1975 Chateau Montrose, St. Estephe -- I was concerned that this wine wouldn't show well, given its bottom-neck fill, and I was right. The cork was soaked to about 1/16" from the top, spongy, and the last 1/2" broke despite my careful effort at extraction. (An interesting feature of the bottle is the fact that the name of the proprietor--L. Charmolue-- is in script the same size as the name of the wine on the front label.) The wine was a beautiful pale ruby color, and delivered a powerful nose of lead pencil. Unfortunately, in the mouth it was all about structure, and NOT about fruit. Extremely silky with lead pencil/mineral notes, beyond that it had some sense of residual sweetness, but no fruit to speak of of. After half an hour it became disjointed on the finish, a sure sign that its life was over. Disappointing. I've had this bottle for 27 years, and should more properly perhaps have kept it as a permanent souvenir of my first foray into Bordeaux futures rather than drank it.

SeaQ, I had the '75 Montrose a couple of times and it was never very good. It also lacked the trademark Montrose longevity. 1975 was yet another in the littany of vintages that didn't live up to initial acclaim. The Petrus is still sleeping, but most of the others are on the downslope.

That makes me feel only marginally better, Board-O. I still have couple of these-- with a better fill level-- and a couple Mouton.

I think we discussed this a long time ago, but I bought futures of 25 different wines of this vintage, splitting my order with a couple of other people. There were more disappointments than pleasant surrprises (Pichon Baron and Nenin being an example of each) but nothing that would ever rock any wine lover's world. Of course, Petrus was not one of the wines I bought.

I hope you got the La Mission.

These days, I even hesitate to use '75 Montrose and '75 Pichon Baron to cook with.......

Opened 12/25/05, wine stained cork up to the top, into the neck fill. Slightly pale ruby red coloration with no signs of bricking. A light bodied wine displaying tobacco, lead pencil, and quickly fading red fruits. Consumed inside of 45 minutes. Drink up.