Rauzan Ségla 1986

A great effort from Rauzan-Segla and one of the finest wines made at the estate in many a decade, this youthful, exhilarating effort still reveals a dense ruby/purple color with no signs of lightening. Tasting more like a 5 to 8-year-old wine than one that is already 16 years of age, this wine reluctantly offers up a nose of liquid minerals intermixed with tobacco, smoke, black currants, melted licorice, and hints of blueberry and compost. Very full-bodied but still exceptionally tannic in an intense, concentrated, very delineated style, this wine remains an infant in terms of its development. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2040.

The 1986 Rauzan-Ségla is tasted from two bottles, the first showing a little oxidation. The second is similar to my note taken at my 30-Year On retrospective. Picked between 1 and 21 October, it is quite youthful at first, it clearly has more energy and focus, more cohesion than either the 1983 or 1990: blackberry, melted tar and smoke, hints of iris and violet emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, structured and dense like many 1986s but with a fine bead of acidity. This feels solid and almost Pauillac-like with huge insistent grip on the finish. Excellent, but one for those that enjoy traditional classic Claret. Tasted at the Rauzan-Ségla vertical at the château.

An extraordinary success for this estate (and also the finest wine they produced in the decade of the eighties), the 1986 remains extremely backward. It reveals an impressively saturated dark purple color, followed by a tight but promising nose of sweet blackberries, cassis, licorice, earth, and smoke. Full-bodied and excruciatingly tannic, with layers of concentration, this exceptionally endowed wine is still an infant in terms of its evolution. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2030. Last tasted 10/97

The 1986 Rauzan-Segla is held up as one of the best wines of that decade. Now at 30 years old, it has an initially tightly wound bouquet that demands coaxing from the glass. It eventually offers exquisite aromas of small red cherries, cranberry jus, confit dates and briary, a hint of sandalwood tucked underneath. You would never describe the aromatics as "explosive" but it seems to gain in intensity. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly savory entry. There is good structure here, but there is a sweet seam of fig and candied orange peel that to be honest, does not quite match the personality of the wine. My hunch is that this Rauzan-Segla is approaching the end of its drinking plateau, but any "decline" is going to be gradual and graceful. Drink now if you can, though I am certain large format bottles will have much more to offer. Tasted July 2016.