When I had this in October I thought the bottle was slighlty corked because I tasted nothing but oak. So, I looked forward to RobA bringing this and the 96. The '99 is a pleasant suprise. The nose is full of St. Julian cedar, rasberry, asian spices, and cigar box. While slightly tannic at first, by the end of the night it had smoothed out revealing more ripe rasberry and tobacco notes on the finish. A good sub-$25 buy. 90

This wine was like the little brother of the ‘96. Both tasted almost identical when I began decanting and at about 2 hours of air, but by the time that they were poured (total aeration was about 3 hours), the ‘96 had evolved a heck of a lot more. This was the first red Bordeaux of the night and a good place to start. It was a solid wine that left room for the other impressive offerings to build upon.

At about $25, I was pleasantly surprised and give it an 89-90. It was hard for me to assign a rating after the Montelena. Poured alone with a nice meal, I would tend toward the 90, but the Montelena brought it back down to earth I do not know if I would have it tip the 90 mark.

Thanks,
Rob

Dark purple color. Excellent fruit, black raspberry and minerals. Good balance and fine tannins. Very enjoyable. Glad I have a few bottles of this in my cellar. 90P.

This was my least favorite of the Bordeaux at our tasting although I still gave it a very good score. Interestingly, the 1996 Leoville Poyferre was my favorite Bordeaux.

This was an earthy wine with a hint of petrol on the nose. Smooth for a young Claret. Notes of cherry but otherwise on the simple side. Short ot medium finish in comparison to the other wines on the table. Medium bodied. 88-89 points.

VM