TN: 20 year retrospect - wines from 1986

[GraemeG]

Twenty Year Night; a very specific theme for the Noble Rotters August 2006 dinner. Wines from 1986. What’s still fit to drink at this age? Quite a lot, as it turns out…

1986 Marc Brédif Grand Année (Vouvray) [12.5%, cork]
Still only a mid-lemon colour, this offers a developing medium-intensity nose of woolly notes, with woodspice and secondary aromas, which are rather tricky to pin down. The palate is medium-sweet, with plenty of fresh acidity, medium body and intensity. The perfumed, developed, palate seems to encompass all kinds of sweet syrup flavours with a vague matchstick note. Balance across the palate is terrific, the finish is long, persistent and even, and there’s still plenty of time for the wine to peak. Tasted just as fresh after 2 hours in the glass. Great stuff.

1986 Mount Horrocks Chardonnay (Clare) [12.8%, cork]
‘Cellaring recommended.’ Not something you read on too many bottles of Australian chardonnay these days. Now a deep gold with a fading rim, the aromas here are of sweetly rotting leaves, caramelized figs and honey; plenty of secondary interest, in other words. The palate is showing signs of greater age; bone dry, with quite low acidity, the flavours are of aged tropical fruits, toasty honey and some soft subtle oaky cedar. There’s not much apparent oxidation, but the wine is just starting to dry out now, evidenced by a short finish, despite the medium-weight palate. A bottle drunk last year was fresher; there’s nothing to be gained by holding this longer.

1986 Lievland Cabernet Sauvignon (Stellenbosch) [na%, cork]
Medium garnet red with a fading rim, this hardy survivor presents very correct aged aromas of leather, smoke, and cigar-box. The palate is very low-key, however, with low acidity and minimal surviving tannin. There’s a little soft burnished fruit left on the palate, which is quite lightweight and generally balanced towards the back of the tongue; unobtrusive oak helps holds the wine together. In all honesty, although its quite drinkable there are distinct signs of flattening out, and it’s clearly on the downhill slope of its maturity.

1986 John Brown Snr Cabernet Sauvignon (King Valley) [13.8%, cork]
John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave? Well, no, actually – there’s life in the old dog yet. Medium garnet, with a only little fading at the rim, this has mid-intensity classic aged blackcurrant/cassis aromas, well-developed but not at all feral. A dry, low-acid palate follows the nose, the chalky tannins are still prominent, but still don’t really lift the weight beyond a light-medium level. It’s a very pleasant aged style overall, let down only by the length of finish, which is disappointingly short after such a lovely nose. Drink up, though, the cemetery gates will be coming into view shortly…

1986 Lindemans Bin 7200 Shiraz Museum Release (Hunter) [12.5%, cork]
The odd wine out in a cabernet-dominated evening, this has clearly the lightest garnet shade of all the red wines tonight. The aromas are clean, though earthy, with a tarry leatheryness which grows ever sweeter as the wine sits in the glass. After ninety minutes it became quite candy-fruited, in fact. Dry, with low-medium acid and tannin, all the components combine to form a well-integrated wine with a rich, mellow mouthfeel, medium length finish, and a beguiling little dance between fruitiness and astringency at the back of the palate. Quite multi-dimensional, and although ready to drink is showing no signs of falling over. A surprise from perhaps an overlooked Hunter vintage, this really is a terrific wine.

1986 Henschke Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon (Eden Valley) [12%, cork]
This is a classy nose; aged herbaceous blackcurrent fruits with cigar/cedar notes. Has a lovely fruit purity to it. The palate is dry, with low-medium acidity, medium chalky tannins, deftly handled oak, and medium intensity length and weight. The faintly herbaceous note adds interest to the palate, the mintyness is the Australian give-away. Finish is quite long as well – this wine has come together nicely. It’s not austere at all; it has a sort of comfy-armchair feel to it, this one – and in the manner of old Australian cabernets, it seems to get sweeter as it sits in the glass. No hurry to finish, and although I don’t think there’s any improvement left here I think it’ll see at least another 5 years quite happily.

