1982 Magdelaine, St-Emilion

“The 1982 vintage of Magdelaine gets better and better every time I come back to it and this is probably going to end up being the greatest wine produced at this estate between the 1961 and the 1998. Today, the ’82 is wide open and revels in its sappy goodness, offering up a beautiful aromatic combination of sappy cassis and black cherries, menthol, a very complex base of chalky soil tones, cigar ash and a lovely, almost autumnal topnote of bonfires. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and very plush on the attack, with a great core and stunning transparency for a 1982. The finish si very, very long, with modest tannins, excellent complexity and a sense of elegance and refinement that borders on First Growth quality. A stunning wine that is now entering its apogee.” (02/2020)

“This has always been a gorgeous, sexy wine. Dark ruby-colored, with a slight garnet rim. Full-bodied, with loads of sweet fruit flavors and a lovely, long aftertaste of fresh fruit, floral, earth character. (JS)” (11/1998)

“Tasted at Pebbles/Zachy’s 1982 dinner in Hong Kong. The Magdelaine 1982 has a light, quite savoury bouquet with touches of cooked meat in a Tuscan delicatessen. It is nicely defined although it does not have the precocity of the Latour-a-Pomerol 1982 tasted alongside. The palate is better: quite fleshy and pretty on the entry. This Saint Emilion has a keen thread of acidity, vibrant fresh fruit with redcurrant and cranberry. It is very lithe and full of tension with a long finish. This is a very fine Saint Emilion let down slightly by the fading aromatics…but even they begin to muster more intent with aeration. Tasted November 2012. (NM)” (01/2013)

“(90% merlot and 10% cabernet franc; 3.33 pH; 12.8 % alcohol): Dark brick-red, fairly evolved in color. The sexy nose offers delicate aromas of red berries, spicecake, licorice and leather lifted by a floral topnote. Then fruitier on the palate, with a silky-sweet, dense, sappy texture, lovely definition, and an intriguing earthy complexity to the red cherry, graphite and marzipan flavors. Finishes with late, building tannins and harmonious acidity. I'd drink this up now for maximum enjoyment, as it may start to fade in another three or four years. Though this is a perfectly fine wine, it lags behind other very successful Saint-Emilions of the same vintage. This was a great, hot year, when even the petit verdot managed to ripen on the Left Bank (a common occurrence in these greenhouse-effect times, but a rarity back then), with one weekend of rain on September 25 and 26. (ID)” (03/2012)