Drank the 1982 on 11 March, 2022, ie 40 years on. Still sufficient life left in it, lovely amber colour and subtle flavours, still a superb drink! — 3 years ago
What a great showing. Confectionery nose. Superb minerality. So complex. Apricot and peach skin. Just staggering minerality. Palate is bright and full of energy and so pure. Terrific acidity. Really long and clings to the palate. A brilliant showing. Wonderful texture. Outrageous. — 3 years ago
Birthday bottle—A total knockout this was. It remains youthful still, with serious structure, power and concentration. Ripe black fruit, coal smoke, cigar box, bacon and game. It develops and evolves with air strutting its exceptional balance, detail and otherworldly complexity as the night progressed.
There is a rich, round and velvety texture with fine tannins and tremendous intensity and depth. The transition from midpalate to finish is absolute perfection and it’s 30 second finish can make you weak at the knees. A superb showing, and the 1991 vintage does indeed have plenty of life left to live. Bravo. ✨ — 4 years ago
The 2009 Latour has an open and generous bouquet: a mixture of red and black fruit and touches of graphite and loam. This vintage displays a light marine/brine influence. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, a fine bead of acidity, a firm grip and superb balance. This is very focused, with impressive salinity on the finish that lingers nicely. This is an extraordinarily beautiful Latour. Tasted blind from double magnum at a 20-year retrospective at the château. (Neal Martin, Vinous, February 2024)
— 8 months ago
Quite primary but really expressive for a young L’Ermitage Blanc from Chave. Juicy pear, nectarine and mandarins orange fruit that pairs well with notes of hazelnuts, candle wax and creamy brown spice. Unctuous, hedonistic and dense on the palate with pear, blood orange, quince and nectarine favors. The unctuous nature is kept in check with mineral notes if warm stones and graphite. There is superb density to the fruit and spice. The finish is long with orchard fruit tones and vibrant mineral notes. Dynamite to drink currently but has such potential for increased complexity and depth. Really needs 10 more years in the cellar before the next evaluation. The best young Chave Blanc I have tasted and I have been fortunate to try them young since the 1997 vintage. — 3 years ago
I tasted the 1982 Lynch-Bages twice within a month, both at a private dinner in London and at the château, from bottle and double-magnum on separate occasions. Both vindicate an exceptionally fine 1982, perhaps a bit overlooked in a vintage full of stars. Curiously, the bottle in Bordeaux does not fully deliver the mesmerizing freshness and energy compared to the bottle in London: pencil-lead-tinged black fruit intermixed with clove and freshly-rolled tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins, perhaps just a little austere compared to its peers. Yet, indeed, the bottle in London exudes class and composure with a detailed, mineral-driven vintage belying that year's unseasonably warm period. Superb. Tasted both in London at a private dinner and at the château. (Neal Martin, Vinous, July 2023) — a year ago
Lee Pitofsky
Love these wines. 2015 is excellent tonight after sufficient air, densely concentrated and a clear child of the solar 2015 vintage, wafting layers of dark fruit, olive tapenade, camphor, bacon fat and black truffle. The palate shows exceptional balance and detail despite the massive concentration and warm vintage with great acidity, melting tannins and superb length. Beautiful wine, but very young. — 3 months ago