December 2014

Fine color.  Thick with sous-bois on entry but he finds his inner-symmetry in short order.  Mature scents of old-leather, dried-blood, black-truffle and sandalwood.  He’s vital and smoky, distinctly more black-fruited character than the ’79.  Still a lion, he’s the clever one, his authority built on guile and tension rather than size and length.  You can still keep this.  Now – 2018.

January 2013

Thirty years on tasting.

Garnet core, touch of mahogany, good amplitude up to the rim.  Distinguished on the nose: tarry blackberry, spent-violet, mineral notes of pencil lead.  Firm, rich and composed on the palate.  In concentration, more open-knit than ’82, ’85.  So while it will be one of the vintage’s longest-lived wines (Léoville-Las-Cases is usually in that conversation) its future is more finite.  A classic St.-Julien.  Now – 2018.