1986 Penfolds Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon (Coonawarra, Barossa) [13%, cork]
Far and away the youngest-looking wine of the night, this intense ruby wine presents a developing high-intensity nose initially dominated by vanillan/coconut US oak, underpinned with eucalypt and dark chocolate/coffee fruit. The dry palate is high in powdery tannin, full-bodied with plenty of oak, some leafy vanillan astringency and has a real solidity to it, like a large granite block. There is a suggestion of underlying greenness – some varietal character, perhaps? – manifesting itself as a reticent front palate, although the weight follows quickly behind. The finish is long, but perhaps not for the oak-intolerant. Drinking pretty well now, it’ll certainly age longer, although I reckon there’s a risk the fruit will fade out before the tannins. Still, it could be a close run thing. I must record that it was the crowd favourite among the reds on the night – for contemporary drinking my own preference is for Henschke or Lindemans….

1986 Chateau Cos d’Estournel (St Estephe) [12.5%, cork]
A nose of classic leafy-but-aging claret emerges from this glowing garnet wine. The soft aged fruit continues onto the palate, the cigar-box notes fade away to reveal a wine drying out somewhat, with gentle tannin astringency the dominant note on the finish, as might be expected. Ultimately just medium-bodied in weight, the acidity is reticient, the palate very dry. The finish is somewhere between short and medium in length – I was expecting more somehow from a second growth, something a bit more multi-dimensional than this manages to be, perhaps. Anyway, it’s still pretty satisfying, seems to be close to the peak of development but will likely still hang on for a good ten years or so.

1986 Chateau Villars (Fronsac) [13%, cork]
An low intensity aged, but fresh, nose of red fruits and cedar. The palate is quite soft; dry, with low-medium acid, dusty tannins of medium weight, moderate weight with subtle oak. This wine really hangs on tannin structure; the fruit has subsided on the palate quite considerably, although what little is left displays ripe red remnants. Well balanced across the palate, the length is OK; it’s a pretty decent example of a honest dinner claret, and in all truth this one stands up pretty well against the more prestigious cru classe wines that flanked it tonight. Drink up in the next few years.

1986 Chateau Haut-Bages-Liberal (Paulliac) [12.5%, cork]
More Bordeaux. There’s not much primary fruit on the nose here at all, rather a collection of varnishy, cedary, lead-pencil/graphite notes which suggest this wine is coming to the end of its maturity. The dry palate comprises medium acidity and chalky tannin, a mid-weight feel, a balance that leans generally towards the front palate, and a medium length finish which concludes very dryly and somewhat astringently. Quite classic in style though, and lifts considerably with food, although never really very exciting.

1983 Chateau Rieussec (Sauternes) [?%, cork]
Not quite 1986, but close enough. Judging by the tartrate crystals washing around the bottom of the bottle, this tawny-copper-coloured wine was never cold-stabilised! In a decent-sized glass, it has a lovely aged nose of lifted apricot, woodspice, cinnamon, nougat and honeycomb. The palate weights in between medium-dry and medium-sweet, there’s still tangy citric acidity, a touch of oak astringency and plenty of honey and créme-brulée characters harmonizing in this rich, thickly-textured wine. The balance is even across the palate, the finish is medium-long. This has aged nicely and is probably drinking at peak now.

A great night. Nothing over-the-hill or corked. Who’d a thunk it?

Cheers,
Graeme

[Alex F]

Thanks for the notes, these give me hope that when the time comes, there will be lots of wine from my birth year to drink Maybe I'll crack one open tonight...

I had the lindemans a year or two ago, and agree with you that it was complex and not showing any signs of falling over... was still opening in the glass after 2 hours...

[Mike Hawkins]

Graeme,

Interesting line up.

The 86 vintage from SA was the vintage that got me hooked on wine. IMO its the best vintage of the past 20 years. St Henri, Yalumba Sig, Rockford BP, Mt Edelstone et al are superb drinking right now (maybe Grange is still a bit young)

On the other hand, I am wondering when the tannins of 86 Bordeaux will soften, including Cos, and especially Montrose. I'm hoping I'm not sitting on some duds !



