1995 Château Petrus
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Tasting notes
The 1995 Petrus is one of the finest vintages of the decade, a silver medal behind the brilliant 1998. This bottle might well constitute the best that I have encountered. It has a beautiful, focused nose with hints of game and humidor infusing the black fruit. With aeration more red fruit becomes evident, allied with a touch of roasted chestnut. The palate is supremely well balanced, slightly gamey and with impressive grip. There is a bit of chutzpah about this Petrus, the way in which it fans out towards the finish. You could broach bottles now, although this example suggests that it is going to be very interesting to follow over the next 20 years. Tasted at the Petrus dinner at Hide restaurant in London.
Critic scores
Wine Spectator
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
Tasted at the Pomerol Comparative Exploration tasting in London, the 1995 Petrus is a vintage that I had not tasted for several years. Now just over 20 years old, it continues to cruise at a high level. The nose is very "cool" and refined. There remains plenty of black fruit on the nose, quite savoury in style to such an extent that blind, I was certain it contained some Cabernet Franc and was therefore Lafleur! The palate is extremely well balanced with superb density, wonderful structure and crescendo of flavours. There is a touch of hung game towards the finish, dried blood and sage, the aftertaste ridiculously long. It has reached its drinking plateau, although on this showing, it is going to be a very long plateau. Divine.
Very full and heavy and rich. Extremely rich actually. Almost porty – surely Pétrus – but with heavy new oak influence apparent. Very jagged. Animal. Still quite raw. Lots of alcohol. (JR)
Mid-ruby with some brick on the rim. Christian Moueix describes the nose as “very dignified, a touch of Protestantism”. Lovely, elegant integration on the nose. Not a hair out of place. Relatively lightweight, but lots of dry tannins on the finish. Very straight-backed and classic. Clearly very finely delineated. Certainly patrician. Redcurrant and mint emerged, and a bit of greenness on the nose. Sandy tannins still. (JR)