We do not pray. But sometimes in that same spirit we make toasts, and sad about learning that the marriage of some good friends who like us were married in this vintage is in trouble, we chose this wine to accompany a cold summer dinner platter of leftover roast beef and broccolini with a rosemary vinaigrette so that we could raise our glasses to B & D and ask whatever gods there are to help us help them through the coming weeks and months.
The wine was up to the task. Not decanted but poured straight to glass through a Nuance filter, the wine needed only a minute or two of air time to knit together. Dense brickish dark red color, flavors of plums, herbs, earth and just a hint of toffee in the finish. Tannins seem completely resolved. It's the only aged Cantemerle I've had but for a too-old 1970 a few years ago. Not as complex as I might have hoped based on a young vintage 2000 Cantemerle (the first Cantemerle I ever had, therefore what I compare to) and other 86's, and though categorically no more than Very Good compared to what's possible, Very Good is always good enough for me. That is, I didn't find any upside potential here but it stayed on course during the two hours we lingered over the bottle.