1952 Petrus

The 1952 Petrus is a vintage that is rarely spotted these days, and I have only one tasting note of a Vandermeulen bottling. This château-bottled example is wonderful. The nose is typical of its age, with pressed rose petals, incense and lavender oil infusing the vestiges of red fruit, just a light chlorophyll scent that I also observed in the previous bottle. Like many Right Bank 1952s, there is an element of Left Bank austerity here before mutating into more estuarine/Japanese wakame scents. The palate is framed by robust tannins, evincing the solid nature of the vintage. Fairly tannic and refreshingly saline, this might be less precocious than the aforementioned Vandermeulen bottling and perhaps just misses the roundness and depth of a tip-top Petrus. But at over seven decades, this remains a marvelous Pomerol that continues to give pleasure. (NM)