WTN: 2001 La Fleur du Bouard (Lalande de Pomerol)

[David M. Bueker]

Sunday night steak on the grill was supposed to be accompanied by the 2000 Gourt de Mautens, but that wine was unworthy of medium rare ribeye ( see here for details), so I opened a bottle of the 2001 La Fleur du Bouard (Lalande de Pomerol) instead. I have previously enjoyed this wine, and while it has never quite matched up to the delicious (if dangerously ripe...might be a sin ) 2000 it has always proven to be a worthy wine. Now I am starting to wonder if the wine was made with a bit too much aspiration towards the modern, fleshy style in a more classical vintage. While there is still plenty of fruit, accompanied by a graphite minerality, there is also a very strong and somewhat drying backbone of tannin that is becoming more, not less prominent. I am concerned about the ultimate balance of this wine, and so will drink mine sooner rather than later, and serve with something meaty and marbled.

I wonder if the attempt to make a more modern wine wouldn't result in less rather than more tannins.

[David M. Bueker]

Tanns will still be there Oswaldo. The 2000 is better balanced because of the riper vintage. In the case of the 2001, I think they pushed the extraction pedal a bit too hard for the vintage conditions

[Jenise]

Both 00 and 01 sound so different from the '99 that I adored a few months ago, which was very classic and a model of traditional decorum.

I have to admit classic and traditional are words I'd never use to describe any LFdB, though I certainly have enjoyed more than my share of the '98, '99, and '00. I think I only had one bottle of the '01.
I think the more traditional Right Bankers (Trotanoy, Magdelaine, etc) did a bit better in 2001 for my tastes than the more modern ones.

[Jenise]

I have to admit classic and traditional are words I'd never use to describe any LFdB, though I certainly have enjoyed more than my share of the '98, '99, and '00. I think I only had one bottle of the '01.
I think the more traditional Right Bankers (Trotanoy, Magdelaine, etc) did a bit better in 2001 for my tastes than the more modern ones.

Dale, my impression was probably based on the occasion: a buddy tasting of Bordeaux blends from anywhere, about 18 wines in three flights of six, lots of new world reps, and most of the wines were young. By comparison the LFdB was positively old school, but I can appreciate where among it's own kind it would be otherwise.