WTN: 1999 Poyferre

Saturday I was home alone, so grilled some more lamb chops and had a simple meal. Eyed the leftover Pinotage but couldn't face it, so opened the 1999 Ch. Leoville-Poyferre (St. Julien). Opens fairly quickly, with creme de cassis fruit surrounded by toasty oak and tobacco aromas. Not a really big wine, but it picks up steam over the evening. This was to my tastes the Poyferre that began the swing towards modern, but this isn't over the top. While it's modern it's not international- seems very Bordeaux to me, with earth, graphite, and cigarbox. Some have said drink up on the 1999s. but I think this will be fine for 8-10 more years, though not a wine for 2030. A-/B+

Dale, thanks for the note. What I like about the 99s now is that they are expressive on the day opened, yet they don't lose their freshness when stored overnight. I.e. they make ideal drinking for now as I can't stand a whole bottle alone and don't always share a bottle.

I thought Poyferré has been spoofulating for longer? At least a 1998 that I recently tried was a bit too modern for me because it was jammy (a '98 being jammy?????). Maybe I should try a '99 though, as they really seem to be to my taste now and they can be bought cheaply.