MB***** (1/2001): I also had the pleasure, and always the privilege, of tasting this in cask in June 1986. At Mouton, one does not taste directly from the cask. In this instance from a cask sample in the small tasting room of the maitre de chai. The wine was marvellously deep of course, but not opaque; glorious young fruit superstructure above a firm foundation. A touch of leanness but fleshy. Already by December 1990 it had started to mature, its nose inimitably Mouton, spicy Cabernet, glorious; showing some elegance, lovely texture and aftertaste. Eighteen subsequent notes, and even if space permitted, some would be repetitive if not tedious. I have therefore looked up notes made in 1995, when it was at an interim stage of maturity. Alas at the 15th Grand Awards banquet in New York I found it 'surprisingly chunky and uncharming. Expected better'. The filet mignon was excellent, so it must have been all the chatter and noise in the Marriott Marquis ballroom. Or it might just have been me, because at my Bordeaux Club dinner in January 1996 I described the bouquet as 'exotic, lovely Cabernet Sauvignon, and at 9.40pm very fragrant'. Note the time: I had drawn the cork at 4.30pm, decanted it at 5.40pm and served it at 8.50pm... Back to Mouton, briefly. At exactly 15 years of age, two bottles both medium deep, one still a bit hard but fragrant, with a lovely texture, soft, fruity. The other, strangely, with a lovely sweet bouquet but a touch of woodiness and acidity. Both at a wine dinner at home, November 2000. Most recently, another Bordeaux Club dinner, this time hosted by Dr. Louis Hughes, a new member. It had all the exotic Mouton fragrance; soft, flavoury, crisp but, I noted, with a touch of astringency. An exciting wine but at the top but not yet over it. Will continue recklessly for another ten years or more.