Ok cork dorks, time (once again..) to geek out!! 🍷🤓

I'm so incredibly privileged in my line of work, that every now and then I get to taste wines like this! Ok, it’s not a Kiwi wine, but credit where credit’s due, the great 1982 vintage in Bordeaux changed the worlds perception of what constitutes great wine. Now, there were a number of contributing factors that made this vintage so memorable, but not all of them are attributed to the weather conditions. Ok, so beginning in the 1950's, a professor from the Institute of Oenology at Bordeaux University named Émile Peynaud, spent decades collaborating with the regions finest Chateaux in a combined effort to integrate the science of technological advances into the art of modern winemaking. Right, so this all came to fruition in 1982 when the stars aligned and growing conditions were ideal for showcasing the results from years of viticultural fine tuning. The wines from 1982 (and most subsequent vintages) were different from previous vintages. They were full, rich, fruit forward and flamboyant. Wonderfully soft and approachable in their youth, yet somehow loaded with enough structure to last a lifetime! Anyhoo, they captured the attention of a little known (at the time) wine critique named Robert Parker Jr, who's widely publicised praise for the Classified Growths of 82 catapulted him to international stardom. 'So what?' I hear you say, well consequently this new and improved version of the so called ‘worlds greatest wines’ were now being introduced to a whole new generation of wine consumers (via Parker’s publications) and in doing so, inspired a style of winemaking still emulated world wide. New World and Old World Bordeaux style wines are produced to the highest level of quality nowadays, and Peynaud's techniques are practiced in every self respecting winery on the planet. The 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild was a bucket list wine for me. I won't bore you with tasting notes, I'll let your imagination run wild..