A survivor bottle from more than forty years ago, kept largely undisturbed in my cellar since the happy times of the New Romantics, just after the marriage of Charles and Diana but also the year of the Falklands War.
Château Chasse-Spleen was considered a Cru Exceptionnel at the time, it has some of the best-placed vineyards in the Haut Médoc and in 1982 was using traditional methods of vinification with excellent keeping properties. So a last chance to taste this classic claret - or a chance at last!
The long cork, dark with keeping, was a challenge but came out largely intact. I prefer to strain direct in to the glass rather than decant or filter, which risk “killing” the delicate old wine with too much oxygen.
In the glass the Chasse-Spleen claret was very pleasant indeed, we enjoyed the wine with Cingale dolce forte with Signorine alle Castagne, one of Terry’s special recipes from Tuscany (wild boar in a very dark stew with Tuscan chestnut pasta).
Tasting notes: Château Chasse-Spleen 1982
Very smooth. Nicely atticy but not musty (which would be bad). Flavour remarkably stable. Still fragrant to the nose. Fine old claret. Doesn’t easily classify as blackberry as it’s moved on from that. Just nice, a rarefied taste as is aged port.
Colour in the glass: dark deep red, not cherry or tawny.