1982 Petrus
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Tasting notes
Offering up aromas of sweet plums, fruitcake, warm spices, smoke, caramel and cedar, the 1982 Pétrus is medium to full-bodied, sweet and fleshy, built around powdery tannins that assert themselves on the somewhat firm finish. Served blind next to Trotanoy and Lafleur, Pétrus exhibits less sensuality than the former and less concentration and character than the latter, landing in third place. It remains a very attractive wine, but the great Pétrus of the decade of the 1980s is clearly not the 1982 but rather the monumental 1989.
Critic scores
Average Score
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
This has a lovely bouquet, perhaps a little purer than the bottle from February 2018 with just joyful black cherries, black truffle and cedar aromas, more red fruit developing with aeration. I appreciate the brightness. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, moderate in terms of complexity, more secondary notes towards the second half with sage, undergrowth and touches of leather. Whilst it does not exude the precision of the magnum encountered three or four years back (still the finest example of the 1982 Petrus that I have tasted) it is a wonderful Pomerol, if nowhere near the notion of perfection. Tasted at the Petrus dinner at Hide restaurant in London and then at Epure restaurant in Hong Kong. (NM)
The 1982 Petrus is a wine I have been fortunate enough to taste perhaps a dozen times, however, this is the only occasion when it is served in magnum and at least based on this, it makes a world of difference compared to its lesser showings in bottle. Firstly, the colour is deeper, slightly more opaque. The bouquet is certainly tighter and more youthful with a little earthiness and singed leather infusing the dark berry fruit, later joined by a scintilla of shucked oyster shell. The palate is wonderful: fine tannin, perfectly pitched acidity, great depth and complexity than bottle examples. It felt almost flinty in the mouth, quite linear and direct with a very persistent finish. Advising folks to buy this wine in larger format sounds ridiculous to the 99.99% who could never afford it, but if your number has come up on the lottery, then heed my advice. Tasted at the Petrus dinner at the Épure restaurant in Hong Kong.
Tasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 1982 Petrus was compared directly with 1982 Le Pin and Lafleur, a week after tasting the same wine from magnum. There's context for you. My conclusion is that magnums show much better than bottles and secondly, it lags one or two steps behind those aforementioned Pomerols. That should not detract from a great wine. It possesses a lovely bouquet with black fruit, cedar, smoke and fresh black truffles, modest in comparison to Le Pin, almost straight-laced without the disarming precision of the Lafleur. The palate has a wonderful sense of balance, the acidity just about perfect, complex but not profound. The tannin frame a mixture of red and black fruit infused with sage and white pepper, hints of leather towards the long and tender finish. If you can disassociate this Petrus with its value then it is just a delicious Pomerol. The question is: can you actually do that?
About the producer
Ask any wine-lover to name the world’s greatest fine wines, and the answer will invariably include Pétrus.