Wine Entry : Chateau Larrivet-Haut-Brion Pessac-Leognan 1997 (French)

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We got this bottle from Jason’s the fine foods grocer for S$69 probably in year 2000. The colour of the wine is still a healthy dark garnet with some tinges of brown at the rim despite a few years of cellaring.
Smell : Blackcurrents interlaced with oak and wood

Taste : Woody and oak based with fruit acidity structure. Well-mellowed through the years and generally smooth and fine on the palate. The wine underwent malolactic conversion in tank and was then racked into French oak barrels (60% to 70% new) to mature for 18 months. This helps explains the strong oak base of the wine.

After-taste : Comfortably long length of fine tannins that last for 20+ seconds.
Background to the Chateau : The château is in the south of the Pessac-Léognan commune. The property was named Haut-Brion-Larrivet after the gravel soil on which it lies (Brion) and the Larrivet - a stream running through the vineyard. Legal action on the part of Château Haut-Brion lead to its name changing to Larrivet-Haut-Brion. Since 1987 the estate has been owned by the Gervoson family (owners of France's biggest jam makers) who have invested heavily to improve the vineyards and cellars.