Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Comte Flaneur

Well played Jim. My guess is that it will still be quite tight. But Cheval Blanc is a close neighbour of Figeac and La Conseillante

Comte Flaneur

Nicely done Ian and curious to hear your thoughts about the 2004 Lynch Bages as I found an attractive price in the wholesale channels which is well below market and would prefer your thoughts versus trying to form an opinion based on mixed cellartracker reviews. Hi JC the context for the 04 Lynch p...

Comte Flaneur

Last night I drank Belair Monange 2010, which was pretty darn good, and tonight I am torn between opening a Lynch 2004 and a Gruaud 2005, I will report back.

Comte Flaneur

The two Moutons were drank at Elystan Street restaurant in Chelsea with my former mentee from Connecticut days, now a successful hedge fund manager. Annoyingly the 1995 was too warm so I had to fight against an incredulous ‘sommelier’ to manage the temperature down. The 1989 was another good bottle ...

Comte Flaneur

First the various other things The Sorrel Hermitage Les Recoules Blanc 2002, part of a batch which I picked up at auction a year or two ago, is fully mature with a lovely herb garden entrance and good persistence for what is deemed a weak vintage. Both the St Emilions were fully mature and most sati...

Comte Flaneur

Quite a high proportion of wines on the left bank were over 14% in both the 2019 and 2022 vintages, and most right banks are routinely over 14%, notably including VCC. Lafite I think recorded its highest ever ABV in 2022 at 13.7% and Chateau Margaux weighed in at 14.6% in 2022 above Haut-Brion even,...

Comte Flaneur

I don’t disagree strongly with what has been said. But to push back a little if you take Pauillac I don’t think there is any doubt that the three top producers are Latour, Lafite and Mouton. Notwithstanding the very great wines made at the two Pichons and, of course, Lynch Bages and even GPL in rece...

Comte Flaneur

I think they went over to DIAM in 2010. They never looked back. Problem solved. I too have been drinking some delicious 2013 Fevre GCs.

I think price will go up Jacques.

Comte Flaneur

I am following the pied piper - I bought some 2014 D’Armailhac and 2014 Clerc Milon now 2014 Duhart is high up on my bucket list

Comte Flaneur

My recent purchases include…ahem…’amongst’ my recent purchases are:

3 x Ch Talbot 1989
4 x Ch Smith Haut-Lafitte 2009
6 x VCC 2016
3 x VCC Gravette De Certan (VCC second wine) 2016
6 X Henriot Blanc de Blancs NV

Comte Flaneur

The reason the system has the long term resilience that Alex alluded to is that ultimately the laws of economics apply. A good example is when the Bordelais mis-priced the (mediocre) 1997 vintage after the acclaim of the 95 and (particularly) the 1996 vintage. The 1997 was nowhere close and attempts...

Comte Flaneur

Barbaresco Rabaja 2004 Castello Verduno 1 I guess this will be amazing, as a few days ago had the 2019 Barbaresco from Verduno, and thought it was great for such a young nebbiolo. I will try it soon Nic and report back I forgot this one 2020 Château Guillot-Clauzel, Pomerol 2 x 6 - this is the new ...

Comte Flaneur

At auction Barbaresco Santa Stefano di Neive 2001 Bruno Giacosa 5 bts Barbaresco Rabaja 2004 Castello Verduno 1 bt Barolo Rocche 2005 Brovia 5 bts Brico di Drago Lange Nebbiolo 2004 1 bt Those two lots costs £700 and £240 respectively ex commission Then Olivier Leflaive Bourgogne Blanc Oncle Vincent...

Comte Flaneur

Looking forward to your next instalment Alex

Comte Flaneur

Thanks for your impromptu impressions Brian.

Some of the cognoscenti this side of the pond rank 1982 LTHB as good as LMHB and Haut Brion from the same vintage.

Comte Flaneur

Thanks for your notes Nic and taking some 2018s for the team. With the DDC @14.5% did that come with a modern or classical style? As you know we have been debating the idea that DDC went on to the ‘dark side’ after 2002, and some of us have detected a welcome re-embrace of classicism more recently, ...

Comte Flaneur

Patrick I would say it is equivalent in status in Piedmont to 2016 in Bordeaux.

It is recognised as the greatest modern vintage of Piedmont, like 2016 is in Bordeaux. The vintage that may challenge 2016’s status is 2021. Both 2019 and 2020 are very promising too.

Comte Flaneur

Thank you all kindly. I didn’t post on it but the night before we had a 2012 Barolo and Barbaresco dinner for the summer solstice. Not the ideal wines to be drinking on a warm early summer evening - we have been having great weather - sunny and typically getting up to a maximum of 80F - 2012 is the ...

Comte Flaneur

Yes Patrick I think we under-estimate the rich source of estates from Graves, quite a few over-achieving under the radar producers

Comte Flaneur

Last night at the Sun Street Hotel in the City of London To kick off 2002 Pierre Péters Champagne Grand Cru Cuvée Speciale Blanc de Blancs Les Chetillons - France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru Just loved this. Bready, beady, yeasty, lively, lithe, frisky, fresh, but at the same time rich and subst...

