TN: 1982 Château Beychevelle

[Baby Chickpea]

1982 Château Beychevelle (St.-Julien)
Super long cork – only 25% saturated. I timidly approached this wine with great trepidation given I’d heard this wine was on the downhill slope from certain posters on the Parker forum. I felt like Proust’s aristocratic stockbroker, M. Swann who, deeply in love and wildly obsessed with the ravishing and highly sought-after Odette, follows her every movement in hellish jealousy only to discover the heartbreaking truth – whom he painfully loves is a frequent visitor and participant in Paris’ lesbian salons and a “lady of the night”. How wrong I was, especially to put faith in solitary bottle TNs from cellars that lack proper provenance (especially for bottles of wine that are over 20 years of age). Colour is rich medium red with a minute dash of brick red. So far so good. Bouquet is at first extremely leathery and horse-like, reminiscent of an aged Hunter Valley shiraz from the 70s and 80s. 15 minutes (with some deft swirling) later the glass was jumping with perfumed black fruits, sweet cocoa, beetroot and iodine. Truly superb. Two out of two. Palate? Beautiful balance. Appears at its best and fully mature. More complete than the 83 Margaux. Outstanding length, finishing with wholly integrated tannins. The only flaw that detracts from first growth quality is that the second wave on the palate slide is not as persistent (but how many wines give you that second ride?). Then went and checked Robert Parker’s TN in his 4th edition Bordeaux book. He is spot on in every respect (score and description). Top wine. Given current auction prices for the 1982s, this stands out as a relative bargain. This wine will last a very long time. This particular bottle didn’t.
95/100