The third flight was designed to test the proposition that Lenz reds can age as well as notable red Bordeaux and pitted three older vintages of Lenz Merlot (what we now call “Old Vines Merlot”) against the same vintages of Château Pétrus.
RANK
POINTS
WINE
VINTAGE
PRICE
RATINGS
1
91.0
Château Pétrus
1997
$700
Robert Parker-95; Wine Spectator - 95
2
89.4
Lenz Old Vines Merlot
1995
$50
Not Rated
3T
89.2
Lenz Old Vines Merlot
1997
$55
Not Rated
3T
89.2
Château Pétrus
1995
$875
Robert Parker-95; Wine Spectator - 95
5
88.6
Château Pétrus
1993
$545
Robert Parker-95; Wine Spectator - 95
6
87.6
Lenz Old Vines Merlot
1993
$30
Not Rated
Comments:
Congratulations to Château Pétrus: this flight had a clear outright winner, with a gap of 1.6 points between the 1st-place Pétrus and the 2nd-place Lenz.
Lenz did quite well, though, with 2nd, 3rd (equal) and 5th-place rankings.
Does this flight show that Lenz merlot won’t age as well as Château Pétrus? Hardly. The Lenz wines averaged 88.7 while the 3 Pétrus averaged 89.6, not quite a point better. And the ’95 and ’97 Lenz merlots came in ahead of 2 of the older Pétrus vintages.
Meanwhile, the average retail price of the 3 Pétrus wines is over $700, and the average of the 3 Lenz merlots is $30 (when they were in release - - right now the Lenz probably has a market value, if it has been well-stored, of about $100-125 per bottle).
The average score for this flight was 89.2, and the ‘point spread’ for this flight was tight at 3.4.
