cwdjrxyz wrote:

> I still have a few bottles of the 1974 Clos Du Val. It has been mature
> a long time, but still is holding. There was a lot of hype about Clos
> Du Val back in the 1970s, because the winemaker was a then young man
> from France with a father associated with making of Lafite Rothschild.
> I am not sure that was all that good an association back then, since
> Lafite often did not make as good wine as it now does. The 1974 was a
> big wine with much extract and tannin, but much more civilized than
> some of the extremely high alcohol and tannic wines then being made by
> others. It had a much better balance than many monsters of the 70s.

Balance certainly describes well those Clos du Val wines from the '70s.
I never had the '74, but did quite enjoy the '77 and '78 Reserve
bottlings. And let's not forget the '72, which was one of the wines
included in the Judgment of Paris in '76. Although it didn't fare that
well in '76, it came out on top in Steven Spurrier's 10th anniversary
tasting in '86 (but again fell in the rankings in the 30th anniversary
tasting).

Mark Lipton


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