TNs: 1982 Pichon-Lalande and Leoville-las-Cases

[Baby Chickpea]

1982 Château Pichon-Lalande
Mid red with some hints of brown edging. Bouquet? Perfect. Quite perfect. What can I say? Superlatives roll off the tongue - deep, rich, exotic, juicy, flamboyant, perfumed. All sorts of things magically appear with each nostril thrust. HereÂ’s more: blackberries, cedar, liquorice, spice, salami, plums, 85%-cocoa dark chocolate, and florals. Breathtaking stuff! The palate is immaculate with stunning balance, exceptional length (but not as perfect as the 82 LLC), and beautiful structure. Purity of fruit is meticulously integrated with super-fine tannins and oak augmentation. Showing much better than the bottle had earlier this year (TN here). An absolute delight to drink. Lovely counterpoint to the LLC, almost its antithesis but no less the wine. The LLC is the profound, brooding intellectual, the Pichon the Delilah, the feminine temptress to LLCÂ’s Samson. More Balzac and Proust to LLCÂ’s Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Honestly, there is noting to quibble about with this wine, such is its near perfection. For my palate, at the peak of its not inconsiderable powers.
97 / 100

1982 Château Leoville-las-Cases
Decanted for half an hour but my excitement could no longer wait! Colour is simply extraordinary for a 20+-year-old wine. Deep red with no hint of brown. Still almost impenetrable when held up to the light. Bouquet is focussed. Powerful. Full. Youthful. Yet offers a subtle cornucopia of ash, coffee, spice, sweet tar (like visiting a Boral asphalt road laying plant), assorted black (and I mean black) fruits, rich mud cake, chocolate, and reminiscent of the Styx Valley forest floor of Tasmania with its massive +100-year-old Eucalyptus regnans trees. Every whiff reveals something new. Absolutely seamless. First impressions of the palate? Perfect balance despite the amazing concentration and intensity. Secondly, a 50-second length that coats the mouth. Sheer class and distinction. A cascade of integrated elements (fruit, oak, tannin, acid), impossible to isolate and differentiate such is their precise fusion. Superb drinking at the moment but will maintain this qualitative momentum for 20 years at least I think if cellared well. Tastes 5 years old. Lots of sediment, which I happily devoured. 25mls left overnight in my glass were still amazing 36 hours later for my 6am breakfast! Despite its legendary reputation, still a revelation and epiphany when opened. I cannot imagine many better wines out there. My stylistic preference is for this marginally ahead of the 82 Pichon tasted along side. The first of my dozen bottles to be drunk (paid only US$50 / A$70 a bottle on release!). Oh, what pleasures lie ahead for the following 11 years Â…. Spectacular stuff!
98 / 100

[Neville K]

Thanks for the notes Danny,
Salivating reading. Next Monday a Melbourne East Offline will be teaming an 82 Las cases with an 82 La Fleur Petrus; a 90 Cristal v 90 Krug and other goodies. So it was very prescient reading.

Neville K

[Baby Chickpea]

Sounds like a great tasting Neville! Look forward to your notes, especially on the 82 LFP (I've only got one solitary bottle) but Pomerols are quickly becoming my favourite Bordeaux (unfortunate for my wallet though).

[markg]

Great descriptions, thanks Danny. Made me green with envy

Have you tried any of the latest releases ?

[Baby Chickpea]

Th last vintages of LLC and PL i got were the 96 and the 98 and given the size of my cellar and the fact that I have only been recently getting into my 1982s and 1985s it will be several years before I get to the 96 and 98s.

[Rob]

Hi Danny,

Had a bottle of the 1990 Pichon-Lalande. It was excellent. Very similar to your note but with more fruit and less secondary characters. Sadly it was my last bottle .

Thanks for the great note