Tasting Notes

WA98

At one time a perfect wine, my three-digit score has dropped simply because I am not sure the huge tannins this wine possesses will ever fully melt away. Nevertheless, it is still one of the greatest wines I have ever tasted for its tremendous singularity and intensity. The color is still a murky plum/purple that shows a bit of amber at the edge. The nose is strikingly intense, with an almost liquid minerality intermixed with fig, truffle, spice, plum, and black cherry as well as blueberry. In the mouth the wine is massive, with searing levels of tannins, but monumental levels of extract and concentration. I would not be surprised if some of the great 1928s or 1945s tasted like this in their first 20 years of life. This wine is still very backward, yet with decanting of 6-10 hours (the normal operative procedure when opening this wine), the wine is prodigious. A 50 to 75-year wine? Anticipated maturity: 2005-2050. Last tasted, 8/02.

V98

The 1975 Lafleur has always been a monumental wine and this was one of the best examples that I have had the pleasure to drink. Deep in color, it is endowed with an ineffably complex bouquet that is extraordinarily perfumed for its age: red fruit, briary, sandalwood, broom, rose petals and sage. It gains volume and intensity with every swirl of the glass whilst never losing one iota of freshness. The palate is medium-bodied, the tannins have melted since I first encountered the 1975 over a decade ago. Yet there is still immense density and grace to this Pomerol – utterly harmonious with a leafy and autumnal finish. That is not to infer that it is approaching the end of its drinking plateau. It is a wine built in very deep foundations and well-stored bottles will continue to leave jaws dropped on floors. Tasted at the “International Wine & Business” Lafleur dinner at Ten Trinity, London.

Other wines you may like