Pomerol Trotanoy 1982: a wine as old as me

Or should I say as young as me...? Thanks to a former colleague, yesterday I had the great privilege of drinking a bottle of 1982 Trotanoy in La Brisa restaurant in Milan.

We did a little BYO in Australian style (though I can't mention this to said colleague as nothing from the new world will ever be adopted in the old!) though on a grander scale and strolled the streets of Milan with our precious bottled wrapped in alluminium foil on our way to the restaurant.

The food and service at La Brisa is very good; genteel but not stuck up, with that "relaxed but tablecloth" air of restaurants that can keep up appearances without being too pretentious.

As for the wine, I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed. I was expecting Trotanoy, being mostly produced from merlot grapes, to be very soft and easily drinkable. Instead it still had excellent back bone acidity and some tannin, that proves its ageing potential is by no means over. The bouquet was nothing bombastic: quite closed and delicate, with some dried flower notes and earthy overtones.

It was the "stoffa" as we would say in Italian, that really impressed. "Stoffa" is like fabric or stuffing, and the Trotanoy 1982 has good body and structure that will last it well. Leaving it in the glass a while, it becomes softer and changes slightly, warming to a more open bouquet.

Not bad at all for a wine dating 27 years and making me feel like I have plenty ahead of me, proving that 1982 is a vintage to be reckoned with ;-)