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Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1986
240 bottles per lot
THE MOUTON ROTHSCHILD 1986 SUPER LOT A unique opportunity to purchase twenty dozen bottles of the highly rated Mouton Rothschild 1986 A NOTE ON THE 1986 VINTAGE I must confess, my first, second and most recent impressions of this vintage have varied. At first I didn't know quite what to make of it. Then, after the 1988s came along I saw a certain similarity, linking the 86s and 88s as firm, relatively slow off the mark. But can the most prolific crop since world war two, fifteen percent bigger than 1985, produce wines of real quality? The 85s managed it, but the weather conditions were slightly different. In 1986 bud break was delayed, though the weather improved and flowering was succesful. The summer was hot and dry until the latter part of September when, after a useful sprinkling of rain, there was a voilent storm which dumped 10 centimetres of rain on the city of Bordeaux and its immediate surroundings. The harvest began at the very end of September and continued into October in glorious weather M.B. Château Mouton-Rothschild--Vintage 1986 Pauillac, 1er cru classé In "HKDNP" import stamped original wooden cases "Deserving its reputation as outstandingly the best '86. Certainly a spectacular wine from my first encounter in 1989: vivid purple; intense varietal fragrance; packed tight with fruit. Of my most recent notes: impressive bottles at the Mouton dinner at Brook's in 1994. Nose peppery at first, then it sprang to life; on the palate the sweetness of ripe grapes and alcohol. Full-bodied, full flavoured, fabulous fruit, very dry finish. Deep but no longer opaque; ripe Cabernet scents; 'deep, rich, tannic, long life' (Mouton event in 1998). Two very recent notes: still immature; crisp fruit, taut, bricky; full-bodied, slightly raw but spicy, rich, chewy. Good length, hard tannins. Nowhere near ready. Last tasted Nov 2005. Hopefully *(****) 2010 - M.B. "After stumbling over some wines I thought were high class Bordeaux, I nailed this wine in one of the blind tastings for this article. In most tastings where a great Bordeaux is inserted with California Cabernets, the Bordeaux comes across as drier, more austere, and not nearly as rich and concentrated (California wines are inevitably fruitier and more massive). To put it mildly, the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild held its own (and then some), in a flight that included the Caymus Special Selection, Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23, Dunn Howell Mountain, and Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard. Clearly the youngest looking, most opaque and concentrated wine of the group, it tastes as if it has not budged in development since I first tasted it out of barrel in March, 1987. An enormously concentrated, massive Mouton-Rothschild, comparable in quality, but not style, to the 1982, 1959, and 1945, this impeccably made wine is still in its infancy. Interestingly, when I was in Bordeaux several years ago, I had this wine served to me blind from a magnum that had been opened and decanted 48 hours previously. Even then, it still tasted like a barrel sample! I suspect the 1986 Mouton-Rothschild requires a minimum of 15-20 more years of cellaring; it has the potential to last for 50-100 years! Given the outrageously high prices being fetched by so many of the great 1982s and 1990s (and lest I forget, the 1995 Bordeaux futures), it appears this wine might still be one of the "relative bargains" in the fine wine marketplace. I wonder how many readers will be in shape to drink it when it does finally reach full maturity? The tasting notes for this section are from two single blind tastings, one conducted in May, 1996, in California, and the other in June, 1996, in Baltimore" Robert Parker 240 bottles per lot