Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre

My first encounter with the wines of this Chateau, and it lives up to its advanced billing. The color is dark purple, going garnet at the rim. It offers up a lovely nose of black tea, leather, earth and pencil lead. It has the high acidity of the vintage and appears still quite youthful (no tertiary development in evidence) but pairs very well with a simple rack of lamb. No hurry to drink this up so long as the cork …

1996 vintage

It’s been a couple years since I last enjoyed the 1996 and based off this experience, it’s continuing to age gracefully. Double decanted the night before. The wine pours a garnet color with a near opaque core; medium viscosity with light staining of the tears. On the nose, the wine is vinous with notes of cassis, kirsch, purple flowers, tobacco, dried herbs, green pepper, old wood and gravelly earthy. On the palate, the wine is dry with medium+ tannin and …

1996 vintage

Pristine cork, only seeped about 5% through. Mature garnet color with hint of browning towards the rim. Nose is developed, slight VA lift initially. Red fruits, menthol, cinnamon, cumin, hint of brett. Palate is surprisingly fresh with decent acidity. The fruit is starting to disappear but is still there, earthy, savory secondary and tertiary development, some umami, touch of soy. Finishes with still surprisingly grippy tannins but just a hint of some unpleasant unclean note that's hard to describe. Probably …

1996 vintage

Stewed, turbid, and prominent VA. Cork soaked through.

1996 vintage

I know this vintage has a variable reputation, but this bottle was everything I love about a mature Margaux - BAMA. The flavours are now predominantly in the savoury / tertiary zone, but the wine retains a freshness and energy. No notes taken, but very much enjoyed!

1996 vintage

After my first bottle from this batch seemed like it had some issues, I didn't have high expectations for this bottle, but it was simply beautiful. Balanced, integrated, showing tobacco and notes of tea and cherries. Really beautiful and weightless depth.

1996 vintage

DOA. Flaws are always a risk with this producer and the 96 vintage is not the most reliable.

1996 vintage

Color is starting to brick, cork soaked but in pretty good shape/came out in one piece. 2 hour decant. Nose of cigar box, dried red fruits, slight herbal/green note Palate was mature. Some sweetness to it, but without much noticeable fruit left. Feels like it's matured and towards the tail end of the plateau or on the way down. Nice and pleasant, but not much more

1996 vintage

Very nice after a couple of hours of air. Extremely classic, mature BDX.

1996 vintage

Popped at cellar temp and followed through dinner and beyond. Wasn’t giving up much at all. Palate was thin and uninspiring. Left in the decanter overnight and poured it back in the bottle in the morning.. Night #2 and this has finally unwound. Color of fig jam and/or coffee, nose of stone fruit, leather, spice and cassis. Cassis transfers to the palate along with plum and tobacco leaf. I can’t get over the color, weight and structure change of this …

1996 vintage

Reviews of this vintage of the wine have been all over the place, including a middling 89 from me just a few years ago. Today the bottle had definite tobacco and leather, with some fruit peaking out after an hour or so. And that is all you needed. Delicious and shockingly not very different from a 2004 Angelus. Excellent.

1996 vintage

Red fruit, leather, and forest floor on the nose. Palate starting to wake up a bit now after half an hour. Some fruit, cigar box, tomato on the palate. Soft tannins, good acid. Update: Kept some in the fridge for day 2. After warming back up, definitely some more fruit on the nose - dried dark and red fruit. Palate still a little understated but better balanced with more fruit and less of the acidic tomato note. Bumped the score …

1996 vintage

Opened on New Year's Eve and it strongly smelled and tasted like rotten vegetables right out of the bottle. Decanted to see this if this would help. 4h later, the rotten garbage smell improved slightly. Left it in decanter on counter overnight. The rotten smell and taste did improve but was still prominent. On d3 in decanter, the rotten smell and taste had receded into the background but was noticeable. The rest of the wine was mute. Put the wine …

