1986 Château Beychevelle

The 1986 Beychevelle is certainly one of the better wines from a rather inconsistent decade for the property. It's one that I've tasted from various formats over the years. This has a lovely, mature nose with loam, mulberry and pencil-shaving scents; it has lost some of its fruit in recent years. The palate is quite different and one of the fleshier Left Bank wines in an otherwise austere growing season, though it just fades a little on the finish. Tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux. 

- Neal Martin (04/2022)

Remarkably complex with rich, concentrated, tannic currant, spice and anise flavors, wrapped in smoky, cedary oak that gets tastier with every sip. It's best to wait until this one can fully develop, in 1997 or '98. (05/1989)

The 1986 Beychevelle, which I tasted from magnum at the château, has what you might describe as a light-hearted nose with joie-de-vivre. Even from a larger format, among many 1986s tasted, this is one of the most approachable with wild strawberry, mulberry, cola and graphite aromas that unfurl in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with spice and clove on the entry. It comes across as fleshier than I was anticipating and atypically for the vintage, tapering towards the finish. Arguably rustic compared to some of its Saint Julien bedfellows, it nonetheless has charm and a sense of classicism. Tasted July 2016. 

- Neal Martin (12/2016)