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Wines with Age

Wines with Age

Wines with Age

If you spend even a single day talking to an experienced wine enthusiast, the topic of vintages will come up. Every producer will create a slightly different mixture each year because the conditions change. Completely unpredictable weather scenarios can affect the yearly grape harvest and alter the taste and texture of the wine. As a result, every brand comes with recommended years or best vintages. In a way, it takes a miracle to create the best possible wine because many factors have to align. Sampling a vintage gives you an insight into the weather patterns and other natural conditions of that given year – it’s like receiving visions of the past, and can hold great sentimental value if the year is otherwise important to you.

Not every wine is made to last a century, which means you have to search very carefully. A truly great wine stands out instantly, as it’s complex and subtle enough to rival the most intricate paintings and classical compositions. The flavors develop and evolve over time, creating a colorful collage of scents that perfume your mouth and spirit, leaving an emotional, rich aftertaste. It becomes incredibly hard to stop at one glass, believe us.

Being able to pick out wines is a skill that requires years to fully develop, much like the wines themselves. Acidic wines, ones with residual sugar, and precisely tuned alcohol levels tend to mature much better than their ordinary counterparts. Good things come to those who wait, and there is no better example than finely-aged wine. Let us guide you through some choice picks, wines that will give your collection more longevity, so that you may one day tell stories to your children about life-defining moments that sprouted from these fertile elixirs.
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1990 cheval blanc Bordeaux Red

The standout wine of the entire tasting. Powerful, smooth, mouthfilling sweetness, still deeply coloured. You will find it hard to track down this wine on the market today, and even more difficult to avoid paying crazy sums for it, but I can assure you that it stands out for the intense, finely picked-out, fleshy fruit notes of sweet damson and plum unrolling against smoked coffee and liquorice notes. Truffles, tobacco and exotic spices are all here – and it’s hard to imagine how it can have done better. Oh, and Le Petit Cheval in this vintage was 98% Cabernet Franc, so another one to look out for if the beauty of the Cabernet in the main wine is anything to go by. Harvest 11-25 September, 40hl/ha yield. They made 76% first wine and 12% Petit Cheval, with the rest sold off in bulk. Drinking Window 2018 - 2032Decanter | 100 DECThis wine has overtaken its closest rival, the 1982. Dense ruby purple with only a bit of lightening at the edge, the explosive nose of black fruits and cassis intermixed with coffee, menthol, and leather is followed by an opulent, splendidly concentrated wine that is sheer nectar. With no hard edges, gorgeously integrated glycerin, tannin, acidity, and alcohol are all present in this seamless classic. The wine has been gorgeous since youth, but is now revealing more aromatic and flavor nuances into the game. This is spectacular stuff! Anticipated maturity: Now-2015. Last tasted, 12/02.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 1990 Chateau Cheval Blanc is fully mature at this stage, with a complex, Burgundian style in its forest floor, sweet red and black fruits, dried flowers, cigar tobacco, and spice-laced aromas and flavors. Possessing an ethereal, elegant texture, full body, resolved tannins, and no hard edges, it’s a heavenly example of this terroir that’s drinking at point today. There’s no upside here, but it should keep nicely for another 15-20 years.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JDThe 1990 Cheval Blanc is a vintage that once upon a time I drank regularly, although I had not seen it since March 2016. Poured against the 1990 Lafite-Rothschild, this is the clear winner. Still youthful in color with modest bricking. The bouquet explodes from the glass with kirsch, mulberry, antique furniture and black truffle scents. With aeration it becomes more savory, the Cabernet Franc wanting to see more of the olfactory action. The palate is medium-bodied and comes equipped with a stunning velvety texture. This Saint-Émilion feels spherical, conveying a sense of controlled decadence but avoiding any ostentation. This is as good a bottle as I have encountered over the years. Brilliant. Tasted at Noble Rot’s “Xmas” dinner.Vinous Media | 98 VMThis is really wonderful and a big surprise for the tasting with wonderful flowers, dark berries and hints of currants on the nose. It’s full and very silky with a wonderful precision and finesse. Goes on and on. Wow. What a finish. This is a buy call. So outstanding. Just a baby but a joy to drink.James Suckling | 97 JSDark ruby red. Superripe aromas of raisins, dried plums and intense truffle. Full-bodied, chewy and layered, with lovely ripe fruit. Such beauty. Serious Cheval.--Bordeaux retrospective. Drink now. 12,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

