1947 Petrus (Michel J Chasseuil Collection)
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Tasting notes
The 1947 Petrus is slightly deeper in colour than what I had observed in other bottles, presumably due to the larger format. Just a thinnish bricking on the rim. The nose is indescribably gorgeous with melted red fruit, cedar, touches of mint and juniper. There is such stunning delineation that you have to pause in wonderment. The palate is not intense or turbo-charged, the latter indicative of dubious provenance. Rather, it retains some of its flesh and feels lithe, yet still gently abraded by the passing years. What is preserved is perfect acidity with balletic balance. The ‘47 is endowed with unerring symmetry and, like the genuine legends of the twentieth century, seems undiminished by time.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Neal Martin
More reviews and scores
This bottle of 1947 Petrus was a Vandermeulen bottling. It has a slightly turbid nose that doesn't replicate the entrancing aromatics of the previous example. Yet the palate is beautifully balanced, again, slightly Médoc-like with touches of Earl Grey and Japanese wakame. The 1947 has a fine grip, showing a little more volatility than the 1945 Petrus, as you would expect. It blossoms in the glass, becoming slightly Rhône-like and savory. This does become quite crystalline with aeration as if it needed time to show its true colors, though the aromatics never quite gel. Nevertheless, this is still a wondrous old Petrus. Tasted at the 1940s/1950s dinner at Epure in Hong Kong.
Robert Parker described the 1947 Pétrus as "the most decadent wine of the century," and the description is apposite. The most extraordinarily concentrated and intense 1947 Bordeaux, as well as the most youthful today, this remarkable wine unfurls in the glass with aromas of rich berry fruit, plums, mocha, fruitcake, black truffle, vine smoke and spices. Full-bodied, muscular and enveloping, with a bottomless core of fruit, melted tannins and a long, resonant finish, its depth and completeness are breathtaking, and its sheer plenitude and unctuosity without ponderousness hard to describe. At age 75, this Pétrus remains thick, textural and vibrant, and it will surely see out a century in style.
Tasted 11 Times With Consistent Notes Oct 1994, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Ask any wine-lover to name the world’s greatest fine wines, and the answer will invariably include Pétrus.