WTN: 2000 Cambon Pelouse

[Jenise]

In what seems like another lifetime ago, a friend and I took a road trip and packed along six $20ish 2000 Bordeauxs for the ride. Our favorite of the six was this little Haut Medoc which went for only $14 at the time. I bought more and still have a few, but had not opened one in years.

When opened last night, this was a bit too austere and we threw the cork back in. Tonight it's opened up nicely and filled out on the palate with blackberry and raspberry fruit, dust (which I love on wine) and a wee bit of spearmint gum. However, while it tastes older the maturity lacks the compelling aromas of interesting secondary development, it just seems more tertiary, and tonight the tannins are more apparent. Not a bad wine by any means for a ten year old fourteen dollar wine, but just 'eh' in the excitement department.

[David M. Bueker]

Sorry it didn't provide the interest you were looking for. Just from my perspective, these lower priced Bordeaux (same goes for Burg IME by the way) can provide a fine drinking experience in early days that gives and impression of even more exciting things to come. Then, after several years in the cellar, they may still be tasty, but they don't generally get to that next level.

[Jenise]

Wasn't surprised. Were more possible, everybody on this board would be buying and holding those wines but clearly that's not the case. Or to put it another way, though the odd exception does occur for us to sit around and admire, all signs suggest that Bordeaux's classed growth system is the best indicator of aging quality. However, I'm in the dawn of my second decade as a Bordeaux fancier, and as such I have the requisite cellar full of misbegotten hopes and inadvertent experiments--this be one.

My bottles of this are long gone, and I enjoyed each one of them - maybe not an exciting wine, but always an enjoyable one.