Some notes on 1989 Grande-Puy Lacoste 375m

[sedhead]

Hello. I'm new to these boards.
I purchased this wine about 7 yeras ago at b-21[b-21.com] in fl. It is located on US 19 S. between Newport Richey and Tarpon Springs.
This wine was competely closed when I first opened it. I went out shopping for about 4 hours and tried again.
My first reaction to the aroma was that my mouth watered. Pavlovian? Strong odors of tannins and berries. Dark red color and crystal clear.
The tannis are still too strong for my taste but it is well balanced with the fruit. I also thought there was a "chocolately" aftertaste to it; very long finish. I still have one 1/2 bottle and two full sized[750m]left. I'm going to wait another 2-3 years before I try the other 1/2 bottle hoping the tannins will smooth out by that time.


[This message has been edited by sedhead (edited 12-13-2003).]

[This message has been edited by sedhead (edited 12-13-2003).]

[Innkeeper]

Hi Sedhead, and welcome to the Wine Board. I can understand that the full bottles are still in a hold status, but the 375! Smaller bottles usually age out much faster than their big brothers. The chocolately aftertaste was OK. You only mentioned tannin and fruit. How about acid? Without it, the wine may not improve at all. Anyhow, I guess I'm saying that a half bottle of anything that is almost fifteen years old and not ready is almost incredulous.

[sedhead]

I was always told that 1/2 bottles mature sooner but I think this wine has good potential and still needs to age more. The balance was very good as far acidity and fruit to my taste. I had other people try the wine and found it outstanding. I prefer softer tannins and feel this wine can age well. I'll find out in 2006. fingers crossed.

[Innkeeper]

Go for it. It is a fine wine from an excellent vintage.

[Kcwhippet]

I thought the 89's from Pauillac were fairly early maturing. It's very surprising the 375 isn't showing total maturity.

[sedhead]

Maybe the storeage temp. is set too low? Or I just like "over the hill" wine. So far this year I've had two 1985 Cal. Cabs.:

BV Latour lived up to all the good reviews I've read and I believe will hold up for at least 2-3 more years. I would rate this wine some where between outstanding and classic on the Wine Spectator scale.

Burgess Vintage Selection is just past it's peak. I had my last bottle of this over the holidays and it was not nearly as good as the one I had last year. I would rate this wine outstanding last year and very good this year.

[sedhead]

Correction on the Burgess. It was the Library Release.

[Kcwhippet]

Tom Burgess holds back a large quantity of each vintage's Cab to age at the winery then releases them some years later. That's why you'll frequently see vintages of his wines on the shelves that are much older than the recent vintages of most other wineries.

[sedhead]

The 1985 burgess library cab. I purchased was very well priced @ about $27 per bottle.[in 1997 or 1998] But I had to go thruogh a Florida distributor to order the wine because of our State's law. I finally found a wine store that would do that for me. The big liqour store chains here were not too helpful. It took about two months to get a "six pack" direct from the winery. Thank you, The Wine And Cheese Shop of Gainesville, fl.

[This message has been edited by sedhead (edited 12-12-2003).]

[wondersofwine]

In the past I have been fond of Grande Puy Lacoste and Grande Puy Ducasse (is there an 'e' and the end of Grand here--I'm not sure?) I have one half bottle left (I think of the Ducasse) and will probably open it in 2004. I believe it is approaching ten years old.

[sedhead]

I put the "E" on the end in error. I never had the ducasse. I believe the general consensus from the more experienced people on this board is that 1/2 bottles mature faster than full sized[750m] bottles. I'm assuming you have a 1993 so it should be ready to drink. Please post notes on this wine when you try it.

[This message has been edited by sedhead (edited 12-16-2003).]