TN 2000 d'Armailhac

[jal]

My last bottle and frankly I was not sorry to see it go. Decent enough with smooth tannins and nice aromatics but not much happening there. The fruit seems faded, the middle is hollow and the finish is short. Maybe a bad bottle? Stick with the Duhart-Lafite from now on (how is that for a name? I see millions of Asian customers bidding up the price).

[JimHow]

Ugh that's dissapointing, Jacques, I liked the one bottle I had after release and went out and bought a case.

[jal]

This has to be the first blah wine I've had from 2000, I usually am lucky with wines from this vintage.

[JCNorthway]

Jacques,

That is a discouraging report. I have a half-case and have not yet opened any. Parker's drinking range was 2007-2020, so I've been assuming it is early in its development. Guess I need to check one out.

Jon

[jal]

It is possible that this was a bad bottle...I'll be curious to hear others' opinions.

[Chasse-Spleen]

Jacques,
What were the previous bottles like?
-Chris

[jal]

They were also kind of lightweight, Chris. Maybe a little more expressive than this wine but still not much to talk about. I thought initially that I may have opened them too early. This was my last bottle out of three.

[Ramon_NYC]

I've had this once in early 2008 and, again, in March 2009. i don't have my TNs with me, but then they performed consistently well (my spreadsheet cheat-sheet shows B+ and A- respective ratings).

[Michael Malinoski]

I had the 2000 d'Armailhac served double-blind in April 07 and liked it a good deal. It was surprisingly accessible, I thought. I made a mental note to buy some after that and did pick up a solo bottle at random some time later, but think I will hold off a bit on opening it.

"The nose offers deep, dark aromas of crushed raspberries, cassis, gravel and hints of herb. In the mouth, it has a nice round profile, with medium to full body. There are some grainy tannins at first, but those seem to integrate a bit with air. After that, it is a big slice of blueberry pie in the form of a nice mouthful of wine. It certainly needs to unwind a bit and pick up some more nuance, but this is a promising young wine." --April 2007

-Michael

[Chasse-Spleen]

Anyone have anything to report on the '96 d'Armailhac? I had that once a long time ago when I was just setting out on the slippery slope of wine obsession, and at around 7 years of age (as I recall), it seemed totally dumb to me. I wonder if it turned out to be one of those great '96s that we all love. I'm not so sure that d'Armailhac is the most consistent Pauillac. The only ones I've tasted that were really great were the '99 and '02, but I'm sure there are others which I missed.
-Chasse