Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac 1855 1er Cru 1986

Rightly seen as one of the all-time great vintages at Chateau Mouton Rothschild, after a vintage that favoured Cabernet Sauvignon and a harvest that stretched from October 2 to 16, so late and leisurely. One of those years that winemakers dream about – with quality and quantity. Crops came in at around 15% higher than in 1985, which itself was a pretty abundant year, and 1986 turned out to be the biggest crop since World War Two. Powerful, concentrated, still very much in its drinking window almost 40 years old, tannins now melted and resolved but going nowhere, and this brambled, cassis and blackberry fruit is just so inviting, sliced through with liqourice, espresso and crushed mint leaf. This is a wine that still, even now, benefits from an extremely long carafe – on a recent tasting a few years ago, when it wasn’t quite showing up to expectations, it took a full 24 hours to suddenly burst out of the glass and show its brilliance. So my strong advice is that if you are not blown away immediately, put it to one side and come back, because this is magic in a bottle.