1973 - Petrus

In the first issue of THE WINE ADVOCATE (which was sent free of charge since no one had any interest in a publication by someone named Robert Parker), this was one of my top picks in what was otherwise a critical look at the diluted 1973 vintage. I ended up buying a half case of the 1973 Petrus (for $15 a bottle!). The wine was so delicious, as well as surprisingly concentrated for a 1973, that I drank all of it in its first decade of life. In a recent blind tasting, this magnum still revealed the wine's marvelous fruit and precociousness. Although it does not possess the power and richness of a great vintage, it is an outstanding Petrus. It offers a surprisingly intense, spicy, sweet, mocha, and black-cherry-scented nose, medium to full body, admirable fruit and purity, and a long, lush, super-soft finish displaying a trace of herbs and tea. This generously-endowed, velvety-textured wine has been fully mature for nearly two decades, yet it exhibits no signs of decline - rather amazing!