Two from '92

Jeff Connell

Jeff Connell
A rare opportunity to taste (well, drink) a couple of Bordeaux from 1992, a largely maligned, vastly over-looked vintage: Ch“teau Fonroque, Saint-Emilion Grand-Cru Classé, and Ch“teau Lafite-Rothschild, 1er Cru Classé Pauillac.

Not that I know the wine, really, but I fully expected the Fonroque to be intact, holding well, if unexceptional. Intact it was, and in fact quite pleasing. It was well-balanced with generous fruit and a fine complexity. The remainder of the bottle, left open for 24 hours (an accidental experiment I pledge never to repeat), was Bordeaux as we like - nay, as we love it. It was soft and well-worn, but vibrant and alive.

Lafite was exactly Lafite, with less power than some vintages, less depth, well, less in all dimensions I suppose, than some vintages. But not radically diminished, and really, just way too young. Should have accidentally left half the bottle open for 24 or 48 hours.
 
Now, there is a name I've not heard in a while - had the pleasure of drinking '80, '81 and '82 Fonroque on multiple occasions. That was before I had geeked out, but thinking back it might be an iron-rich soil of sorts. No ?
The other Chateau I've never heard of.
 
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