Leoville Barton 1988
Leoville Barton 1988
I had this wine in February. Here are my thoughts from back then:
This wine was a bit of a roller coaster ride. The bottle was standing up for two weeks and I opened it 1 hour before dinner. At first the aromas were quite muted and it tasted a bit like old cellar. Sipping at our first glass my girlfriend said that she tasted something like wet cardboard. I am terrible at picking up cork taint, but after she stated it I was picking it up as well, even though I felt that was a really supple cork taint.
I was sad but did not want to give up, so I let the wine sit and thought why not try the big burgundy glasses. It was really amazing.. after half an hour and in the new glasses the wine was really transformed and now there was black cherry and bell pepper emerging from the glass. The taste was really lean and focused, with still some good structure and a very clear Cabernet Sauvignon taste profile. The last two glasses were clearly the best!
I do not have experience with Bordeaux this old, but I have another bottle of this wine and I am thinking that next time I will give this thing a short decant. What do you think?
I’m not so advanced a drinker to pick up on notes like you describe. Basically I’ve evolved to a point where I know loosely what different varietals / regions are going to taste like, and have a few producers that I know I’m going to really enjoy.
I’m intrigued that the cork taint dissipated for you after some air. Is that typical?
That is absolutely not typical. Either a wine is corked or not. Two things about this wine: I usually don't drink wines that old and as I said I am horrible at picking up the cork taint in wine. To this day, I am not sure if the wine was corked or just old. Let's see how the other bottle will present itself.