Tasted at Pebbles/Zachy’s 1982 dinner in Hong Kong. This bottle of Langoa Barton ’82 is very similar to the one shared with Anthony Barton a year ago. I will reiterate that it deserves more respect. The bouquet is ebullient and joyful with mint-tinged black fruit, sous-bois and cedar. The palate is a little tighter than previous bottles and it would have benefitted from say, another hour of aeration. Still, there is plenty of crisp black fruit interlaced by graphite and tobacco, with a persistent, rounded finish that will leave you satisfied.

This wine has turned out even better than I predicted. The wine still shows some rustic tannin in the finish, but the gorgeous nose of caramel, cedar, spice box, black currant, and earth is followed by a dense, full-bodied, muscular, expansively flavored wine that still possesses considerable tannin. The wine is gorgeous to drink with several hours of decanting, but is still not at its peak of maturity. Anticipated maturity: Now-2018.

The 1982 Langoa Barton is a wine that I have a sentimental attachment to since I shared a bottle with Anthony Barton many moons ago. It offers dark berry fruit mixed with hints of oyster shell and mint. Fine delineation, though surprisingly high-toned given the Saint-Julien in question (more like a modern-day Poyferré!) The palate is medium-bodied with sappy red fruit, veins of blue fruit, tobacco and graphite. Quite toothsome on the finish, this is rather a bold Langoa that lacks a bit of finesse but delivers plenty of substance. Tasted at the 1982 Dinner at Hatched. -- Neal Martin