Wine Advocate
par Robert Parker le 28/02/1997
Let me make it clear that I am an admirer of the Noney family and the exceptional efforts they have put forth at Grand-Mayne. The 1989 and 1990 (both of which I recommended and purchased for myself) are superb wines, and I believe the 1995 will be close in quality to them. However, one of the problems I have alluded to in my Bordeaux reports is that certain chateaux have had problems in some vintages with respect to a considerable number of their wines having developed various degrees of unattractive, moldy cardboard/wet dog/musty wood aromas that obliterate much of the wine's fruit character and appeal. Readers can refer back to some of my comments over the last decade about many of the Camensac vintages in the eighties, Ducru-Beaucaillou between 1986 and 1990, and a handful of other properties. Grand-Mayne appears to have had a similar outbreak of this distracting aromatic plague in both 1993 and 1994. I should also point out that all noses are not created equal. Some readers may be less sensitive to these smells than I. This wine appears to be a return to the clean, pure, rich, concentrated, massive style of the 1989 and 1990 Grand-Maynes. Fortunately, no moldy cardboard, musty wood aromas were detectable in several tastings of this wine. The color is a superb, thick, rich, opaque black/purple. The wine is chewy, full-bodied, superbly concentrated, and in need of 5-6 years of cellaring. The 1995 Grand-Mayne should prove to be a sleeper of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2016.