What a treat it is to taste these two Pichon Lalandes straight from the chateau’s cellar. The 1985 Pichon Lalande opens with mature, tertiary aromatics. Still huge and concentrated on the palate, the 1985 still has remarkable depth, but the elements are out of balance, because the aromatics are maturing at a faster pace than the wine’s structural elements. When wines are out of balance, time is an enemy, not a friend. While then 1985 clearly has enough power and overall intensity to keep for many years, I would prefer to drink it sooner rather than later, as the imbalances that are present today will only become more disconcerting as the years go by.

Tasted at the property, the 1985 Pichon Lalande is fully matured on the feral, tertiary nose, and like the bottle I tasted a couple of years ago, this has recently become much more diffuse than exemplary showing during the 1990s and 2000s. The palate is fleshy and smooth like many wines of this vintage, but in recent years, the tannins have become and little edgier, the fruit degraded and turning quite mushroom-like and earthy on the finish. I would broach bottles of this over the next five years, because I feel that it is drying out. Tasted March 2016.

Nicolas Glumineau chose to serve this after the 1996 at the château and perhaps it was not flattered by the proximity. It's a nice wine that would probably shine in isolation but seemed a little tart and green on the nose (like so many 1985s now) – even though the texture was superb. If you have a case, start to drink it! (JR)