I'm on a long term mission to drink a bottle of birth year bottle of every first-growth. I decided to use my graduation from Oxford as an excuse to get bottle #3- 1986 Chateau Haut Brion.
I've had two other birth year bottles so far and this was by and far the best. The '86 Margaux was good but had noticeably faded and the '86 Latour tasted like full bodied vinegar.
I started drinking after decanting for about 30 minutes thinking that was enough time to let the sediment settle out but the wine didn't really open up until after an hour (and boy did it!). Lots and lots of smoke and tobacco with mellow tannins and a very long finish.
by PNWSki28622
2 Comments
Mmmmm, delicious tertiary notes. Any fruit left at all? Look at that color! Unless the warm tones of the lighting are throwing me off, it was a little oxidized, no? What color was it, OP?
Meanwhile, me in 1987, cursed to not have any quality French wines for my birth year!
Eager to hear your notes on Mouton and Lafite 1986. Both are supposed to be legendary