I could have named this new discussion : “is there a Parker taste ? (part 2)”, (if you remember a message that I wrote on a Thunevin wine) as you will see that my daughter has definitely the Parker taste.

My son, his wife and their son left our house, and my two daughters arrived for lunch.

We tasted with my son in law the Mission Haut-Brion 1929 which had spent one night in a closed decanter. The smell was nice even if going slowly to an earth smell. And in mouth, it was possible. The oxygen had played a positive effect, even if, it has to be said, the wine was really dead.

We continued with La Conseillante 1981, and the wine which did not talk to me last night was superb now. This is incredible how a night had such a positive effect. I was hesitant yesterday, and today I was enthusiast. A nice wine, a little strict in its definition, but having gained a joy of life.

I had opened a Lafite-Rothschild 1971. The colour is very clear, as some Cotes de Beaune. The smell reminds of some berries which are hell red or pink. Very dense and intense smell, and in mouth a very particular elegance. It is interesting to notice that this wine has obviously got age, so has not the shining beauty of a young Lafite. But it has developed a set of flavours which is rare. We enjoyed a lot, but here comes the Parker taste. My son in law adored the Lafite, my younger daughter adored the Lafite, but my elder daughter said : “no, not my taste. Give me the Thunevin wine for 4 euros, yes. Not this Lafite”. So the Parker taste stroke again. My elder daughter loves more straightforward wines (this does not mean that the Parker taste is simplified – this is not the case – but my daughter had adopted one of his advices : she had been convinced by this type of wines on which Robert Parker wrote recently and that my son had bought immediately).

With apple tarts I poured the remaining of the Yquem 1950 which had stayed for the night in the bottle closed by a neutral cork.

And I must say that if I had some reserves on this wine yesterday, I have been fully convinced today. Oxygen has a power to cure many wounds, and this Yquem 1950 is definitely in the league of a Yquem 1921.

Magnificent, combining caramel, burnt coffee to a delicious image of the grape that you chew. Something between an Escenzia, but largely more complex, and a more conventional Yquem. This time I adored it and my wife said to me : “yesterday, I saw you largely less enthusiast than our son. Now you like it”. But she added : “it was perfect yesterday too”.

I am glad that La Conseillante, which I love, came back to a significant interest, and that Yquem 1950 performed so well, even if I still think that very black Yquem have less interest than the golden ones, which explains why I do not praise so much Yquem 1921.