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: 1996 Lanessan, Haut-Médoc

1996 Lanessan, Haut-Médoc

SKU #1026860 90 points John Gilman

Outer quote mark My introduction to Château Lanessan was their lovely 1982 wine, which was one of the 1982s that a young university student could effortlessly afford, even back in those good old days when Bordeaux offered great value. But, I have not seen it with too much regularity since those vintages of the first half of the 1980s, so I was delighted to see just how good the 1996 has turned out. The wine is deep, ripe and nicely complex on the nose, wafting from the glass in a fine mix of sweet cassis, black cherries, cigar smoke, chipotle pepper, dark soil tones and a nice touch of new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, ripe and blossoming nicely, with a good core, melting tannins and fine length and grip on the nicely balanced finish. This is a very good wine and still a good value in the context of today’s pricing. (Drink between 2019-2050) Inner quote mark (9/2020)

Wine Advocate

Outer quote mark A sleeper of the vintage, Lanessan's 1996 boasts an impressively saturated dark ruby/purple color, and knock-out aromatics of melted chocolate, asphalt, and cassis. Deep, rich, and medium-bodied, with excellent concentration and purity... Inner quote mark (4/1999)

K&L Notes

Lanessan has produced some of our favorite value-priced older Bordeaux. Old school in style, austere on release, this is now revealing wonderful minerality, cocoa, and cassis.

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1996 Lanessan, Haut-Médoc

Price: $34.99

Quantity:

JG: 90

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Product Reviews:

By: Jim Barr | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 2/21/2013 | Send Email

Deeply colored, this is an amazingly rich, lush wine from this estate. Ripe, plumy, broad, powerful flavors are still youthful and vibrant, its silky, integrated tannins allows drinkability at this stage. It is long and delicious, and will evolve for another five to ten years. I have been informed by Rusty that we need to set some cases of the Gem aside in our cellar to be one of our house reds in the not to distant future.13.0% ABV

Drink from 2013 to 2020

By: Steve Greer | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 7/5/2011 | Send Email

The nose was a heady mix of cedar, burnt wood and liqueur. The palate is cassis, dried cranberry and beef bouillon. The finish has some sherry like flavors with some tartness. I really liked this wine.

By: Clyde Beffa Jr. | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 3/30/2009 | Send Email

Thirteen years old and under $25. That's less than $2 a year. Old school wine with tons of Cabernet fruit showing through. Great food wine-say Osso Bucco! Very beautiful glowing dark ruby. Intriguing, fully developed nose with strong mineral notes... this is serious wine! Fabulous value! Old school. It reminds me of the good ol’ days in Bordeaux when wines were judged on fruit and texture, not on how much new oak was showing. On 7/5/11: From a powerhouse vintage. The cassis really shines through here. Some chocolate nuances. Parker calls it a sleeper of the vintage

Top Value! Drink from 2009 to 2014

By: Jeff Garneau | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: 5/20/2008 | Send Email

The 1996 vintage in Bordeaux was an excellent one for cabernet sauvignon. Since about 75% of the property at Château Lanessan is planted to that varietal, the vintage played to its strengths. I tasted this wine a couple of years ago and it was completely closed and unyieldingly tannic. I recently had the opportunity to taste the wine again, and I was surprised by how much it had evolved. The nose showed floral, almost candied notes, like a violet pastille. Ripe red fruits - red currant and sour cherry. Tannins still firm. The wine is still a bit young, even now, but represents an excellent short-term cellar proposition.

Additional Information:

Varietal:

Cabernet Sauvignon and Blends

- Cabernet Sauvignon has come a long way from its role as a blending varietal, however dominant, in the wines of Bordeaux. Today it is the most planted red varietal in the world. Identified as a descendent of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon needs to be planted in warmer climates to fully ripen. Its small berries can easily be identified for their distinctive blue color, thick skins and high tannins. And while the varietal has its own definitive characteristics: green pepper-like aromas and black currant flavors among them, it is perhaps most prized for its ability to convey terroir, vintage and winemaking. A relatively new varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon started making inroads into the wines of the Médoc and Graves in the late-18th century. Today it is also dominant in the up-and-coming Entre-Deux-Mers region of Bordeaux and can also be found in Southwest France. It is the companion varietal to Sangiovese in Italy's Super Tuscans and is planted all over Europe, stretching to lesser-known winegrowing regions like Russia and Lebanon. In the Americas Cabernet Sauvignon has found champions in every nook and cranny of California and among winemakers in Washington, where it complements plantings of Merlot. In South America, Cab thrives in Chile, but can also be found in smaller amounts in Argentina and even in Mexico.

Country:

France

- When it comes to wine, France stands alone. No other country can beat it in terms of quality and diversity. And while many of its Region, Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne most obviously, produce wine as rare, as sought-after and nearly as expensive as gold, there are just as many obscurities and values to be had from little known appellations throughout the country. To learn everything there is to know about French wine would take a lifetime. To understand and appreciate French wine, one only has to begin tasting them.

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