WTN: 94 LLC, 79 Pontet Canet, 75 Torres GC

[Jenise]

We've been drinking well this week:

1994 Leoville Las Cases, St. Julien Still youthful. Big, sweet blackberry and blackcurrant nose with a bit of bing cherry and plum on the palate. Good complexity with some damp forest notes of mushroom and cedar. Open and inviting (though never lush) after an hour in a decanter with slightly abrasive tannins and good acidity. Shows the austerity of the vintage but everything's in balance, and it rewards food. I'm very happy to have two more bottles.

1979 Pontet Canet, Paulliac High shoulder fill. Decanted to separate out the sediment, of which there was very little. Garnet red color, very good for it's age. Quite a contrast after the taut, youthful Leoville LC. That one was a good office chair, this one's a Barca-lounger. Easy-going and plush on the palate with fully resolved tannins, leathery black cherry and red plum fruit, and ample cigar box and lead pencil. Not quite as good as a bottle I had about two years ago and very much needing to be drunk, but good nonetheless.

1975 Torres Gran Corona Gran Reserva, Spain Decanted to separate out sediment of which there was none clinging to the bottle, just a bit of fine silt in the last half inch or so of the wine (which I drank!). Good mauve-red color with clear rim. Made from 75% cab sauv, 10% cab franc and 15% a grape I'd never heard of before. Fabulous, aromatic nose, the kind you're so happy to smell you put off actually drinking the wine--full of raisins, plums, dates, tea and chocolate. Similar on the palate with vibrant acidity. Over two hours and just as we finished it, I noted a bit of an imbalance between the fruit and the acidity crept in, but whether the wine was fading or just trying to take another nap would be debatable. An outstanding wine experience.

Thanks for the notes. I'm generally a fan of '79s, at least in context of what they go for at auction.

Thanks for the great notes, Jenise. I recently tried the '94 LLC, as well, and came away with similar impressions that it is more about austerity right now and needs some time to hopefully dial up some more charm and more manageable tannins down the line.

1994 Chateau Leoville Las Cases St. Julien. I definitely enjoy the nose of this St. Julien, which sports pretty aromas of black cherry, camphor, cloves, campfire embers, iodine and peat moss. However, it is rather dry on the palate right now, with fairly burly tannins in abundance. There are some fine dark cherry and rich cranberry fruit flavors in a chalky-textured package that shows more austerity than charm. There are good raw ingredients here, but it is not drinking with much finesse or overt enjoyment at this stage in its evolution. I would definitely not give up on it, but rather re-evaluate in 5 years.

-Michael

I bought a few of the '94 LLC and generally agree with your assessments, in particular, the need to leave it alone for at least another 5 years. I consider LLC one of the best examples I've tried from this difficult vintage. From the only bottle I've opened in the last several years I anticipated its best drinking window to be between 2010 and 2020. Thanks for the notes!

I just found my note from September 2005, which might add to the bigger picture of where this wine is going -

Saturated deep-ruby almost right the way to the edge with a touch of brick red near the meniscus. Gorgeous nose of intense blackcurrant, cedar and freshly turned, sweet wet earth backed by perfectly integrated newish savoury oak. Voluminous, creamy and quite full entry with masses of flavour - mostly cassis, new saddle leather, plenty of assertive savoury oak and grippy, medium-grained tannins cutting through the back-end that pucker the walls of the mouth and linger, almost, interminably. An amazingly pure, hedonistic, most serious St. Julien, not quite ready to my taste, but definitely built for the long haul. Drink 2010-2020. Excellent now, almost Outstanding with better things in store for those with patience.