1982 Château Haut-Brion

From 29 JAN 2012:  All I can say is that I couldn't be any more grateful to have such generous friends.  In the past year, I have had the chance to drink amazing bottle of Krug, Burgundies from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, and many first growth Bordeaux, including this one, poured by my good NYC pal Philipe on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon.

The cork came out of this bottle and was about 90% soaked through.  The bottle was then decanted through cheesecloth, and served at cellar temp.  This was allowed to warm up in the glass and decanter, and consumed over the course of 4 hours.

First thing you notice is in the glass is the garnet, ruby color, and there is definitely some bricking going on. 

On the nose, this is pure Graves Bordeaux, aged, and gorgeous!  There was however a bit of funk on the nose, but this seemed to blow off after about 20 minutes.  When I say funk, I am referring to some dirty barnyard, and perhaps a hint on green pepper.

Once this blew off, the plum overwhelmed the nose, with some nice hint of cassis, and dark black fruits.  In all honesty, the fruit was a bit subdued compared to the two other times I have had this wine.  Perhaps storage was an issue with this wine, or perhaps this was a fake!  Kidding of course, but that is a funny topic for another blog entry!

Aside from the fruit, this had some classic pencil lead, tobacco, leather saddle, toast, and hints of Asian spice on the nose.  Again, not the best nose of an '82, but it was still opening up at this point.

Upon first sip, you get can tell this is a classically aged Bordeaux.  On the palate, there is some tart blackberry, more cassis, plum, and dark currants.  There is still plenty of life left in the fruit on this wine, and it continued to evolve as we consumed this bottle.   The longer in the glass, the more the fruit started to come out over the course of 2 hours.  After that, it seemed to plateau. There were also some nice spice notes. 

This wine was very smooth on the palate, and it went down easy peasy as expected.  This finish was very nice, and lasted a good 30-45 seconds.  The tannins were there during the first glass, but at the 2 hour mark, it was almost as though they were non-existent. 

All in all, I couldn't be anymore thankful to have had the opportunity to have this wine again, and if I did have any in my cellar, I wouldn't hesitate to pop one.  Though this has many years still ahead of it, I just cannot see it getting much better than this.  This was one of those wines that I will always remember.  Thank you Philipe!  Cheers!