WTN: Mout Point

[Jenise]

1986 Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend
Not a great bottle. Cork was 80% wet and came out in two pieces. The wine itself seemed reticent upon decanting and didn't show betterment during it's six-hour decant. Good color and aromatics, but on the palate and finish closer to ordinary than possessing the essence of a first growth quality or Mouton personality.

[David M. Bueker]

That's unfortunate. I keep eyeing my lone bottle of this, and keep going "not yet."

Maybe soon.

[Jenise]

We last opened one in 2014--it was SPECTACULAR so if you've got a good bottle you're in for quite a treat. I have one more; here's hoping it's the best one of all.

So sorry to hear this, Jenise. That has been my experience with the last four bottles of 1986 Mouton that I've opened--cork trouble and/or an underperforming wine.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, that's disheartening. Over what time frame did you open those? I had about six of these originally; the others were all good and like I told David the last bottle in 2014 was everything one would hope for. Just one left now for 2022. Maybe I shouldn't wait.

I bought a case of 1986 Mouton on first release. They have been in my temperature-controlled cellar ever since. I decided to open one last fall. Bad cork, off flavors in the wine. So I tried again. And again. I gave up after I'd opened four bottles.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Wow, so all recent. Crushing. And you still have 8 left?

Seven. There was one that I opened about a decade ago. I decided then that the wine needed more time, but I don't recall noticing anything wrong with the bottle.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I just checked reviews on CT. Looks like most people have had good bottles, so I'll cross fingers for your final 7 though I know it's a run of bad luck like you've had is never a good sign.

So this thread prompted me to open another bottle of 1986 Mouton last night. The cork was stained to within a fraction of a millimeter of the lip of the bottleneck, but there was no sign of leakage. Uh-oh. The wine started out completely closed in except for a musty aroma. It didn't seem like TCA to me, but it was definitely off. The same musty quality was present in the mouth, although there were hints of blackcurrant fruit in the background. I decided to wait this one out and left it in the glass while I made dinner. After half an hour to an hour it started to open up. Some, but not all, of the mustiness blew off and nice, but very subdued, aromas of blackcurrants and other mature Bordeaux nuances showed up. The mustiness was still there on the palate, but with the fruit showing a bit, too. The wine was all elbows and knees--sharp edges of acidity and tannin sticking out everywhere. Clearly something very wrong happened to this wine. On the Stooges rating scale, this is a Shemp double Moe.

That makes five bad bottles in a row.

-Paul W

[David M. Bueker]

Certainly seems like something happened to your case before you got it, despite buying on release.

As a dear friend says to me whenever we have a DOA wine from the 1980s or 1990s that should have been great based on supposedly perfect provenance: “commerce kills wine.”

The supply chain seems better now than it used to be, but that doesn’t fix our old bottles.

I had a second glass from the nitrogen dispenser last night. I intentionally let the wine splash into the glass to get some aeration. It paid off--when I had the wine with dinner about 45 minutes later, the mustiness was nearly all gone. The wine was drinkable but far from what one expects from Mouton.

For what it's worth, here's some provenance information from the label:

Shipped by S. D. V. F., Bordeaux, France
Imported by M. S. Walker Inc., Somerville MA

I bought it on futures from the Winecellar of Silene in Waltham MA.

-Paul W.

That's terrible Paul (and Jenise). I'm not usually a big Mouton fan by have loved the 1986 the last two times I tried- WOTN both times- at a Mouton vertical in 2017 (no '82 rhough) and at a first growth dinner in spring (where it was group fave vs excellent bottles of '83 Margaux, 95 Lafite, 98 HB, and more). Sounds like somerthing happened crossing Atlantic. Really a shame,

What a shame. I've had the wine several times, though not for a few years (and back then it really wasn't ready). It should drink well now. Will look for a time to open one but will have a back up standing by.