100
DEC
As low as $1,470.00
2003 ausone Bordeaux Red

Amazing! The limestone soils of Ausone appear to have been the perfect foil for resisting the extreme heat and drought of June, July and August, 2003. This black/purple-colored effort boasts a glorious nose of violets, truffles, lead pencil shavings, blueberry and blackberry liqueur. Full-bodied with staggering concentration, a voluptuous texture, low acidity and well-integrated, melted tannins, this deep, multidimensional, profound Bordeaux is beginning to drink exceptionally well. It should continue to do so for another two decades or more.Robert Parker | 100 RPLoads of blackberry, plum and strawberry. Intense fruit. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and layers of everything. Wonderful balance and refinement. Closed up already. Very serious wine. Best after 2012. 1,375 cases made.Wine Spectator | 96 WSFull ruby. Black raspberry, mocha, minerals, graphite and nutty oak on the superripe nose. Extravagantly rich and sweet in the mouth without coming off as heavy. This boasts extraordinary fruit intensity and verve (it’s hard to imagine cabernet franc better than this), and finishes with great palate-staining persistence. But this powerfully tannic wine may already be starting to shut down in the bottle. Like the 2005, it will need a decade of aging at a minimum, and possibly a lot longer.Vinous Media | 95+ VM

100
RP
As low as $905.00
1998 cheval blanc Bordeaux Red

The 1998 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 65% Merlot and 35% Cabernet Franc, is deep garnet-brick in color and absolutely explodes with scents of exotic spices, incense, dried roses, cigar box and licorice, with a core of crème de cassis and dried cherries plus touches of black tea and dusty earth. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the mouth with rich, plushly textured fruit and then POW—it hits the mid-palate with an explosion of Chinese five spice and floral perfume sparks, leading to an epically long finish. This cannot fail to impress and can easily cellar for another 30 years or more.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPAnother perfect wine is the 1998 Chateau Cheval Blanc, which is the usual blend of 55/45 Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Possessing an utterly captivating bouquet of sweet red and black fruits, forest floor, spice and dried flowers, it packs plenty of muscle and depth on the palate, yet is also expansive, elegant and seamless, with no hard edges. Just singing, with everything you could want; complexity, richness, elegance, depth, and length, drink this sensational beauty any time over the coming two decades. I’m sure it will keep longer, but why in the world would you wait.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDThe reference chateau of the vintage, this wine is showing its class here and then some. It was the first year with Bernard Arnault and Albert Frère as owners, with Pierre Lurton coming onboard from his former role at Clos Fourtet. 10% press wine was used, whereas today they use no press wine in the grand vin. It was aged in 100% new oak. The 36ha of vines yielded 32hl/ha, closer to their average than the relatively abundant 1989). The holdings have since expanded to 39ha with the addition of 3ha from Tour du Pin Figeac. 67% of production went in to the grand vin, the rest into Petit Cheval. This is seductive and rich but with a purity and precision. There’s more Merlot in the blend than is typical because the clay soils produced the best quality grapes, and you can see its impact in the textural density - the proximity to Pomerol comes through. Drinking Window 2019 - 2036Decanter | 100 DECAromas of blueberry, sweet tobacco, leather and pipe tobacco turning to raisins and Christmas cake. What a wine. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and a very well-integrated palate. Dark color. A big and powerful wine still. Blockbuster. Massive. Just a baby.—’88/’98 Bordeaux blind retrospective (2008). Best after 2013. 8,330 cases made, 1,600 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 98 WSAromas of rose petal and hints of fresh herbs such currant leaf. Tobacco, too. Medium body, very fine tannins and a balanced fruit. Extremely refined and polished. A beautiful harmony. So lovely now.James Suckling | 96 JSThe 1998 Cheval Blanc has been a lauded wine ever since release. I have often, quite controversially felt that it never quite matched its startling performances in its first ten years, though it remains and excellent wine. Now at 20-years old it offers opulent, high-toned scents of maraschino cherry, iodine, crème de cassis, dried blood and a subtle, almost Provençal herb-like scent courtesy of the Cabernet Franc. The palate is medium-bodied with fine grip, showy compared to other vintages of Cheval Blanc with sappy red fruit and a fine structured that lends this 1998 focus. Perhaps this bottle did not quite deliver the intensity on the finish that I was expecting, "jogging" instead of "sprinting" over the finish line. That said, it is a very impressive wine, even if personally I would not put it amongst the very best wines that Pierre Lurton has overseen. Tasted at Cheval Blanc.Vinous Media | 95+ VMNo written review provided. | 95 W&S

