My Swiss colleague selected this wine to accompany our dinner in Basel at theHotel Drei Konige am Rhein , a very nice restaurant overlooking the Rhine River featuring classic European cuisine.

Dark purple color, still young-looking. Fragrant bouquet of rose petals, caremelized raspberries, and toasted wood. Expansive flavors of dark fruits, tobacco, and watermelon. Expansive velvety mouthfeel, with a surprisingly soft texture. Disappointing watery and non-existent finish. This wine seems to be lacking needed tannic structure. Overall, a pleasant, friendly wine, but nothing worth holding for a long period of time. Drink up. 87P.

Also had a 2002 Swiss Sauv Blanc (from a producer called Bovard, I believe). It was quite nice, exhibiting a rich and creamy profile with lemon meringue and vanilla flavors. I'd rate it around 88-89P.

Cheers,

Otis

Thanks for the note. Robert Parker gave it a 92 and said drink "2009-2028". But the couple notes I've seen this year on other boards were totally consistent with your impression: nice, but short finish and probably a fairly short life.

I'd buy it as one of the good 1996s drinking now, except that the $60+ price is prohibitive (normally this wine sells for like $35), especially when other decent '96s can be had for about half that (d'Armailhac, Haut Bages Liberal, Potensac, etc).

I bought a couple on sale at Zachys for $25. Much more mature than I would expect from '96 St. Estephe. Here's my note from earlier this month:

Wednesday was a snowy St. Patrick's Day, but as Betsy had rehearsals all day we eschewed corned beef and cabbage. Instead, she made rack of lamb with persillade (sp?- in any case, a parsley-garlic rub), baked potatoes,and spinach, and I opened a 1996 Phélan Ségur (St-Estèphe). Much readier than I'd expect for a '96 St-Est., a little tight when opened but an hour of decanting does wonders. Medium bodied, cedary nose with a little tobacco, deep dark blackcurrant fruit. Nice balance of acidity, tannins,and fruit; but the finish is too short to take it to the "A" levels of the Dale Easy Scale ™ . In any case, a nice example of a cabernet-centric Bordeaux nearing its prime. B+

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Nice balance of acidity, tannins,and fruit; but the finish is too short to take it to the "A" levels of the Dale Easy Scale ™

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Hey, I like that little trick with the trademark sign.

Thanks! I already have a funky German keyboard with things like €, Ü, ß etc right on the keys. But I will recommend it to others who want to have umlauts at their fingertips.

cbmac,

Per his ratings database, Parker rated thePhelan Segur at 86P, with a recommendation to drink between 1999-2009. I think you pulled the rating and drinking window forCalon Segur. I suspect the Calon Segur is a better bottle (with a higher price tag too).

My Swiss colleague narrowed his choice on the wine list down to the '96 Phelan Segur or the '97 Ch. du Tertre. I'm glad he picked the Phelan. It's probably the first '96 Bordeaux I've tried that's entered its drinking window.

Cheers,

Otis

Otis you are entirely right.

I opened this around 5:15 and poured a small taste. The nose was absolutely incredible, dark fruits, cassis, minerals and earth. This all followed through, although somewhat muted when I tasted it. The tannin was pronounced and the finish was nice. I continued to follow this first pour for about 30-45 minutes without much change. Around 6pm I poured another small taste and it seemed as if it had shut down. The nose was almost completely gone and there was not much finish. I came back about an hour later and still nothing. It's almost 9pm now and the wine is really starting to open back up again. There is some very nice fruit along with some minerality and earthiness. However, just like when I opened it it doesn't all follow through when I taste it. We continued to sample this until it was gone around 10pm. I wish I would have saved a glass to see how it evolved today.