Chateau Malescasse, Haut-Médoc, 1990

It's all rather melancholy. It's raining outside, autumn is coming on, and there's only one antidote against heaviness of heart that never fails: 1990 Bordeaux. Chateau Malescasse is said to be one of the very dependable producers of the Haut-Médoc, and in a more lucid moment, I secured this bottle on eBay. And when I woke up this morning with the rain lashing against the windows, I knew it : Tonight is its night.

I'm surprised by the depth of the colour to begin with: Only on the very edges can you see the wine turning into the lighter brick red that you would expect from a 21-year-old red. This is followed by a warm and warming smell of ripe raspberries, prunes, currants, furniture polish and freshly paved tarmac. Surprisingly young-seeming on the palate, meaty, typical cassis fruit with baked berry notes, tar again, great tannic grip, and a hint of pine needles - what can I say? Simply a good bottle of Bordeaux, gracefully aged and a pleasure, though short of a revelation, to drink. It's been a while since we've had music on this blog, and I want to pay tribute to the late great folk musician Bert Jansch who died two days ago. Here he is, with his magisterial "Black Water Side".

So it's all rather melancholy: Bert Jansch is gone, it's raining outside, autumn is coming on, and I urgently need to stack up on 1990 Bordeaux.