1998 Leoville Poyferre, St. Julien
What a change from Feb '14 when I called it 'subued red fruit'. Now: all black fruit, open on the palate, rustic mouthfeel, a bit of a disappointment. I sipped at a glass for an hour while feeling increasingly unwell--food poisoning we presume--so the bottle was put aside and finished it two days later. The roughness was gone, and it was a better, more harmonious wine. Very dry, needs food--but nice.
2005 Chateau Margui Cab/Syrah blend, Varois, France
Reports on CellarTracker collectively seem to indicate that this wine peaked about two years ago (I was sitting on five bottles and missed the whole thing), and a vapid bottle we opened about four weeks ago didn't dispute that. But another bottle opened earlier this week (I was going to open and dump the remaining bottles, I need cellar space) was more positive--brighter fruit overall and even some tannins still evident. Needed an hour to really come out and play, and showed more cab character than syrah. Overall nothing really great here, but just fine as a burger wine.