and soft, with a rather pliant texture and a surprising degree of elegance to the Margaux berry fruit flavors. Indeed, it’s sort of lighter-weighted than most, with almost no tannin interference at all and a nice easy flow to it. Drink and enjoy now. This was a wine of the night for a lot of people.
1979 Château La Lagune Haut-Médoc. This wine provides subtle and refined aromas of red currants, limestone, animal fur, tobacco, forest greenery and faint caramel that stay stable and classy all night long. It’s pleasingly savory and tangy on the gently-aged palate, with sweet mixed berry fruit flavors allying nicely with bits of mushroom, leather, earth and herbs. It’s losing some length, I’d have to admit, but it’s real enjoyable for my tastes this late in its life.
1986 Château Rausan-Ségla Margaux. As it turned out, we had two bottles of the 1986 in the tasting. This bottle is a bit fresher perhaps than the first, but no less dark or serious in tone. It features aromas of green pepper, black cherry, blackberry and dirt pile that really coat the nostrils and make you sit up to take notice. It’s quite classical on the palate, with that singed iron and iodine streak again that’s hard to miss running beneath the flavors of blackberry and black currant fruit. It has good intensity, excellent concentration of fruit, and tannins that hold back pretty much until later in the evening. Like the first bottle, this has a long road still out ahead of it.
2001 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes. After the voting was done for top wines of the night and after all of the wines were unveiled, we opted to dive into this really nice bottle of Sauternes. It starts right out with a bright, zippy, evocative nose redolent of orange blossom, crème brulee, citrus, tangerine, and strong botrytis spices that are intense, fresh and vibrant. In the mouth, it’s wonderfully-balanced, with sticky flavors or rock sugar, crème brulee topping, marmalade and apricot. It’s lush and plush, but at the same time zesty and fresh, full of tropical nuances lasting well onto the finish. This is delightful right now and a fitting end to any meal.
-Michael