Following up on my plea for help on how to drink the 1975 Chateau Cantenac Brown last week, I actually got together with Madam (and a few friends) and cracked open the bottle.
Per Madam’s instructions, we didn’t really aired the wine at all and drank it somewhere between 15min to 30min after it was open and decanted (in case of sediment).
To tell the truth, I didn’t have much expectation for the wine due to the shoulder level status of the bottle – in fact, I had lots of doubts that it would actually be drinkable at all.
Madam actually tasted it first and to my surprise, she actually said it was ‘OK wor.’ My first wiff of the bouquet yielded a nice aroma, which was followed by a nice, if not really distinct, flavour on my taste buds. While there wasn’t that much there, I was relieved that it didn’t go bad after all this time – literally over three decades!
But that was probably the highlight. As we continued with our dinner – at a Chinese restaurant serving traditional cantonese fair, the wine sort of faded. It didn’t go bad so much as simply lost its character. It was like a photo print left out in the sun for a prolonged period – slowly losing its outlines and colours, and faded into a kind of muted display of grays and whites.
After about 20min-30min, it tasted watered down, like coffee that has been sitting out for a couple of hours – easy to drink, but without really any kick behind it.
Was it a disappointment? Not really. It was definitely a fine wine, but probably a decade or so past its prime.
Then again, we did have several bottles after that, and they all kind of tasted on the sour side – so it is conceivable it was the food. We ended up having a 1996 Chateau Potensac, then a 2004 Reserve de la Comtesse, and then a 1996 Chateau Lagrange – all tasted a bit sour to all our palettes, which was strange.
Conclusion? Excuses? I don’t have one. It could be the food, it could be the breathing time, it could be the glasses, it could be the detergent the restaurant used, it could be the weather, or the full moon that wasn’t there!
One thing I know it was NOT – the company, which I did enjoyed immensely.
Grape Wine Journey 
The 1975 was definitely better than my expectation. It still showed fruit on the nose, and very balanced on the palate. It did fade away very quickly, that’s why I brought 3 bottles for the dinner, just in case !
I think you hit it right on the nose WineCadet, when you say your 1975 was possibly drunk a decade too late. It was about 12 years ago after all, when I myself opened a 1975, a red and that’s all I remember about it and it tasted like wines of the gods. It was amazing! We shared it with the 3 of us over a Middle Eastern fare menu somewhere nice in Hong Kong. We were so sad when the last drops were squeezed out. Drinking a wine bottled the year near to one’s birth year is definitely a statement and an ocassion to be had. Needless to say, I enjoyed reading your experience of such an occasion, even if it sounded above like the aroma of that special wine faded as quickly as a sunset on a winter’s day. I did not mean to sound so flowery in this comment, but writing about wine brings the poet out in me, what can I say! 😉
Thanks for the kind words M.. but the wine is still a decade late regarding my birth year!