René Gabriel
87: Barrel sample (18/20): restrained, profound bouquet, very expansive. Massive tannic imprint, high and positive acidity. A real powerhouse! In 1995 there were few tasters who could warm to this wine. So I kept my enthusiasm to myself for this still-closed, characterful Pauillac. Just buy a case, pull the nails around 2004, then the cork from the bottle. And rejoice in such a great wine that cost so little.
98: Anyone opening this wine now won’t understand it. I had the bottle decanted two hours beforehand at a restaurant in Bordeaux: the reductive “Cabernet stink” was still almost unbearable. You suspect cork taint, old barrels and the like. But none of that is true. The truth is: one of the greatest wines of the 1986 vintage, like Mouton, Lafite, Latour or Margaux—only much, much cheaper… And only in two or three decades will passionate Bordeaux lovers experience it for themselves. I hope I’ll (still) be among them then, as a few regular bottles and magnums are waiting for me and my friends.
03: As in years before, the wine starts off dull with notes of wet forest floor, dried black mushrooms, and also truffle; yet the nose shows tremendous depth. Cigar scent, eucalyptus and reductive, meaty Cabernet. Firm on the palate, first terroir notes, lots of muscle and flesh; despite early signs of maturity, there is still a lasting astringency. Decant for hours—or wait longer (18/20).
06: Mushroomy bouquet, reductive, shows underlying depth but opens only hesitantly. Compact, smoky nose, wild Cabernet tones that also carry a hint of green and recall a mineral Napa. On the palate still firm, grainy, undeveloped—a nearly blocked bottle that seemed significantly younger than the other 1986s in this tasting. Needs lots of air—decant 3 hours.
09: Even after two hours of airing, still rather cool, earthy and aloof. Then I poured the wine from one glass into another and that helped. No fruit—only terroir, and in that sense more on the artisanal side.
12: A bottle in Risch that was terribly corked!
15: Decanted four hours. Still very dark, though you can see some mature reflections. Profound, smoky, earthy, showing a floral, rather cool Cabernet shimmer; a hint of oxidation peeks through underneath. On the palate mellow, a bourgeois Cabernet impression; tannins still powdery and grainy. In the finish it almost goes in the direction of Heitz-Napa. Not a flatterer—so exactly the opposite of today’s GPLs. It needs something angular on the plate. (18/20).
16: Medium-dark wine red, showing little maturity, but clearly lightening at the rim. Earthy start, cardboard, beef bouillon, a fine peat-like hint; overall only medium aromatic intensity. On the palate surprisingly soft, meaning the tannins are polished yet still show some muscle; in the finish it becomes a bit more coarse, with a sandy aftertaste. Aromatically it improved positively with air. (18/20).
16: Quite dark wine red. Right from the start it shows a great, classic, profound Bordeaux nose—indeed clearly Pauillac. Périgord truffle, tobacco, dark precious woods, and still hints of blackcurrant. Feels baroque at the outset. Firm palate, still astringent; the tannins suggest further potential. So it is likely only at the beginning of its drinking window and does not call for immediate consumption. That too is an achievement—after 30 years, after all. Decant four hours. (18/20).
17: Still very dark, little evolved. Mossy, rotten beam, spoiled dark mushrooms. On the palate it continues in a rather gruesome way. The substance itself is great. Unfortunately the wine has a musty accompanying note. Cork? TCA? No rating. To be absolutely sure, one should probably avoid this wine altogether. (17). The bottle was opened spontaneously and served blind. Everyone complained about cork taint. Had I known what it was, I would have told the host to drink it the day after tomorrow.
