In 1983, the vineyards gave birth to the first vintage of Dominus. Christian has since been running things at the estate, and purchased the estate outright in 1995.

Twenty years later, Moueix released his 20th vintage, the bottling of 2003.  Initially it smelled like a true bordeaux.  But it morphed into a beautiful, classically styled Napa Meritage.  Simply magical.

Initially, it showed tart Bing cherry, with cassis undertones and a dusty graphite on the nose.  After an hour, the nose changed to a beautiful stewed plum.  The cassis turned jammy, and it developed the most incredible dark violet floral aroma.  The slight lead pencil and cedar notes still remain in the background.

This is a classic.  And it shows that exceptional winemaking skills can overcome a less-than-average vintage.  This gets 90 points on my scale.  Moueix did well with this vintage.  I wouldn’t want to age this wine much longer, but that’s just my style.

I had been saving it, and saving it for a special occasion.  And truthfully, I purchased it already past it’s prime.  So I finally took the plunge tonight and popped the cork.

I am usually not sentimental about keeping wine past it’s time…  if you over-age your wine, you have defeated it’s purpose.  It looses all of the beautiful characteristics that it once had.  But this was the oldest wine in my cellar, and it was time to pop this cork.

This wine was fun.  The cork held up nicely, usually you can only count on a cork to last for 20 years or so (if it’s a top quality cork).

I immediately got mushroom, “garrigue,” stewed plums, and pencil lead on the nose.  Just as I would expect from an older Bordeaux.

The palate was a bit thin, with notes of cranberry, leather and a slight minerality.  And it had a faint tannic touch that has held from years ago.  But it’s always a pleasure to drink a wine older than my own age.  I’m glad I didn’t wait another day.  I’d rate the wine 83 points in its current state.  Had I drank it a bit younger, the rating would probably have been slightly higher.

It’s always an honor to pop a cork like this.  Wines this old still have lead capsules, and other markings no longer used today.  Just ads to the beautiful mystery that is wine.  And makes me think of a time much, much simpler.