GINI Wine Tasting

Tasted these wine 1 week ago. The order of tasting were: 1) 1998 Boisrenard CdP 2)1996 Haut-Brion 3)2001 Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta. All three are extraordinary wine but of course, all attention were still pulled into the 1996 Haut Brion. Especially this was my first time having a sit-down dinner with a first growth! 1998 was an exceptional year for CdP as you can see from Robert Parker’s vintage chart– one of the best in the past 40 years! Opened with an impressive nose, this wine tasted younger than it really was with its stronger tannin. Well balanced, distinctive CdP mix of varietals, all the best things you can expect from a good CdP all showed up in this wine. Now that I think about it, I really wish this wine could be drink by itself on a separate night. 93 Moving onto the 1996 Haut-Brion, 1996 wasn’t the best year for Bordeaux BUT once you put the glass close to your nose, you know you are not dealing with just another wine for the night. In the palate the Haut-Brion tasted just like a wine of its own class, a class that shares the same characteristics with other first growth — complex… and really classy! Tremendously balanced. Like all good bordeaux, this wine gave me such good pleasure even hours and hours after drinking it! I just hope this wine could gain back a bit of its tannins or else, this could be perfect! This 96 Haut-Brion definitely deserves a score of 96. Last but not least, the 2001 Clos Apalta. Flagship wine of the famous Chilean winery. Upfront powerful fruit, this new world wine has some vanilla both in the taste and on the palate. I find the vanilla is an element that’s shared by quite a few expensive new worlds… not sure why… personally I would rather taste some chocolate out of it haha. Overshadowed by the Haut, this wine just tasted like a showoff. 91