Great wines born in Chinese year of the pig
Celebrate Chinese new year with a great vintage from the zodiac sign of the pig...
We’ve delved through our wine reviews on Decanter Premium to bring you some of the great wines from Chinese year of the pig vintages, tasted by Decanter‘s experts.
See also: Anniversary wines for 2019
We’ve got some 100-point wines from Bordeaux, including Château Lafite Rothschild 1959 and Château Palmer 1983 – tasted as part of Jane Anson’s 1982 vs 1983: Left bank re-tasted.
The oldest ones in our selection are from 1947 – Château Talbot and Château Smith Haut Lafitte.
And it’s not just Bordeaux that has produced great wines in these vintages – there’s Sassicaia 1983, Vega Sicilia Unico 1983, Qunita do Noval Colheita 1995 and a selection of vintage Champagnes.
Some famous faces of the wine world born in the year of the pig include Seña winemaker Eduardo Chadwick, and Decanter‘s own Stephen Brook.
Great wines from the Chinese year of the pig vintages:
You might also like:
Smith Haut Lafitte: Tasting all the ‘7s’
100 years of Chateau Talbot
Great French wines: 100 point scores
Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, 1er Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1959
I have tasted this wine several times over the past few years, and each bottle has blown me away. Now almost 60 years old, it...
1959
Château Lafite RothschildPauillac
Château Palmer, Margaux, 3ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1983
Smoky, floral and fabulous. Violet-edged, this stands out over the 1982 for its complexity of aromatics and flavours. Brambled blackberry notes meld with soft leather...
1983
Château PalmerMargaux
Louis Roederer, Cristal Vinothèque (Magnum), Champagne, France, 1995
<p>This Vinothèque version hasn't moved from Roederer’s cellars in Reims until now. During its long evolution, it has spent ten years on its lees and...
1995
Louis Roederer
Dom Pérignon, P2, Champagne, France, 1995
The most impressive of the evening's head-to-head pairings was that between the 1995 and 1996, the yin and yang of recent vintages. The former is...
1995
Dom Pérignon
R López de Heredia, Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva, Rioja, Northern Spain, Spain, 1995
The archetype of a great wine, having gone through a soft, long ageing: spicy complexity, undergrowth tones, a caramel touch. Suave, light but stylish, velvety,...
1995
R López de HerediaRioja
Charles Heidsieck, Blanc des Millenaires, Champagne, France, 1983
When I first tasted the 1983 Millenaires 10 years ago, it stood a little shy compared with the more extrovert, splendiferous '85.. But in 2017...
1983
Charles Heidsieck
Moulin de la Gardette, La Cuvée Tradition, Gigondas, Rhône, France, 1983
Opened by the owner of Moulin de la Gardette, Jean-Baptiste Meunier, at L'Oustalet restaurant in Gigondas, from his private reserves. It has an amazingly deep...
1983
Moulin de la GardetteGigondas
Domaine Armand Rousseau, Chambertin Grand Cru, Burgundy, France, 1983
An even older treat followed. I’ll spare you the primary jottings this time, but in colour this was the lightest and most translucent wine on...
1983
Domaine Armand RousseauChambertin Grand Cru
Château Talbot, St-Julien, 4ème Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France, 1947
The 1947 stands right next to the 1989 in this tasting, and its colour has almost the same inky depth. It tastes younger than the...
1947
Château TalbotSt-Julien
Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne, Champagne, France, 1983
1983 started cold and rainy, but flowering was successful, and there was a large crop of vines. Weather throughout the growing season was promising, but...
1983
Taittinger
Krug, Clos du Mesnil, Champagne, France, 1983
Mature, and the essence of Chardonnay. A vibrantly attractive limey citrus attack is supported by a lively acidity which is very much intact. The elegance,...
1983
Krug
Ortubia, Single Estate, Rioja, Northern Spain, Spain, 2007
PBT: A discreet, austere and classy style of Rioja Reserva. Its character is indicative of a cooler climate and it is masterfully aged. A great...
2007
OrtubiaRioja
Château Smith Haut Lafitte, Graves, Bordeaux, France, 1947
No data was recorded on the blend of the '47, but this has an amazing level of soft brushed red fruits that are still extremely...
1947
Château Smith Haut LafitteGraves
Torres, Mas La Plana Gran Coronas, Penedès, Spain, 1971
In its second vintage this wine was still known as Gran Coronas, as the name didn’t change until later in the decade. '71 was a...
1971
Torres
Chateau Montelena, Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA, 1983
This was an El Nino vintage with heavy winter and harvest rainstorms. Montelena mostly picked during the Indian summer in October, so this turned out...
1983
Chateau MontelenaNapa Valley
Tenuta San Guido, Sassicaia, Vino da Tavola, Tuscany, Italy, 1983
This is highly aromatic and complex, quite unusual. Notes of salted caramel shortbread, grilled pistachios and almonds, mixed in with the olives and autumnal fruits....
1983
Tenuta San GuidoVino da Tavola
Vega Sicilia, Unico, Ribera del Duero, Castilla y Léon, Spain, 1983
Intensely concentrated with blackberries, roasted herbs and aged pu’er tea leaf notes. Youthful and vigorous, this needs another 10 years of ageing before it mellows...
1983
Vega SiciliaRibera del Duero
Quinta do Noval, Colheita, Port, Douro Valley, Portugal, 1995
A mild, damp winter preceded a warm spring and hot, dry summer. This is pale tawny with an amber-orange rim. The aromas are delicate, lifted...
1995
Quinta do NovalPort
Freixenet, Can Sala, Cava de Paraje Calificado, Penedès, Spain, 2007
The highly drinkable proof that Parellada can give great wines. Amazing, discreet elegance and fresh expression, which benefit considerably from a long period of ageing....
2007
FreixenetCava de Paraje Calificado
Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Meursault, 1er Cru Perrières, Burgundy, France, 2007
If it was easy to assume that Rapet’s 2003 Corton-Charlemagne was a Meursault, the opposite was true with Lafon’s `07 Perrières, particularly once you had...
2007
Domaine des Comtes LafonMeursault
Concha y Toro, Don Melchor, Puente Alto, Maipo Valley, Chile, 1995
The only vintage to include Merlot. although the 2016 will also have a tiny amount. Shows hints of reduction, which dissipate to reveal lovely fruit,...
1995
Concha y ToroPuente Alto
