I have consumed over a case of this wine, and consistently rated it in the mid to upper-nineties. The three bottles from the Chateau's cellars were variable, but seemed surprisingly herbal, with notes of soy, cedar, roasted vegetables, leather, and earth dominating the wine's fruit. Tasty, elegant, medium-bodied, and fully mature, the 1970 is excellent, but not inspirational.
A bottle from my cellar drunk in late December, 1999, was rated 97.
It appeared to have at least two decades of life remaining. Readers who purchase old vintages of great wines, regardless of whether they are Bordeaux, Burgundy, and California Cabernet, need to remember the expression, "there are no great wines, just great bottles," particularly after a wine reaches 30 years of age. - RP
