My knowledge of these two vintages is
less complete than those I have hitherto written on, so I am lumping them
together. My knowledge of 1976 is particularly sketchy.
1975
Overall rating ****
As in 1994 there were high hopes for
this vintage after three duff years, but fearing adverse weather around the
harvest growers may have picked too early, which may have contributed to many
of the wines' astringent tannins. Many of the 1975s have proven to be
long-lived, but lack charm. In a lot of cases the tannins have outlived the fruit.
But this is by no means universally true. There are quite a few wines where the
fruits have lived with the tannins, which have resolved to leave beautifully
balanced mature, old school, clarets.
The 1975 I have tried more than any
other is Mouton Rothschild, which is highly variable; but good bottles fit this
description and are absolutely glorious. I remember one such example I drank on a perfect, still, London summer evening with my good friend Robin Marshall, which
will linger in the memory. There are quite a few other wines which fit
this template including Lynch-Bages, Beychevelle, Branaire Ducru, Ducru
Beaucaillou, Giscours and La Lagune.
These are wonderfully old school
clarets with a certain dustiness, reminiscent of old church pews or school
halls. Wines like the ever so quirky Sociando Mallet, Leoville-Barton,
Leoville-Lascases, Gruaud-Larose, Talbot and Palmer have brawnier and more obtrusive
tannins, but are still fun to drink because the fruit has held in as tertiary nuances
of old leather arm chairs and furniture polish have come to the fore.
What also marks out 1975 as being
special is the handful of spectacular wines in Graves and Pomerol, only a
couple of which I have tried. Chateau Petrus is the most impressive wine I
have encountered from this vintage. It is big, brooding, powerful and will last
for many decades. When I last tried it about ten years ago it was nowhere close
to its plateau of maturity but was already a formidable wine.
Although I am a stickler for old
school wines some are too austere and curmudgeonly for their own good. The 1975
Latour, like the 1979, is such a wine and is also on a slow boat to China. It
will never die, but neither will it give any pleasure. Pichon Lalande is
another wine I don’t get on with, probably because whenever I have had it, it
has been in conjunction with the much more yielding and voluptuous Pichons from
the late 70s.
I tried Haut-Brion out of double
magnum a few years back, and I was not overly impressed with that either,
though it is highly regarded. I have not had the good fortune to have
tried the legendary La Mission, nor La Tour Haut Brion. Neither have I tried
many of the other legendary right bankers like Lafleur, Le Gay or Trotanoy. The
1975s from my favourite right bank estates of La Conseillante and Figeac I
tried were both corked.
Top ten clarets from 1975
10. Leoville-Barton
9. Gruaud-Larose
8. Giscours
7. Ducru-Beaucaillou
6. Pape Clement
5. Lynch-Bages
4. La Lagune
3. Sociando-Mallet
2. Mouton-Rothschild
1. Petrus
Notable wines not tried
Calon Segur, Montrose, Cos
D'Estournel, Lafite, Grand-Puy-Lacoste, La Mission Haut-Brion, La Tour
Haut-Brion, Ausone, Cheval Blanc, L'Evangile, Lafleur, Le Gay, Trotanoy, Vieux
Chateau Certan
1976
Overall rating *** (at its peak) ** (now)
You don't come across many 1976s these
days. As in 1975 the best wines were made in Sauternes and Barsac. The 1976
Chateau d'Yquem, like the 1975, is one of the greatest sweet wines ever made.
Most of the 1976 clarets are in serious decline if they are still alive.
However there are some exceptions. One is the glorious Chateau Figeac, a
candidate for wine of the vintage. That accolade, however, goes to Ausone,
which has that little bit extra 'je ne sais quoi'. Elsewhere on the right bank
it would be difficult to find anything that is holding up outside of Cheval
Blanc and Petrus (I have tried the former but not the latter).
On the left bank there are quite a few
wines which are still hanging in there. Notable among them is Latour, which has
the habit of making good wines when others find the going tough. In 1976 though
it wasn't so much that the wines were bad, it was just that they didn't make
old bones. Again Latour has a knack of making durable wines in these kinds of
vintages. It did so in 1967 and 1973, and the 1976 Latour is much nicer than
the 1975. Apparently Lafite is very good in 1976, albeit variable. I have not
had the pleasure. One wine that again showed very strongly in 1976 was La
Lagune. Another is Branaire Ducru.
Top five wines in 1976
5. Branaire Ducru
4. Latour
3. La Lagune
2. Figeac
1. Ausone
Notable wines not tried
Lafite, Petrus
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