The claret vintage series: part four 1982

Overall vintage rating *****

The most celebrated modern day vintage, 1982 lives up to its heralded reputation judging by two thirtieth year anniversary horizontal tastings I helped to organise in London and New York last year. At the top level the wines are strong on both banks and most are in a very good place. One notable exception is Lafite which is at least a decade away from its drinking window. Pristine examples of Leoville-Lascases are also remarkably backward. 

Further down the hierarchy there are many 1982s that are drinking well now, ranging from rustic to delicious, but none of them are particularly profound or complex.  These include wines like Leoville-Barton, Talbot, (a surprisingly ordinary) Palmer, Prieure-Lichine, Batailley, Sociando-Mallet on the left bank and Certan De May, L' Evangile, Canon and Figeac on the right bank. None of these wines are nearly compelling enough to challenge for top billing but they are, nevertheless, most enjoyable. 

Wines which are a step up from these would include a surprisingly backward Grand Puy Lacoste, Les Forts De Latour, equally delicious wines from Lynch Bages and Pichon Baron, fine efforts from Giscours and Branaire-Ducru, a scrumptious La Lagune and on the right bank a beguiling Magdelaine. Wines which came very close to making the top ten cut but didn't quite make it include the really splendid St-Juliens made at Ducru-Beaucaillou and Gruaud-Larose.

Another unlucky not to make the top ten in this trophy vintage is Ausone, which I have drank out of half bottles in recent years. In many ways it is my sentimental favourite 1982 because it is an utterly captivating wine, and a perfect albeit understated expression of proper old-style St-Emilion. On its own it is beautiful, but in horizontals it is easily overlooked.

Wines I have not tried include La Mission Haut Brion and Lafleur. I did try Petrus in 2000, and it was young and a bit awkward, and notably out classed by the 1978; but judgement reserved because I suspect it will turn out to be worthy of the name once it is resolved.  

Until recently the star of this vintage was not a first growth. It was a second growth: the remarkable and dazzling Pichon Lalande. It consistently stole the show at 1982 horizontal tastings, leaving its more illustrious brethren trailing in its wake. This estate enjoyed a purple patch between 1978 and 1989, consistently making wines that ranked in the top handful in the vintage, but in 1982 the wine is utterly extraordinary.

Unlike many other big names the precocious 1982 Pichon Lalande has been drinking beautifully from a very young age, even as early as 1990 when I was first mesmerised by it. However, like the breakaway cyclist at the Tour de France, it has now been caught up by the peleton, where most of the first growths have been biding their time. At our April 2012 horizontal of 1982s, Pichon Lalande was among the also rans, and for the first time it appeared to have lost some of its grip and vitality. It may have just been that particular bottle, but my gut tells me this may now be more representative than idiosyncratic.

Of the other 'super seconds' Cos D'Estournel and Leoville Lascases can also be enthralling. In 2012, tasted side by side the latter clearly had the measure of Gruaud-Larose. Meanwhile, La Conseillante on the right bank is consistently magical. Mouton-Rothschild is one if the most celebrated, but also controversial 1982s, which divides opinions like no other. The bottle we had in April 2012 was fabulously enjoyable and flamboyant, but was not the star of the show because the calibre of the opposition was so high.

Top dogs in recent 1982 encounters have been Cheval Blanc, Haut-Brion, Margaux and Latour. Cheval Blanc and Haut-Brion are drinking perfectly now, while Margaux and Latour have the scope to improve even further. However, one wine now really stands out as the jewel in the 1982 crown. And that wine is Chateau Latour. For me the issue was put beyond any doubt when we tasted it along side the none-too-shabby 1983 and 1985 Latours in May this year. Among the 1982s Chateau Latour now proudly wears the maillot jaune. It ranks among not only greatest ever clarets, but among the most celebrated and legendary modern day wines. Entering its fourth decade it is now astonishing, and will remain so over the next few decades.

Top runners up

20. Les Forts De Latour
19. Picho Baron
18. Lynch Bages
17. Branaire Ducru
16. Giscours

15. La Lagune

14. Magdelaine

13. Gruaud-Larose

12. Ducru Beaucaillou

11. Ausone

My top ten wines in 1982

10. La Conseillante

9. Cos D'Estournel

8. Leoville-Lascases

7. Lafite

6. Mouton Rothschild

5. Pichon Lalande

4. Chateau Margaux

3. Haut-Brion

2. Cheval Blanc

1. Latour

Notable 1982s not tried

Calon Segur, La Tour Haut-Brion, Lafleur, Le Pin, Trotanoy, Vieux Chateau Certan

Vintage disappointments

Palmer, Petrus?