WTN: Gruaud Larose + Sociando Mallet 1993

The remains of the frankly bad Lagrange 2003 worked well in food I made today to accompany a mini tasting of two 1993 Bordeauxs + the remains of the 2nd hand blind wine that I posted on yesterday. I thought 1993 was a rainy vintage with dilute wines, so a meat braised in wine for several hours would be the ideal fare as it would go with what I expected to be soft wines. These two however had wonderful structure: the tannins were ripe but noticable (a bit of red to the meat would have been great!) and the acidity was high. The fruit also was sweeter than I expected. In short, these two wines didn't seem as if they came from a weak vintage. I think I might have to seek out some 93s for current drinking (as the prices seem fair) to see if other Chateaux are as lovable as these.

• 1993 Château Gruaud Larose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (11/20/2006)
  Deep, healthy red, only a little orange on the rim. The nose is elegantly shitty, yet that doesn't hide the copious fruit. The scent has a nice freshness to counteract the dark toned fruit. There is a delightful touch of vegetetation and cedar which make the nose into a very fresh and savoury and balanced whole. The palate has some unresolved (but ripe, not green) tannins but also has ample fruit to counter them that make the wine perfectly drinkable now. The acidity is pleasantly high. This is quite a delightful wine, if not the most complex. This had been stored rather cold (10C) until I bought it (thence at 13C) which may explain why it is showing much younger than expected. Very good! I wish I had another bottle or three.
• 1993 Château Sociando-Mallet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (11/20/2006)
  Rather dark red still. The nose is - mostly - quite lovely: it is elegantly earthy, with cassis, cigar box and herbs, the fruit is expressive and rather dark toned. Yet there is quite a bit of oak also, as if lots of new wood was used, which gives it a little dill-like character which I don't like. Also, strangely for the year, there is an almost raisined quality to fruit, as if it were picked over-ripe! The palate is lovely - no "mostly" here! Lots of red toned fruit, high acid, still noticable tannins, but they aren't green at all. It is very savoury, very elegant and very long. Despite the rains of the year, I am unable to find the least bit of diluteness in the wine. Very good, despite some elements on the nose that I don't like. It is drinking well now, and will keep, but I'm not sure it will gain much from being kept longer.

Posted from CellarTracker

[Jenise]

Otto, I picked up a couple GL 93's at auction awhile back for like $15 a bottle. What a steal, for mine were exactly as you report. In fact, lucky me, I have one left. The 93 vintage has really provided some excellent wines.

Otto,

Following your nose further into the barn (since I missed on the '03 Cantemerle), I'll look for the Gruaud Larose. Never even had a '93 anything.

Since Jenise is paying attention to this thread, I will use the opportunity to share with her that I just purchased a bottle of 1997 Haut Brion. For some reason with all my 1997 purchases, I missed this one. It dawned on me that since I loved the Pape Clement for all its wonderful earth, it is possible that the Haut Brion offers similar expression (but honestly, probably not better, because the Pape Clement was that good). And since I kept one empty bottle of the other Big Four, I will now have a complete set to stand together somewhere in the cellar to commemorate the vintage that got me into the game.

Covert

[Jenise]

Hey, that's fantastic, Covert, I think you're on the right scent there. A 79 HB was one of the best Bdxes I've ever had. Love those minerals. I tried to buy an 86 on Sunday. It went for $212 and I was trying to pay more, but the auction was overloaded and I couldn't get a bid in. Lost a 59 Leoville Poyferre at $102 for the same reason. Wanted to shoot somebody.

Otto--
Can't find my TN back on Netscape or old WLDG (hate that!), but I had the '93 Sociando-Mallet I think last year and found it in very fine form. Can't say I recall the oakiness/dill notes you found, but palate was lovely, as you say. David from Switzerland, who hasn't posted in a while, was similarly taken with the "off-vintage" S-M. But then, isn't S-M often considered an over-achiever in bad vintages? Glad I have one more.

[Jenise]

Clinton, I'll join you and add a recco for 93 Leoville Las Cases. Oh, and warning against Fieuzal.

Frankly, I'm astounded anything much good came out of Bordeaux in 1993. Several years ago, I noticed box after box of mostly classified left and right bank Chateau at a local wine specialist for close out prices of around US$20-40 - including the second growths Ducru, LLC, Leoville Barton amongst others - I bought one of each (six in total - don't have the full list), took them home and invited members of my wine tasting group around for a masked tasting a few nights later. The LLC was good and scored around 16.5 - everything else was rated from 12-15 (very poor to just drinkable). Most of the lower scoring wines were tipped down the sink. The fact that quite a few are drinking to a relatively high standard is quite a shock from my one and only experience (barring the LLC). Good luck to those who had the temerity to see ahead and buy so well from what I consider to be a very poor vintage.

[Jenise]

David, I didn't see ahead at all. What I did was see Gruaud at a really low price about two years ago and checked Michael Broadbent's Vintages book. He had tasted the wine three or four times, and though he never loved it and had obvious reservations, he clearly found it less objectionable on each occasion. All I did was plot the curve. And it was so good, I then bought other 93's.

How others got there, I'm not sure. But it was probably similar.

Good luck to those who had the temerity to see ahead and buy so well from what I consider to be a very poor vintage.

I can't claim any foresight whatsoever, David. A couple years ago I happened on a closeout with several outrageous bargains ('96 Angelus at $25, '94 Trotanoy at $21), posted a request for advice on my favorite web site, and took a shot at the '93 S-M too ($12) based on some TNs and its over-achieving reputation. They're only bargains, of course, if the wine's been handled properly. So far, every bottle I've opened from that purchase has been just fine. In my case, certainly, it's better to be lucky than good.

I've always thought that off-vintages that aren't total wash-outs are worth trying if they're cheap. These two were and I'd frankly have gladly payed double the price. I had had a good experience with a few other '93s before (Mouton rocks, but is bloody expensive) so I had a bit of faith beforehand also.

-O-