Chateau Beau-Site (2016) Saint-Estephe

This wine is from the northern Medoc region of Bordeaux. It is 70% Cab, 25% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cab Franc. It was 10 years old when I tasted it and so its faint amber corona was not surprising. Uncorked, a whiff of green apple emerged. Then I had the strange sensation of stewed plaintains and chutney on the nose but that passed quickly. I poured this wine into a decanter and that may have been a mistake for a wine this age, I’m not sure. All I know is that the wine started smelling like the inside of a suitcase filled with damp bathing suits. There was dark fruit but the wine lacked the brightness and clarity I was hoping for. It did get better over the course of the evening, giving chocolate and cigar box in its best moments and petroleum jelly in its worst. And I didn’t like the finish: it stopped short.