Some 2000 Bordeaux

I’ve been attempting to make the rounds of unclassified or low classified Bordeaux 2000s that I have, or those that I can reasonably get my hands on, just to get a sense of where the vintage is headed to. Admittedly, I loaded up on the vintage.

Here are some TNs during the last month. In my clumsy attempt to replicate aging, all bottles were uncorked in the morning, and left standing upright, prior to consuming them during dinner. The average time that the bottles were left standing uncorked was 7 hours.

2000 La Fleur de Bouard, Lalande de Pomerol
With steak for dinner, it was a nicely-structured wine of round tannin, fresh acidity and very nice layers of firm and ripe black and blue berries. Delicious. Oaky, but with restrained creaminess. Another 2000 bottling that’s worthy of the vintage’s adulation. I think that this is a very good QPR (at my cost of just about $30+). A-

2000 Ch. Sociando Mallet, Haut Medoc
Uncorked and left standing for 7 hours. Glycerin, wood and earth on the nose. Very tannic, high acidity, waves of ripe black and blue fruit. I love the power and the balance. Tart and chewy long finish. I’m very happy to have more in my offsite storage and will look to buy more at prices that are acceptable to me. A-/A

2000 Ch. Rocher Bellevue Caprice d’Angelique, Cotes de Castillon
I haven’t any prior clue as to this producer. I’ve learned from Parker’s review that this was 100% Merlot and that the winemaker was a famous one from Umbria. The color was very dark black plum. The nose was earthy, wood, fresh meat and some black fruit. The wine was very tannic with high acidity, some creaminess, but with some hard edges. After an hour in the glass it gained more fruit to help with the balance. This medium-bodied wine had a long finish. B

Ramon

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for the update. I've got both the Fleur (planning to check on it soon) and the Sociando (planning to leave it asleep for a while yet),so your notes are valuable to me.

I'm still holding '98 and '99 LfdB and will try in the next couple of years but it's nice to hear good things on the '00 SM. I'd been thinking that might take at least fifteen years to sort itself out. Thanks.

Kevin

Ramon,

My wife and have tasted a number of the 2000 lesser chateau Bordeaux. They have been extremely good values across the board. Almost without exception the wines have been rich, flavorful and multidimensional. We have had good success with decanting these wines for two to three hours before drinking. We continue to purchase nearly every 2000 Bordeaux at 30 USD, or less that we come across.

Ramon, thanks for the notes. I'm thinking 5 more years for '00 LFdB and 12-15 for SM.

Kevin, both the '98 and '99 are drinking well now, though the '98 might improve a bit over a few years in my opinion (I think Arv disagreed, thinking it's fully ready now). I doubt any fall off a cliff, but doubt there's much to be gained with holding the '99 much longer. Just my $0.02

Thanks Dale, I'll put in the queue.

Kevin

Thanks for the note! I have a Ch. L'Arrivet Haut Brion from this vintage. Its a Rolland wine*, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 1998 vintage from this Chateau.

I'm putting together the wines for a dinner party on Saturday. I think "Vive la France" might be a good theme!


* I've liked the Rolland wines. Living in the heart of Fruit Bomb country, I drink a lot of California wines, and even the most Rollandized wines still taste very French to my limited palate. Although I've had a couple of pairings where the Rollan wines are bigger than the American partner!

My 1999 La Fleur de Bouards began to taste tired during the course of this year , so they are in the queue for immediate consumption.

Oswaldo, thanks for reminding me! I have the `98 on the kitchen countertop, might be better for a Xmas present!

Heck, I`m told it was a present to me.