La Lagune vertical

Wine tasting at Sotheby's.  My understanding is that all wines were opened for 3 hours prior to the start of tasting at 6pm.

2009 La Lagune - whew!  Not drinkable in my opinion... so alcoholic and sharp it felt like paint thinner.  OK so underneath the alcohol, there was actually some sweetness and exotic coconut butter.

2005 La Lagune - very fragrant, with cedar, dried herbs and sweet fruit.  What a lovely wine!

2004 La Lagune - forest, dried herbs, fruity and a little jammy.

2003 La Lagune - very fragrant, cedar, meaty and a little smoky.

2001 La Lagune - more farmy, meaty, smoky, a little medicinal.  Very classic.

1998 La Lagune - a little sweet and fragrant.  Not bad at all.

1990 La Lagune - very smoky, cigar box, meaty.  At its peak and not gonna get any better from here.

2001 Jaboulet La Chapelle - very ready to drink and lovely.  Round tannins.

2007 Jaboulet La Chapelle - very ripe on the nose, sweet, a little alcoholic, some pine needle notes.

2000 Beaucastel Rouge - a much bigger wine than I expected.  Very sweet and ripe.

2005 Clos des Papes - sweet and very ripe, jammy, with Chinese licorice, cane sugar and blueberries.  Very nice.

It's clear to find stylistic differences between the wines made before Caroline Frey took over as winemaker in 2004, as the wines are bigger and riper nowadays.  I thought the 1990 drank well for a mature wine, and liked the 2003 and 2005.