I had spent the day in the cellar putting away recent purchases, all of which were Bordeaux so by the time dinner rolled around nothing else would do. Having passed up the opportunity to decant by choosing early enough, I reached for something that would pour ready but not worth saving for a more special occasion. Based on a bottle last May that was only remarkable for being so thin and unimpressive, and Dale W's offering at the time that his experience(s) had been similar, I decided this wine would fit that bill.
Bottle condition deserves description: far worse than previous bottle. Mid shoulder fill vs. in the neck, severely corroded capsule, crumbly cork that came out in several pieces and broken glass at the mouth of the bottle that came away with the capsule. Removed wine to decanter to separate sediment.
In the glass: surprisingly good color. I remember the last bottle being more a transparent, mauve-y shade of brownish red, and this was both redder and denser. Still only medium bodied for a wine this age, but not as light as before. The improvement was obvious on the nose and palate, too: there was just more of everything here. More raspberry fruit, more spice, more tea notes, more acidity and more tannins. And most importantly, it put on weight over the three hours' time we lingered over the bottle. Now it did lack that elusive swoon factor Bordeaux lovers look for in mature wine, the bouquet never took us prisoner in the way we might have hoped, but this bottle was both good and improving, and we finished it well before it had shown us all it's upside potential. I suspect this bottle's proof that the 79 LLC's were merely hibernating, not dying.