Cheers

Mike

[bacchaebabe]

Thanks too Graeme. 1986 is our anniversary year. The anniversary has recently passed and we spent it in Canada with a bottle of 98 Dom as it was all too hard to carry wine over there. The single bottle of Dom from Singapore ended up being a nightmare to drag around anyway but it is good buying (cheap at about A$140) in Singapore if anyone travels through there.

We're still contemplating doing something here with our friends and I've been thinking about the 86 Vintage. We had an 86 St Henri for our 15th which was lovely. This has given me some ideas though. I've got an 86 bordeaux sitting somewhere that I'd been saving but I can't remember what it is right now.

Nice to hear they were all in good form.

[DaveB]

Nice one Graeme....thanks for the notes

I dropped that Vouvray off to Andrew after work....super value for around $40-ish I reckon

Dave

[Roscoe]

86 is also my anniversary year, and I agree that it was a great year. I have managed to have a 1986 on every anniversary over the last 10-15 years. I have some Penfolds Bin 28 for the next few years and was earmarking the 707 for the 25th anniversary.
Overall, I have never been disappointed in a SA red from 1986 except when TCA has reared its ugly head.
I could be suffering from some recall bias, though.

[n4sir]

1983 Chateau Rieussec (Sauternes) [?%, cork]
Not quite 1986, but close enough. Judging by the tartrate crystals washing around the bottom of the bottle, this tawny-copper-coloured wine was never cold-stabilised! In a decent-sized glass, it has a lovely aged nose of lifted apricot, woodspice, cinnamon, nougat and honeycomb. The palate weights in between medium-dry and medium-sweet, there’s still tangy citric acidity, a touch of oak astringency and plenty of honey and créme-brulée characters harmonizing in this rich, thickly-textured wine. The balance is even across the palate, the finish is medium-long. This has aged nicely and is probably drinking at peak now.

Cheers,
Graeme

Was this a 750ml or 375ml bottle Graeme? - it sounds a little more advanced than I would have expected.

Cheers,
Ian

[dlo]

1983 Chateau Rieussec (Sauternes) [?%, cork]
Not quite 1986, but close enough. Judging by the tartrate crystals washing around the bottom of the bottle, this tawny-copper-coloured wine was never cold-stabilised! In a decent-sized glass, it has a lovely aged nose of lifted apricot, woodspice, cinnamon, nougat and honeycomb. The palate weights in between medium-dry and medium-sweet, there’s still tangy citric acidity, a touch of oak astringency and plenty of honey and créme-brulée characters harmonizing in this rich, thickly-textured wine. The balance is even across the palate, the finish is medium-long. This has aged nicely and is probably drinking at peak now.

Cheers,
Graeme

Was this a 750ml or 375ml bottle Graeme? - it sounds a little more advanced than I would have expected.

Cheers,
Ian

Ian,

I've tried this wine on several occasions over many, many years - it's been horribly dark in colour for yonks - not that means much - I've not had a bottle that has blown me away since the first years after release - the wine has always been prematurely advanced and over-developed, IMHO - yet still gets very excellent/outstanding reviews today.

[Sharkey]

My 20th wedding anniversary is in a couple of weeks and I have a bottle of the '86 Lindemans Bin 7200 Museum Release to take to our local restaurant for dinner. Only bought it recently from Chambers Cellars for about $50ish

Good news to hear that it should be a great wine; thanks for the TN Graeme.

How long would you recommend decanting for?

[Von Ridler]

Sharkey,

Is the Lindemans Bin 7206 1986 a recent museum release?
I have not seen it about.
I purchased the 1983 Lindemans some years back when a museum release.

Regards,
Ron.

[GraemeG]

Rieussec was a 750, yes very dark, and quite developed.

I wouldn't decant the Lindemans except immediately prior to drinking - there was plenty of sediment. There's enough evolution in the glass without gambling on hours in a decanter beforehand.

Dave - that's a pretty good price for the Vouvray!
cheers,
Graeme