1985

Rating: 8/10 - Ready to drink.

An extremely successful year in Bordeaux which produced some of the most immediately seductive and appealing clarets in living memory. The summer was hot, with peaks of intense heat in August and September. Ideally there were occasional thundery showers which had the effect of watering the vineyards, but no more. The result was a vintage of glorious, happy, buxom wines, deep in colour, dense but fruit driven and buttressed by abundant soft tannins. They have aged marvellously, yet still retain the joyous style of their youth. In bouquet, in flavour and in their intrinsic harmony they remain handsome, opulent clarets.