1970 Chateau Palmer 3eme Cru Classe, Margaux

Not yet fully mature, the 1970 Palmer is one of the great wines of the vintage. It exhibits a dark, opaque garnet color, and an emerging, fabulously complex, exotic nose of licorice, over-ripe plums and blackcurrants, soy, cedar, and minerals. Rich and concentrated, with medium to full body, a sweet inner-core of fruit, firm but silky tannin, and a long, rich finish, this remains a youthful, potentially superb Palmer. While approachable, it will benefit from another 3-5 years of cellaring, and will keep through the first 10-15 years of the next century.

Magnum. The first of three 1970 magnums that completely changed my vision of this vintage which used to be as tough as old boots but these wines demonstrated that if you wait long enough, even the most tannic bordeaux vintages will come round – at a certain level! Sweet start and a dry finish, even a little tart on the finish suggesting the fruit may be starting to fade, but this wine wasn’t helped by being served with a blue cheese salad with a very lemony dressing. No useful contrast here! It became rounder in the glass with obvious sweetness and a slight gamey note. This was the weakest of the three but if I had been served only this one, I'd probably have drooled over it more. Ditto if the Latour 1970 had not been poured at the same time... (JR)