There is still some strawberry on the nose – this remains clean and fresh with a little sous-bois – lovely. There is still plenty of grainy tannin but without astringency. Good mid-palate flavour with a little blood-orange and hints of chocolate. Really super and apparently with plenty of life ahead of it.
(Blanc) While on the subject of 76s – what about a white(?) There are a few hints of oxidation but it must have been the most volatile component as it soon departs from the glass; what’s left is a little lanolin and white chocolate. Full in the mouth yet with nice enough balance – there even appears to be some tannin. Long,with an impression of some licorice. Bravo!
It was twilight and we were outside, but the colour seemed medium – maybe a little more. On the nose, just like the 1990 and 1985 this was very nice indeed; just a little more baked fruit but fresh, clean and very moreish. In the mouth I initially thought the acidity was too spiky, but 15 minutes later it and I were more in harmony – still the acidity was slightly in advance but nothing to complain about, particularly given that it is a village wine approaching it’s 35th birthday. There was sweetness and no undue tannin. Almost certainly passed its best (unlike the 1985) but it certainly isn’t falling off a cliff either.
The nose starts like many old Girouds with that Italian ‘botti’ aroma, however, not much swirling is required to consign that to history as a frankly beautiful floral aroma fills the glass – spectacular. The taste is quite okay but cannot come close to the beauty of the nose; fat, mouth-filling, still some fine-grained tannin. No fireworks here – merely fine.
A nice core of colour. The nose starts – just like a lot of older Giroud wines – like an Italian wine that’s spent a few years in a giant foudre – that ’sort of’ oxidised note. Very slowly there is a little funk, finally a very nice and clear red berry note. Smooth on the tongue with nice acidity – also a little ‘gout de foudre’ but a nice little sparkle of something extra on the mid-palate. Has reasonable length and it’s certainly quite interesting – but unless you’ve the patience to open 3-4 hours before consuming, it’s a long way from a typical burgundy experience.
This has an impressive, deep, sweet, caramel old wine nose; no funk, no nasties just ‘irony’ (not ironic) and interesting for sniff after sniff. Smooth on the palate, it expands very nicely as you move towards the finish. The tannins are very well managed unlike (still) some from ‘76. Very alive, some elegance and quite some personality. Like many older Girouds, it doesn’t show quite the complexity you expect from the age – or the length, but despite not classing it as ‘great’, I would certainly class it as a lovely glass that was much appreciated.
Clean and bright, medium, medium-plus colour – a mahogany rim but clearly still a ruby-red core. From opening this was just a little monolithic on the nose; faint baked fruit and a savoury undercurrent. If you wait – over 1 hour – the nose tightens to a very nice and tight powdery red fruit impression The palate is surprisingly plush and intense – it’s hard to keep hold of the wine, as your mouth starts watering in response to the acidity. I’m very impressed by the balance here. Slowly some sweetness builds to counterbalance an edge of tartness in the finish. The tannins are still there and quite chewy. This is a surprisingly robust and healthy wine – just like the label says, this is a village wine so no real fireworks or mind-bending length, but it’s always interesting to drink a wine that was harvested around your 14th birthday!
Unfortunately our planned bottle of 1971 was corked, so this was the back-up bottle. Consistent colour with 86 and 78. Slightly mineral nose, some sweetness, smokey bacon covered with caramel coupled with fresh higher tones. The acidity is not quite so refined as the others – parallel here with the hot vintage and 1997 – and the tannins still have a grainy texture, but the fruit has real intensity. A very interesting bottle that (again) like the 1997 took on more balance with aeration and time. A very worthy backup.
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