Birthyear Bordeaux bottle celebrates new grand-daughter

Birthyear Bordeaux bottle celebrates new grand-daughter - welcome Lavender !

First family photo with Lavender

Celebrating the birth of our granddaughter Lavender, to son Sean and daughter-in-law Michelle, we pulled a birthyear bottle for toasting with some artisan cheeses and fruits. 

I pulled from the cellar a St Julien Bordeaux from one of the producers we visited during our trip there back in 2018, Château Gruaud Larose. 

Those wines we tasted then (from the barrel) are now being released and we've acquired a flight of those labels to commemorate our memorable trip in future tastings. This also extends our vertical collection of these wines.

One of the highlights of that trip was a tour and tasting at the magnificent estate of  Château Gruaud Larose on the outskirts of the village of Beychevelle St Julien. 

Linda and Rick at
Château Gruaud Larose

We hold more than two dozen vintages of this wine dating back more than three decades including birthyear bottles of our kids' vintages, taking advantage of the long term cellaring age-worthiness of this producer. 

We opened bottles of this label last year celebrating Sean and Michelle's wedding, and three years ago leading up to our trip to Bordeaux. 

Tonight's tasting was consistent with those most recent tastings, showing the progression of aging and the differences between aging in a magnum, standard and split size bottles, the larger bottles aging better and showing slightly better as well. 

This release was awarded 93 points by Wine Spectator, 92 points by Neal Martin's Wine Journal, 91 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and 90 points by Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar.

Tonight we tasted this from a 375ml small format split (shown left), ideal for simple casual sipping with cheeses and snacks, but less than ideal for aging / cellaring. Its time to drink these up, they are still holding on at 36 years, amazingly, but past their prime, showing their age and continuing to diminish from aging. 

The fill level was ideal for its age, to be expected, near the bottom of the neck, the label and foil were in good condition, and the cork was also ideal, especially for its age. 

My notes from last year - tasted from a magnum: "Dark garnet colored, medium to full-bodied, a bit closed and slightly subdued complex, ripe earthy blackberry and black current fruits with tones of tobacco leaf, truffle, hints of cassis and spice box, turning to slightly tart black cherry on the long floral full tannin laced finish."

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/09/big-bottle-birthyear-mania-for-wedding.html

And, my notes from three years ago, in 2018, tasted from a standard size bottle:

Showing its age a bit as the fruit has fallen off a bit and the dark ruby garnet colored is showing a bit of brickish rust color with a bit of opacity - medium bodied, this opened with a hint of that fragrant floral bouquet which is giving way to more earthy leather and tones of mushroom and tapenade.

Earthy blackberry fruit is overshadowed by tones of tobacco leaf, truffle, mushroom and spice box, turning to slightly tart black cherry on the long floral full tannin laced finish.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/05/pichon-lalande-gruaud-larose-1985.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=20848

https://www.gruaud-larose.com/