These notes are from a blind tasting of 1994 Bordeaux (names of wines attached post-notes). My notes are from single bottles, but the group rankings cross 5 bottles, and it was apparent there were some bottle variations. For ease of correlation, I have sorted the notes by overall group ranking: NOTE: All 8 wines had similar colour – a medium garnet (some tinged with ruby and some tinged with brick), but differences were so slight as to be not noteworthy (with minor exceptions).
1st place: 1994 Château Cheval Blanc (my ranking 8th): Exotic rich ripe plum nose, easily the most fruit of all 8 wines. However, on the palate slightly cooked fruit, with a hollow centre and a touch of burned tyre on the finish. My first reaction was that this was certainly over-the-hill, but no detectable flaws. After discovering that the entire group (including our disappointing rating) still had this clearly as the top wine, a re-taste of a different bottle showed much more fresh vibrant fruit with good acid and soft tannins. But I’m at a loss to explain what was actually wrong with this bottle (2 other renowned tasters who sampled the same bottle also rated it very poorly but similarly could not find a specific flaw).
2nd place (note 2nd through 5th were fairly close in ranking – probably not statistically different): 1994 Château Mouton Rothschild (my ranking 1st): Deep red-black plums on nose, but not complex – even a touch of prunes. On taste, great structure; fruit, acid and soft tannins all in harmony with great length.
3rd place: 1994 Château Margaux (my ranking 3rd): Certainly the richest looking in the glass with classic blackcurrant nose. Taste not fully evolved with sweet fruit up front followed by relatively high acid giving a lean, but very pleasant, finish. Should still evolve/improve.
4th place (tie): 1994 Château Haut Brion (my ranking 5th): Lighter edge on the rim, suggesting dilution. Bouquet all red fruit – redcurrants with a hint of roses. Taste also very bright red fruit, but fades quicker than several others through to a harsher tannic finish.
4th place (tie): 1994 Château Léoville Barton (my ranking 7th): One of the darkest in colour. Fresh acidic nose, with black cherry notes. One of the most acidic on palate with fruit subdued and soft tannins at end. Fades gracefully (again I suspect other bottles may have shown a different flavour profile).
6th place (note 6th through 8th were also close, but definitely separated from the above wines): 1994 Château Trotanoy (my ranking 6th). My bottle showing a very slight corkiness (possibly – but other samples were similar, so possibly all bottles were very slightly corked). Another acidic nose with redcurrants. But on the palate the relatively harsh tannins swamp the fruit. Pleasant, if unspectacular finish.
7th place: 1994 Château Léoville Lascases (my ranking 2nd): Cranberry nose promising some acidity. Initial acidity on taste followed by clean red fruit flavours which lingered and faded slowly. Not complex, but flavours had the longest finish of any wine.
8th place: 1994 Château Pichon Lalande (my ranking 4th): Very fragrant, with mixed red and black fruits on nose. On palate had the harshest tannins (obviously the group as a whole disliked this), which swamped the fruit. With luck may improve if/when the tannins fade.
Mystery wine (unranked as it was served separately). Most people identified this as a Bordeaux, probably from a younger vintage (it was darker than most of the others) as the fruit seemed fresher. Nobody had the courage to speculate on which of the other wines it might be (assuming it was indeed a younger vintage of one of the above). They were right not to speculate – it was actually the 1994 Château Pontet-Canet. My notes (and I knew the identity) show it as being much deeper colour than the others and having a much sweeter plum nose. On the palate the fruit carried through although a bit chunkier, rather than elegant. Probably in my top 3 overall!
And an editorial comment on the results. In a blind tasting, around 100 people picked the first-growths as being the top 4 wines in the tasting. Either we have an exceptionally well-practiced group, or perhaps there really is something in this 1855 Classification!