1985 Haut Brion Blanc

The 1985 Château Haut Brion Blanc is candidate for the best dry white Bordeaux produced that decade - period. Having tasted this nectar two or three times in recent months, I can vouch for its extraordinary intensity on the nose: candied orange peel, citrus lemon, cold wet limestone and honeysuckle notes that shimmer in the glass. It almost has a Chablis-like penetration—imagine if Raveneau made white Bordeaux. The palate is perfectly balanced and after 30 years, it as fresh as a daisy, citrus fresh, with a killer line of mineralité, squeezed lime and an almost slate-like note (try licking some to see what I mean—no one will look). The tension, the depth and length of this Haut Brion Blanc are as good as you will find...if you can find it nowadays. Simply breathtaking, anyone with bottles in their cellar will be handsomely rewarded for their patience. Tasted August 2015.

The 1985 Haut-Brion Blanc can be awesome on its day. I don't think this was quite its day, though there is nothing specifically faulty about this bottle. It has an attractive nose with lemon zest, apricot and honeysuckle, but it lacks the tension and energy of previous bottles. The palate is nevertheless elegant and vibrant, lightly spiced but more mature than expected. Perhaps it has developed in the interim, but I suspect that there are superior examples out there. Tasted at the 1985 dinner at Noble Rot Mayfair.