The lineup of reds:
And the dessert:
Starting Champagne:
- N.V. Egly-Ouriet Champagne Brut Rosé Grand Cru
Really nice starter; light and refreshing with a pretty salmon-orange colour and lovely flavours of raspberry, apple, biscuit and touches of caramel. Well balanced with bright acidity and good length.
- 1970 Château Mouton Rothschild
Stunning; surprisingly dark red in colour for a 39 year old wine with an awesome aromatic profile of leather, cigar smoke, red fruits, earth and truffles. Phenomenal in the mouth - there's a sense of restrained power here with deep savoury leathery, earthy and truffle flavours that take your attention away from the gentler red fruited notes, and with time this unveils more chocolate and smoky dimensions. Fully mature with resolved tannins, bright acidity underneath and a silky, polished texture in the mouth. Started to fade a little after an hour+ of air, but until then was really amazing to drink. - 1986 Vieux Château Certan
Slightly musty on the nose at first (a few of us wondered if it was TCA), but with air this clears up and some savoury red fruits, cassis, tobacco and herbs emerge in the flavour profile. Rich and silken textured in the mouth, finishing long. - 1989 Château Lynch-Bages
This is a 20 year old wine? Quite dark in colour and very primary in its flavour profile with lots of ripe currant, plum and cassis flavours, touches of graphite and earth emerging underneath and firm tannins lurking underneath. With some air the aromatics really develop and pick up some herbal, chocolate and smoky nuances and there's fantastic balance in the mouth with a silky, polished texture and the acidity and tannins combining perfectly with the rich dark fruited flavours. Fantastic length, still shockingly young now but already an amazing wine (that was only getting better through the night).
- 1983 Château Brane-Cantenac
Wild aromatics here, very leathery and earthy with touches of meat, violets and red fruits; almost Rhonish in its flavour profile. Lovely in the mouth; elegant and silken textured with tannins fully resolved, plenty of acidity giving it lift and a medium length finish. - 1983 Château Margaux
Haunting aromatics; a combination of violets, leather, spices, cigar smoke and red and dark fruited flavours merging into one awesome fragrance that keeps expanding and gaining more nuances and dimensions with air. In the mouth it's all silk, most of the flavours from the aromatics echoed on the palate with amazing finesse and elegance; the texture is incredibly smooth and gentle with tannins mostly resolved and good acidity beneath, finishing with great length. Spectacular. - 1988 Château Margaux
Quite disappointing after the amazing '83 Margaux; this seems a lot more awkward with the oak sticking out amidst dark fruited flavours, earth, graphite and floral elements. This doesn't have the polish or balance of the other older Bordeaux on the table with the tannins quite angular and slightly abrasive and the woody elements dominating the fruit and earth on the finish.
- 1989 Château d'Yquem
Mindblowing stuff, with so many layers of flavours ranging from ripe tropical fruits and honey to vanilla cream and floral elements that it's impossible to describe adequately. There's tremendous power and depth here - yet it feels incredibly light and elegant on its feet with perfect balance despite the sheer richness and viscosity of the wine and an incredibly long finish.