Comte Flaneur

Alex turned 70 today

Happy birthday my old friend

Comte Flaneur

What’s that Brittany Spears hit? Oops, I Did It Again? She must have been singing about wine buying freezes, I presume. To wit, I am now the proud owner of a 6 pack of the 2011 Belair-Monange for the low, low price of $71.50/each all in. I wasn’t going to bid on this lot, but then I saw Gilman’s 96...

Comte Flaneur

Izak do you think these wines will be accessible in the youth or is it a long haul vintage? Also if you had to rank the 2022 vintage against other recent vintages like 2020, 2019 and 2018 where would it rank? Does it set a new benchmark or is 2016 still the benchmark? Well done in getting your excel...

Comte Flaneur

We had our first Bacchus auction since March and I fell off the no buying wagon in spectacular fashion with several rushes of blood to the head Lot 107 Chateau Belair-Monange 2010 Saint-Emilion 6 bts Chateau Belair-Monange 2010 Saint-Emilion 6 bts Categories: Red Bordeaux Lot closed - Winning bid:£4...

Comte Flaneur

I think Michael Bloomberg is spot on here: 2023-06-13 09:00:22.354 GMT By Michael R Bloomberg (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Former President Donald Trump appearing in federal court in Miami today, facing 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified documents, is a sad but necessary moment of tr...

Comte Flaneur

I am a big fan of the 2010 Cantemerle. I have a case. In storage. Based on previous encounters it is a classical Southern Medoc with a lot of substance. I shared a bottle last week with a former colleague at the Oxford & Cambridge club on Pall Mall (I thought I would slip that in, not that the l...

Comte Flaneur

Actually I have the info now:

Comte Flaneur

What are the main differences between the two of them? About 18 months ago I bought a six pack of the 2019s: two of each and two ‘east bench’

Comte Flaneur

Good to hear about the 2001 Trot Jacques It was one of the wines that Patrick and Tom kindly shipped over for me back in March from my remaining US stash. I was going to use one for my Bordeaux dinner on May 17 but saw the mixed reviews on Cellartracker so went for 98 Figaec instead. I will figure o...

Comte Flaneur

In half bottle format. This was a beauty. Bricking orange. Autumn leaves with smokiness and still rich fruit with fine acidity. Fully mature but still a great spot. A bottle we had in February was borderline corked. But this was a great bottle, which disappeared in a flash. Thank you Joel 6EC27BCD-1...

Comte Flaneur

Last time I had Lafite - with you Patrick - in Oct 2021 - it had a long way to go to reach its apogee - probably ten years? Last time I had Latour a couple of years ago it was surprisingly accessible and in a good place Mouton and Margaux are excellent but still young Haut Brion is right there and w...

Comte Flaneur

I drank the VCC on May 17 - I think it was served too warm - but I still gave it 95 pts. At the Chateau with Alexandre Thienpont, at 15C prob 97-98.

I have a case of 14 La C and am expecting it to be quite distinct from the VCC and the posts in this thread support that supposition

Comte Flaneur

I have had very good recent experiences with PLL, Leoville Barton and GPL from the left bank in the 1995 vintage. One wine I have been looking out for is 1995 Sociando Mallet, which I much prefer to the over-rated 1996. Do you have any left Patrick? I plan soon to try a bottle of 1995 Leoville Lasca...

Comte Flaneur

I bought three bottles of mature Bordeaux, two from the 1966 vintage and one from the 2003 vintage (gasp…)

All at v good prices and good fills/condition - Haut Brion (£335) Ducru Beaucaillou (£165) and Sociando Mallet (£45)

Comte Flaneur

I have encountered the odd wonderful bottle of 90 Ducru too. Very much the exception to the rule though.

Comte Flaneur

Nice haul Blanquito! Those 95s are really starting to drink well now. I had a Clinet the other day which was surprisingly good.

Comte Flaneur

What a fabulous occasion - one to go down in the immortal BWE memories - all these occasions strengthen the family spirit among BWE…notably the story about the magnum of 1986 Cos… Well done Jean Fred and Josee and congratulations again to Nic and Marie Claude. Great photos Danny - as always - which ...

Comte Flaneur

Wow, what an outstanding lineup and wonderfully descriptive notes. Thank you for sharing. I have a question about the relationship between your scores and rankings, Ian. Probably splitting hairs given how outstanding these all were. I’m interested in your thought process. I noticed that you scored ...

Comte Flaneur

Thank you for posting these wonderful notes Ian, your palate is impeccable as always. I have had most of these wines at one time or another, some like the 1998 Haut Brion in your company. I cannot find one instance to disagree with you. And thanks for the heads up on the Las Cases as my bottle has ...

Comte Flaneur

Wonderful precise report Ian. Many great bottles in these and on the ones i had, must say i well aligned with your nose and palate. Just one fault, the title of your post: simply too simple ant not grand enough to represent what is in it! I was anxious not to steal your thunder Nic. Congratulations...

Search found 4887 matches