I bought two cases of 1986 Bordeaux on futures: Mouton and Pichon-Lalande. I've opened five of the Mouton over the past few months and all of the bottles have been bad (see the "Mout Point" topic for details). I still had 11 bottles of the Pichon-Lalande left (I opened one when the wine was 10 years old), so I decided to try my luck with it.
The first bottle I opened had a soggy cork soaked all the way through. The wine was corked.
The second bottle's cork was intact, albeit a bit crumbly--what one would expect from a 35-year-old cork. The wine is a surprisingly deep red-purple, with a hint of brick around the rim. If I had just been shown the glass, I'd have guessed the wine was no more than ten years old. When first poured the wine was not just closed-in, it was hermetically sealed. Almost zero aroma, no flavor nuances. It took a full hour for the wine to open up. At that point there was a very nice, complex aroma featuring blackcurrants and smoke. On the palate it offered intense black fruit flavors. The balance of the wine is exquisite--the tannins and acidity are fully resolved and the wine is a unified whole. This sort of experience is why we cellar Bordeaux, folks. The line on the 1986 vintage at first release was that the wines were big and structured for the long haul. That indeed is the case with the Pichon-Lalande. I think this one is coasting up to a long plateau of maturity. Right now decanting for an hour or two is a must. This wine will probably outlive me. Double Curly.
-Paul W.