1975 Château Le Gay
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Tasting notes
Although still backward, the 1975 Le Gay is an impressively extracted wine that is beginning to reveal some aromatic development. Sweet, overripe aromas of black-cherries intermingled with scents of minerals and earth, are followed by a powerful, muscular, tannic, large-scaled wine that remains immature. The color is a healthy dark garnet/ruby with no amber at the edge. Although it is excruciatingly tannic, the high extraction of fruit remains a positive sign. This old style, blockbuster wine is reminiscent of certain 1948s and 1945s. Whether it ever sheds its tannin and becomes completely harmonious is highly debatable (I don't think it will), but there are copious quantities of sweet, exotic fruit. Perhaps in 20 years this will be a marvelous claret, but don't bet on it.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
About the producer
There’s been lots of change at Ch. le Gay since the Parent family arrived in 2002 – with vineyards replanted, the cellars renovated and the winemaking adjusted. No surprise, perhaps, that quality is now higher than ever.