WTN: 1981 Pomerols and other nice stuff!

It's always fun to try "off-vintages" because some of them can be surprisingly lovely. I still have very fond memories of the VCC 1973 that we tasted recently. 1981 wasn't at all as crappy a vintage as 73, and some have given it faint praise as an elegant vintage.

I'll admit that I liked these wines very much. They didn't offer many thrills but they were good solid right bankers and true to the terroirs.

In typical fashion we started off with a fully blind wine:
Château Clinet 1953
Still a deep colour. The nose was lovely and open, obviously has a bit of age (tentative guess: 1966) with a singed, sweet, earthy, high toned bouquet with lovely hints of tomato/rust like so many older wines have. The palate is sweetly fruity, still a touch tannic, with the loveliest acidity bringing in freshness and carrying the aftertaste to incredible lengths. What a nice wine!

Then we go to the tasting proper. All were served half blind:
Vieux Chateau Certan 1981 (magnum)
From a tasting glass the nose was stalky and green - fresh IMO, but I think some would have said underripe. From a bigger glass it was lovely and vegetal with nice lift and quite a bit of cabernet elements making me think this was Pavie as I so often get this sort of elements in St-Em. Nice concentration of fruit and lovely freshness and still fine structure.

Latour-à-Pomerol 1981
A typical Pomerol scent: plums, herbs, earth. A typical Pomerol palate: soft and fruity entry, rather dark toned in its fruit, gains acidity toward the end, is fleshy but also fresh. Nice stuff!

Clos René 1981
A touch of dung on the nose, soft and plummy, a bit of earth, but at times was totally mute. :confused: The palate was rather tannic and not in great balance - though still perfectly drinkable. Decent.

Clinet 1981
True Pomerol aromas are noticable on both nose and palate, but it does seem a touch watery. Nice enough, but on the level of some others tonight.

Trotanoy 1981
A typical Pomerol nose, fresh and high toned, but with that inimitable darker toned fruit (cliché as it is I'll call it plums). A perfectly balanced palate with a touch of tannins still making it good for a bloody chunk of meat. I think this and the VCC are the wines I'd most like on my table.

Pavie 1981
Also thrown in was one St-Emilion. Cassis-like, fresh nose, herbal. Nice fruit, great acidity, long. I really liked this wine, and thought it might be VCC - got these two mixed up.

Then it was time for two totally blind desserts:
St. Nicolas Cidre de Glace - Ice Cider 9%
The Canadians seem to make Ice everythings, not only Ice Wines. This had a nose of apple jam and a palate of acidless apple jam. Nice enough I suppose, but a bit cloying.

Domaine Pinnacle Cidre de Glace Pétillant 2004 11%
A strange, funky, earthy nose that I liked very much. The palate was in better balance that the still one as it had lovely acidity. Yum!

-Otto-

Thanks for the notes Otto.

Unfortunately, haven't had any of the wines even though I've had a reasonable number of different '81s . . . mostly left bank though.

I've appreciated the vintage, but some of the big wines that I had higher hopes for underachieved a bit . . . Latour, Cheval Blanc, LLC . . . certainly drinkable (and respectable wines with dinner), and as Mr. Andouze would probably say 'enjoyable in their own right' but missing some depth to the flavors and not extremely inspiring - at least for me.

Anyway, thanks,

Mike

Only one of these I've had was the Trotanoy, which I quite liked maybe 5 years back.

I agree with both of you re the vintage. Solid wines, but maybe a little low on the excitement factor. But very nice to accompany dinner. Unfortunately, probably most of the time I've had '81s recently it has been as part of a vertical. Hard for the '81 Gruaud or Lynch Bages to shine if in a flight with their '82 & '83 compatriots (or the '81 Cheval Blanc next to the stunning '83)

I've appreciated the vintage, but some of the big wines that I had higher hopes for underachieved a bit . . . Latour, Cheval Blanc, LLC . . . certainly drinkable (and respectable wines with dinner), and as Mr. Andouze would probably say 'enjoyable in their own right' but missing some depth to the flavors and not extremely inspiring - at least for me.

I agree with both of you re the vintage. Solid wines, but maybe a little low on the excitement factor. But very nice to accompany dinner. Unfortunately, probably most of the time I've had '81s recently it has been as part of a vertical. Hard for the '81 Gruaud or Lynch Bages to shine if in a flight with their '82 & '83 compatriots (or the '81 Cheval Blanc next to the stunning '83)

I haven't tried the big guns from the left bank. I agree, they will pale in comparison with some vintages. Which is nice, because it means that I can get these cheaply! It's possible to get perfectly decent 1981s for under 40€ which I think is a bargain in that they are fully mature and dashed nice wines - even if they lack a bit of thrill.