100
RP
As low as $1,499.00
1990 beausejour duffau Bordeaux Red

One of the most singular Bordeaux I have ever tasted, it verges on being port-like, but it pulls back because of the extraordinary minerality and laser-like focus. The wine is massively concentrated, still black/purple-hued to the rim, and offers a nose of incense, blackberries, blueberry liqueur, acacia flowers, and forest floor. It reveals low acidity and high tannins, which are largely concealed by the sheer concentration and lavish glycerin the wine possesses. Aging at a glacial pace, it is approachable, but it will not hit its peak until 2020; it should last for twenty years thereafter. Release price: ($1200.00/case)Robert Parker | 100 RPLiquid cashmere. Stupendous St.-Emilion. Dark ruby color. Wonderful aromas of blackberries, preserved cherries, Indian spices and violets. Full-bodied, with fabulously polished tannins and a long, long finish.--1990 Bordeaux retrospective. Best after 2006. 3,000 cases made.Wine Spectator | 98 WSParker made this wine a legend when he gave it 100 points on release. And I have had perfect bottles in my life of it. BTW, the 1989 is almost as good. This bottle that I had this week in Hong Kong was very, very closed and not giving the opulent character that I have encountered in this wine. It had been decanted three hours in advance and I still triple decanted it after tasting it because it was so shy on the palate. The 1990 Beausejour Duffau-Lagarosse seems to be going through a dumb period right now but it shows some fascinating dried fruit, mushroom and earth character. It’s full and chewy. I would leave it for a year or so and come back. A living, sort of bitchy wine at the moment.James Suckling | 96 JSDeep ruby to the rim. Extravagant aromas of black fruits, violets, and toffee. Voluptuous and sweet; this has outstanding concentration but with so much baby fat there’s little delineation on the palate. Finishes with a kick of alcohol and substantial ripe tannins. Very dense, but while a flight of other top right-bank wines were sending off fireworks in the glass, this chunky wine sat like a lump of coal.Vinous Media | 91 VM

100
RP
As low as $1,799.00
2000 la clusiere Bordeaux Red

Now extinct, as this tiny 2.6-acre micro-vineyard was absorbed into Chateau Pavie, the 2000 La Clusiere (100% Merlot) was bestowed a perfect score seven years ago, and I see no reason to change that as it remains a monumental effort. Aromas of creme de cassis, blueberry liqueur, charcoal, licorice, and graphite are followed by a stunningly rich, full-bodied, elegant, pure, gentle giant of a wine. Approaching full maturity, it should age effortlessly for another 30+ years. Kudos to proprietor Gerard Perse.Robert Parker | 100 RPGood medium ruby. Superripe but lively aromas of kirsch and chocolate. Sweet, sappy and full, with high-toned flavors of cherry, blackberry and licorice. This offers compelling sweetness and concentration of flavor without going over the top, thanks to its firm mineral spine. Lively and very long on the finish. Bottled without filtration in February of this year.Vinous Media | 93 VMA big and smoky wine, with lots of oak and vanilla character, as well as ripe fruit. Full-bodied and chewy. A bit exaggerated, but very impressive. Modern and oaky Merlot, and I like it. Still not in bottle in early December.Wine Spectator | 89-92 WS

100
RP
As low as $1,375.00

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