TN's: 1966 Cheval Blanc and Ch. Margaux

The '66 Cheval Blanc was an outstanding wine that was it best about 20 years of age

The '66 Margaux was never any good. Margaux went into a funk after the stellar 1961 vintage and didn't emerge until the 1978 vintage.

Have either of you tried the '79 Margaux? I have one in my cellar that I plan on opening in January '05 when my wife and I celebrate our 25th anniversary (from the day we first met).
(I only hope it has aged as wonderfully and graciously as she has).


P.S. I hope she's checking my posts.....(and not my credit card statements).

Many times, DoktaP. I've had from magnum three times, and once from a double magnum, in addition to about 8 or 9 750s. Parker declared it the wine of the vintage shortly after release, so I stocked up. The wine has never lived up to its early hype. I brought a magnum to a dinner in Seattle in July, 2003, so a number of people here have had it.

On March 1st of this year, I attended an industry tasting at the Pierre Hotel in NYC and had the opportunity to spend considerable time with the winemaker at Chataeu Margaux, in addition to numerous other winemakers. The current winemaker at Chateau Margaux is a gentleman I would guess to be in his early fifties, so he was the winemaker of the 1979 Margaux. We spoke at length about the 1978 and 1979 Margaux, two wines which I felt were greatly over-rated. To my surprise, he completely agreed with me.

If the wine has been stored well, it will certainly be drinkable. I'd carefully decant it to remove it from the sediment, but it will require no time in the decanter before drinking. To wait too long is to invite disappointment. Good luck with it and I hope you have a wonderful 25th anniversary.

Thanks Board-O. I'll post notes. I think Parker still rates it a 92. It has been stored impeccably from day 1. I can only hope.

When the wine was released, I believe he rated it a 94. That may have been the 1978 rating. I'm pretty sure the 1979 rated one point below the 1979.

Latour is the wine of the vintage in 1966. RP gave 1978 Margaux 94 points.

elmo, I've had the 1966 Latour 10 or 11 times and it'd be my pick also for wine of the vintage. I still have 1 or 2 left.

DoktP,

I had my last bottle of Margaux 1979 last February. It was great But I only had six of them. Very nice and good balanced wine. It had a promising nose and still a lot of fruit and lots of nicely emerged tannins and acidity. Long aftertaste. I had it with a main course of “magret de canard” roasted wild ducks breast. It was a perfect companion.

I do agree with the previous advice not to decant it long before serving. But 30 minutes is OK and the wine will need that to come out of its shell.

Based on my repeated experience with this wine, I would definitely give it 30 minutes. This wine is not worth the 93 points Parker gave it upon rel;ease. That's not just my opinion. It's the opinion of the people with whom I've shared the wine, and it is also the opinion of the winemaker at Chateau Margaux. Why do you think the auction price for this wine is so low?