Quick thoughts, as I forgot to bring home my tasting sheet…
Attended a blind tasting last night that was completely focused on the 2003 vintage. There were 6 Bordeaux, 1 Chateauneuf du Pape (a second one, Pegau was badly corked), 2 Sauternes and 2 Ports.
In the Bordeaux, there were 4 wines that stood out as very good to excellent, with the Leoville Barton stealing the show. I thought is showed good structure, plenty of depth and concentration and no over ripeness. Lascombes was a positive shocker, coming in as the consensus second favorite wine. We were all totally surprised when it was revealed. All those tales about undrinkable, spoofy Lascombes came tumbling down. Clos Fourtet and Leoville Poyferre were numbers 3 and 4 in the rankings, and while people really liked both, they did show a great deal more ripeness than the Barton and Lascombes. The Clos Fourtet was better earlier, and showed lots more ripeness and less structure as time went on (even before the reveal). That being said, I would have loved to have spent the evening drinking any of the 4 wines. This was my second time trying the Barton in the last several weeks, and both times it has been great. For the record, Pipeau was one of the other Bordeaux, and it did not show well. I have forgotten the sixth wine, and do not have the tasting sheet, but it did not show well either.
The one Chateauneuf that was not corked was another bizarre showing of the 2003 Clos Des Papes. This one was more like some uber-ripe California Grenache, with lots of heat and no complexity. I hated it, though others were more charitable.
The two Sauternes were Rieussec, which was a total pleasure bomb, and the Suduiraut which showed more complexity than the Rieussec, but perhaps a bit of a cooked fruit edge. I really liked both, though each should have come with a vial of insulin.
The Ports were the Graham’s and the Quinta do Noval Silval. The QdN showed very odd, and I will reserve judgment. The Graham’s was excellent, but needed lots more air.
Really fun night. Big thanks to Steve.