1996 vintage

Opened at 9 man for diner. Upon opening the nose was attractive with notes of leather and cigar box. On the palate the wine felt empty, dead , just acidic with no tannins. Left open until 5pm without much progression so decided to decant since you can’t kill something that is already dead and wow, just 1h in the decanted allowed the wine to open up magically. Not much fruits but what felt only acidic and green transformed in a …

1996 vintage

Bordeaux Dinner (June 2024) (Mathilde - SF) : More structured and savory than the ‘95. A little more cedar, tobacco, and graphite on the palate. I read a couple of notes saying this was an underperformer for the vintage, but I thought this was an excellent example of restrained Bordeaux (which may be the reason why it got the negative notes).

1996 vintage

Popped and poured into Grassl 1855s at cellar temp. Lots of bricking. Tart red fruit on the nose, tobacco, leather and smoke. Bit thin on the palate with good acid and tame tannin; tea-like. For this bottle, the nose outshines the palate.

1996 vintage

1996 is a weird vintage to me. I’ve gone through 6 of them over the past 12 months or so and it’s been all over the place! Some too tired, some seemed fine but underwhelming and some were pretty darn good. This was the best yet. So “best yet” that as I’m writing this, there is but one glass left in the decanter. I went through the whole darn bottle myself. That bottle’s nose is all fresh red berries, some …

1996 vintage

No tanins, quite flat and slightly cork, review on next bottle

1996 vintage

1996 Chateau Marquis d’ Aligre Margaux. Alc 12.5% Moderate intense purple with only. Little clearing Wild nose with brush and purple fruits Palate follows with excellent fruit with some leather and bramble. Really still intense and interesting Matches a medium rare CostCo Ribeye with a chanterelle cream sauce and rutabaga purée

1996 vintage

Initially, not very giving and harsh tannins. Against all recommendations, i decanted and let it sit for an hour. It improved. After 2 hours, it came into its own. Very little fine sediment in this bottle. The nose is red-fruited with understated florals and then the dirty bunch appears: leather, little tobacco and a hit of pyrazines/funk. But every thing is a little muted. Palate is decent after those 2 hours: easy front palate, the mid-palate is a little hollow …

1996 vintage

What an interesting wine. Another pick up from Lyle Fass (all hits so far, no misses). Taking Monsieur Boyer’s advice, I decanted this for about 10 hours, threw it in the fridge, and drank the next day. Crazy? Maybe. The nose on this is wild. Mature claret to a T. Leather, cranberry, sous bois, old book, loads of bell pepper. Product of a bygone era. Palate waxes and wanes, but is never boring. Fresh red fruit, hints of blackberry too. …

1996 vintage

First things first, the wines of Bel Air Marquis d’Aligre or “BAMA”, as they are affectionately known, are not for everyone. They are essentially relics of a bygone era, made by a man who has largely resisted change over the last 74 years. Yes, that’s right, Jean-Pierre has been making the wine at BAMA since 1950. While nearly everyone around him has adopted whatever technology or technique that is trending, Jean-Pierre has held fast to his tradition. Before I get …

1996 vintage

I like to imagine that every time a bottle of BAMA is opened, Michael Rolland suffers a crippling bowel obstruction. Notes of cranberries, currants, and old leather-bound books resting in a rich oak bookcase. Also something vegetal like celery. But zero oak (obviously). This is ready, and still might improve, but in no danger of a decline anytime soon. I enjoyed this, but I preferred the 2014 Baudry Grezeaux from last weekend more. Bordeaux is just not my thing, but …

1996 vintage

Flat. Wet cardboard. Maybe cooked.

1996 vintage

Hot damn. Served double blind. I did not know this but no one around the table had ever had BAMA. I was so happy to introduce this wine to them. Evolved nose of leather, mushrooms, red and white flowers and some red berries. The nose kept on evolving as it sat in the glass bringing a hint of dark fruit and some more florals forward. Beautiful integrated palate with fine delicate tannins, medium low acidity and some rustic earth and …

1996 vintage

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Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre

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