Flight one
La Lagune 1970 – fully mature,complex perfumed nose, smooth, languid, immensely satisfying, mellow, unobtrusive *****+
La Lagune 1978 – similar even more attenuated perfumed nose, slightly leaner and tauter on the palate, some cherries *****
Giscours 1970 – dumb initially this opened up beautifully, fabulous berried margaux fruit, full bodied – fantastic!******
Giscours 1975 – burly and tannic still some berry fruit lingering very enjoyable ***
A very strong flight to start. My wotf was the 70 Giscours. Likewise the group’s.
Flight two
Canon 1971 – shy and restrained but just beautiful wine caressing and sensusous *****
Figeac 1975 - corked
Trotanoy 1978 – By comparison, extrovert and sexy without being pornographic, lush plummy and exotic ******
Pavie 1979 – fabulously stinky lavatorial nose, all over the place but such a lot of fun to drink. Lively. ***
Trot was wotf for both myself and the group – this flight was brilliant fun even though I nearly cried when we found the Figeac was corked
Flight three
Pichon Lalande 1957 – Mark took the wrong bottle out - he meant to take the 1970 - the table generlly liked what for most of us was our first 57. Fresh and quite youthful, but also dull and unexciting. Behind its flightmates. ***
Pichon Lalande 1978 – this was an interesting an even contest with the 79. Last night it took its time to open…it has a bit more weight the 79 but otherwise v similar. *****
Pichon Lalande 1979 – slightly sharper and leaner like the 78 herby and complex. Both are a delight. *****
Evenly split – the group had the 57 5/4/4…for me the 78 shaded the 79 but both are fabulous
Flight four
Palmer 1970 – this never really got going, nothing overtly wrong with it, perhaps not well stored…it was lethargic but with some telltale Palmer aromatics ***
Palmer 1975 – a little bit tauter with a stern tannic framework this was very good, dark fruits, not elegant. We drank this flight without food and it was tough. ****
Palmer 1978 – Fantastic Palmer, young vibrant, complex; incredibly youthful. Many people’s wotn. ******
Palmer 1979 – in my opinion every bit as good as the 1978, very bright lively and youthful ******
Group winner was 1978, I had 78 and 79 tied
Flight five
Mouton 1975 – not a great bottle inside or out, it was all over the place. I have had a lot better 75 Moutons, stinky with a lot of brett and VA *
Latour 1975 – structured and tannic, nothing wrong with it but the fruit is buried somewhere ***
Latour 1979 – had an odd curried nose to it, otherwise fairly austere and lacking in fruit **
First growths but the weakest flight so far
Flight six
Haut Brion 1978 – pushes the envelope of funkiness, scorched earth, a great pleasure, a great bottle – I can still taste it now ******
Domaine de Chevalier 1978 – also classic graves, and only a head behind the HB *****
La Tour Haut Brion 1979 – a very solid wine, just lacking a bit of zest compared to the other two but very Graves-y ****
Flight seven
Montrose 1970 – a brute, tannic burly, barnyardy, rustic **
Montrose 1978 – more fruit, balance and a nice horsiness to this ***
Grand Puy Lacoste 1970 – this was on its last legs *
Flight eight
Yquem 1970 – a very great wine by any standards, thick and viscous with ethereal tangerine fruit ******
Filhot 1970 – pleasant enough but shows why Yquem is so revered ***
Gilette Crème De Tete 1978 – what a treat to finish off! Not as lush or as sweet as Yquem but really unique funky and pleasurable *****
When wines are this old you only have great bottles – my favourite wines last night were Yquem, Giscours 70, the two La Lagunes, the Trotanoy, 78 and 79 Palmer and the Haut Brion. Truly great bottles.
For the groupt the 1978 Palmer was WOTN, with '57 Pichon Lalande and 78 Haut Brion in close fight for second, followed by '78 Trot and 70 Giscours. Both La Lagunes, the Canon, Pavie, 78 Pichon Lalande, all Palmers, DDC, LTHB, and 78 Montrose got at least one vote.
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