Conrad Green

9.7

beautiful and precise. Fresh plummy fruit with floral edges and a hint of vanilla. Clear and long. Profound. — 5 days ago

with Matt and Paul

Shelly Duke

10

Wonderful! Drank with Bill and Deanne in Durango. 10/1/24 — 2 months ago

with Deanne and Bill

Andrew Cullimore

9.4

Medium Ruby with quite wide garnet rim. More truffle , tobacco , violet , cassis and earthy notes. Takes a bit of time to get going and certainly shows a bit more age than the 2009. On the palate, more austere with dryer tannin than the 2009 , but very well balanced and classic in style . Cassis, blackcurrant , tobacco graphite notes . Some dry spices too . Quite fresh acidity , and slightly gritty tannin. Long , saline, graphite tinged finish. This is showing some development , but will improve further over the next 5 possibly 10 years and hold well a further 5-10 — 2 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.1

Medium ruby , garnet rim, touch of terracotta rim . Slightly dusty , animal touch , with leather , spicy and herbal , soy , iodine . On the palate quite strict , grafite , slightly more red fruit , cranberry , then blackcurrant and grafite . Slightly dusty dry tannins , balanced acidity . Slightly spicy , mineral , grafite tinged finish . This needs a bit of time to open but shows quite well , slightly herbal , and perhaps lacks a little charm , but is quite classic in style if not a great 1985. From now and over the next 10 years . On the night this was probably only ahead of the 1977 , and my least favourite of the 1980s vintages . — 24 days ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium ruby , quite wide garnet rim, clear and bright . Cassis , blackberry , sous bois , mint , cedar , grafite , good clarity and surprisingly fruit driven still . Good volume on the palate , dark fruits , mint , good acidity and still quite gritty tannins. Saline and grafite tinged finish . Good length . Drinking very well now and over the next 5 years . For 2002 this is showing very well, classic and surprisingly elegant, a really nice surprise! — 2 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.2

Medium deep garnet core with slightly wider terracotta rim . Quite exuberant nose , more dark fruits than the Barton , spicy , cedar notes , touch of funk , swimming pool note also . On the palate quite spicy more intense black fruits , cassis , sous bois , coffee , saline , mineral tinged sea spray notes . Balanced acidity and quite rounded but noticeable tannin . Long and denser on the finish than the Barton . Showing well now but can go another 10 years no problem — 3 months ago

Shane Walker

9.0

Appearance:
Clarity: Clear
Intensity: Deep
Colour: Garnet

Nose:
Condition: Clean
Intensity: Medium
Restrained Fruit & spices

Palate:
Dry, medium acidity, medium tannins, medium bodied

Excellent quality but a bit past its best. Still a great wine but needs drinking now!
— a month ago

with Michele

Joe Weinberger

9.5

Tasted blind. Everyone was at least 5-10 years off. Hard to believe a 1986 could taste so fresh. Library release. — 7 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.5

Bright ruby garnet with quite narrow garnet rim . Quite closed at first with mineral , cassis , sous bois , cigar box , touch of smoke . On the palate very intense with lots of cigar box tinged cassis , blackberry , cedar , coffee. Gritty but integrated tannins , fresh acidity . Very long and complex on the finish . This is still young but is starting to show what it can do , perfectly balanced and enormously long . Precise and for Las Cases very elegant . Now and for the next 10-15 years . — 3 months ago

Andrew Cullimore

9.4

Light straw , very young looking . Constant very fine perlage . Quite closed at first then crushed rocks , lemon peel , ginger , white flowers , brioche . On the palate good richness and intensity , lemon , orange rind , buttered bread , touch of roast nuts . Very fine mineral tinged , intense finish . This needs time and will improve over the next 10 years or so and last well a further 5-10 . A good follow up to the 2014 , this shows more backward and will take even longer to reach its peak. Perhaps a little less detailed and precise than the very mineral 2014 but that might just be a question of needing more time in bottle. — 3 months ago