1975 Chateau Montrose, St. Estephe -- I was concerned that this wine wouldn't show well, given its bottom-neck fill, and I was right. The cork was soaked to about 1/16" from the top, spongy, and the last 1/2" broke despite my careful effort at extraction. (An interesting feature of the bottle is the fact that the name of the proprietor--L. Charmolue-- is in script the same size as the name of the wine on the front label.) The wine was a beautiful pale ruby color, and delivered a powerful nose of lead pencil. Unfortunately, in the mouth it was all about structure, and NOT about fruit. Extremely silky with lead pencil/mineral notes, beyond that it had some sense of residual sweetness, but no fruit to speak of of. After half an hour it became disjointed on the finish, a sure sign that its life was over. Disappointing. I've had this bottle for 27 years, and should more properly perhaps have kept it as a permanent souvenir of my first foray into Bordeaux futures rather than drank it.

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Cheers.

SeaQ, I had the '75 Montrose a couple of times and it was never very good. It also lacked the trademark Montrose longevity. 1975 was yet another in the littany of vintages that didn't live up to initial acclaim. The Petrus is still sleeping, but most of the others are on the downslope.

Just one more sip.

Had this at a K&L tasting recently. Perfect bottle. Brought by the current proprietor of Montrose direct from the cellar. Still alive and well. Mature, not over the hill, but certainly not one of the great Montrose's. Notes of plum, dried herbs, light cassis, tobacco and sweet earth. Moderate finish. 90 pts. with maybe a couple bonus points included in that score for holding up this well from an off year. (Granted, this was stored well!)