TNs: 1982 Château-Lascombes and du Tertre (Margaux)

[Baby Chickpea]

1982 Château du Tertre (Arsac, Margaux, Bordeaux, France)
80% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot, 5% petit verdot. Mid red with obvious brown edges. Very good clarity. Nose on first opening is very rich and powerful with exotic, sweet berries. Quite fragrant and perfumed. Lovely. A whiff of alcohol on the back end. Palate is initially very tannic. Decanted for 20 minutes, lovely wine with good balance. Tannins recede and integrate with a slight surplus on the finish. Good length. Fine and persistent after taste. A complete and rounded wine. Not great but very good and better than expected. Not overly dry with good residual primary fruit and some earth. Good effort. Started to decline after two hours but by then it was already nearly all gone.
88 / 100

1982 Château-Lascombes (Marguax)
63% cabernet sauvignon,33% merlot, 3% petit verdot, 1% cabernet franc. Mid red with brown on the rim. Sparkling clarity. Elegant nose, reminiscent of sweet red fruits and forest valleys. Still ripe and clean, with little development but very nice. Palate is very good and holding up better than expected. But I fear the wine is beginning its downward spiral as the tannins rise to the fore and overshadow the fruit. Medium bodied with good length. More elegant with primary fruit still in evidence. Time to drink up!
87 / 100

[London Correspondent]

Lascombes has a well documented history of underachievement, with often thin tannic wines during the 80's and early 90's. A change of ownership and an injection of capital and investment has seen that change.

Last bottle was a '95 which, FWIW, I found to be very good QPR. I remember surprisingly good balance and some suble nuances. Could have been the generally good vintage in Margaux.

Cheers,
JM