I joined 15 other local area winos back in June to taste through a line-up of 2003 Bordeaux at one of Boston’s finest dining spots. There were two tables, with identical line-ups and orders of service, with the exception being that one table had the 2003 Talbot and another had the 2003 Sociando Mallet as wine #5. There was also a ringer dropped into the mix for each table. All wines were served double-blind (though each person knew what he or she brought).
2003 Château Duhart-Milon Pauillac. Initially, the bouquet of this wine is rather feral and savory--showing lots of aromatic notes like animal fur, leather strop, dry earth, tobacco, cedar and faint green pepper to go with coffee grounds, dark mocha, black currant and fruitcake. Coming back to it later, the fruit comes more forward, with some red flowers and dates adding to the complexity and softening the savory profile a bit. In the mouth, it is fairly rich and full-bodied and it already feels seamlessly-constructed. It is much fruitier than the nose would lead one to expect—with red and black currant and spice flavors front and center—and with tannins that seem fairly reasonable to deal with. It turns a bit drier and more serious-toned as the night progresses, but otherwise this is a nice, big, complex wine that has some early accessibility.
2003 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac. There is an intriguing bouquet here that is very strong on the eucalyptus, peppermint dust, and cedar dimension, but also has plenty of other things going on like fine aromas of cassis, cherry, black currant and graphite. The dusty peppermint notes really grow and grow over the course of the evening, but not at the expense of overall complexity and appeal. In the mouth, this wine is alive with lift and drive. It has a decided oomph to it and is like a wake-up call of tangy and lifted cherry and red currant fruit. The tannins are more in play than in the previous wine, and there is still some youthful wood to be resolved on the otherwise fresh-toned finish, but in general this is a real attention-grabber of a wine, even if not what I typically expect stylistically from this chateau.
2003 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac. Of the first three wines, this one is the warmest and fruitiest on the nose—leading with aromas of sweet cherry and cassis, but folding in ever more obvious notes of leafy green plants and smoke. In the mouth, it doesn’t seem to have much complexity to it—feeling kind of one-dimensional and dumb to my way of thinking. The flavors and texture never really fan out, the structure seems a bit flabby, and there is a touch of warmth to it at times. It just doesn’t seem holistic or fully-formed. Soft red fruit and savory earth and smoke flavors are right up front and taste really nice, but I just have to hope that this will firm up some with cellaring. I know a whole lot of people had this as perhaps one of their favorite wines of the night, but I just didn’t react that way—I had it next to last in my overall rankings.
2003 Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac. On the initial pass through all nine wines, this one captured my aromatic fancy the most, with its richness, purity and overall sexy nature. It smells deep and dark, creamy and inviting—with aromas of sweet red and black fruit, chocolate, smoke and exotic spices. It comes back to the pack a little as it firms up in the glass over the course of the evening, but it is still very appealing. In the mouth, this is again going for a bit of a sexy personality, with dense flavors of clove, chocolate, currants and plum coming across as very ripe and rounded. It would seem to need some time to find more elegance and nuance (and greater length on the moderately abrupt finish), but this ought to be real nice down the line.
2003 Château Talbot St. Julien. This is a considerably more classic bouquet, featuring a lot of earthy aromas including cigar wrapper, leather, sliced jalapeno pepper, mint leaf, horsehide and forest plants that play in support of the gentle red fruit. In no way would I have pegged this as a 2003 based on this style of traditional bouquet. In the mouth, it is really smooth and polished, with a very nice flow to it. There are some sneaky tannins in there to underpin the feeling that this is a serious, classy, old-fashioned wine. It shows solid backbone, nuanced fruit, lots of leafy Cab Franc sort of character, limpid weight, high glycerin levels and a long, spicy finish leaving a real nice impression. There is a faint bit of wood toward the very end, so give this fine wine some time, but also don’t be afraid to dip a toe right now.
2002 Waterstone Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. It seemed that this was likely a ringer, but it didn’t prevent me from liking it quite a bit (probably more than most people). It fits in pretty well on the nose, where it shows off solid doses of grilled green pepper skin, limestone, smoke, fennel and black currant aromas in abundance. In the mouth, though, this is full-bore blueberry jam flavors just caressing the palate. It feels creamy and well stitched-together, with luscious fruit and a very long and lasting palate impression. I like its consistent character and how it manages to push the envelope without quite ever going too far.
2003 Château Léoville Barton St. Julien. This wine has a luxuriantly-fruited but earthy bouquet of plush plum and currant fruit, saddle leather, ashes, forest plants and limestone aromas. It is full-bodied and richly-fruited in the mouth, with a lot of raw stuffing and obvious aging capability, but far too much in the way of chalky, drying tannins to give much pleasure today. Forget about this one for a while and let it sleep.
2003 Château Calon-Segur St. Estèphe. The aromatics of this wine seem like they are definitely on the leaner side, showing tough and narrow right now. There is the promise of classical fine earth, black cherry, cedar and lead pencil aromas, but everything seems to be rigidly held back at the moment. In the mouth, this is by far the most backward, old-styled and perhaps austere of all the wines on the table. It features rigid structure, tight dry flavors, and a good dose of fine-knit tannins. It does finish clean, but oh so conservative. This is simply nowhere near ready to be opened. Do not drink now unless you enjoy punishment.
2003 Château Lynsolence St. Émilion. This wine does not possess the most distinctive bouquet—coming across as big and broad and perhaps a bit monotone right now despite a really distinctive streak of wintergreen riding atop the fruit aromas. In the mouth, it is more giving and appealing. It feels rich and fairly dense, yet somewhat silky-textured. It delivers lots of pretty cherry and raspberry fruit flavor and just feels solidly stuffed. Tannins are surely present on the finish, but one pays more attention to the nice fleshy mid-palate. This can be enjoyed now, and if it develops some layering and added complexity in the cellar, it ought to be a good find.
Sweet wines:
2003 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes. The first sweet wine is darker in color and shows off a lovely nose of dried pineapple, marmalade, hardened caramel and botrytis spices galore. It is pretty more than it is unctuous, deep or layered. In the mouth, it is a very nice elixir of melted caramel, butterscotch, dried tropical fruit and botrytis cream. It coats the palate, yet stays airy and pretty. Very nice.
2003 Château Suduiraut Sauternes. The Suduiraut smells of apricots, brown sugar, crème brulee topping, slate and sexy brown spices, all dialed up high. In the mouth, it is totally explosive and utterly exotic in every way, with dense yellow fruit fanning out and expanding to fill every crevice of the mouth. It is voluminous and unctuous, but also driven and fresh—entirely impressive and delicious.
Afterwards, I was offered a glass of the wine that the other table had in place of our Talbot. It was the 2003 Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc. It smells as I would expect a Sociando Mallet to smell—of green pepper, tomato plant, tobacco sap, red currants and loamy earth. In the mouth, it is a bit difficult to evaluate after the two sweet wines, but my impression is that it is cool and black-fruited, with a leafy, savory, feral edge to it. It seems tannic and dry, traditionally-structured and built to last.
Overall, I did not sense any roasty character in these 2003's and only occasional hints of alcoholic heat. They were not freaks by any stretch--instead I thought many showed pretty tight at this stage. They all need more time, with a few more approachable than others over the shorter term. There was not a whole lot of acidity present and the drive was a bit low-geared for most (one reason I thought the Pichon Baron had such promise was it defied that generality). And the nuances and secondary characteristics were often still in hiding (though more apparent for Duhart Milon and Talbot, I thought). But overall, I think the wines showed moderately classic Bordeaux character and ought to improve over the next 4-7 years, which is when I'll likely check back in on many in my cellar.
-Michael