TN: 1998 Larrivet Haut Brion

[Claret]

I grilled up some lamb chops tonight and was in the mood for Bordeaux, so I pulled this bottle. I was not blown away by this wine.

Firstly, it very ripe, almost a fruitbomb for a 12 year old bottle. Mostly red cherry flavor, with some earth and ok acidity. Thankfully no apparent oak. It reminds me of a ripe and modern styled St. Emilion. I do not drink too much Graves but I had expected more tobacco and earth.

Out of curiousity I checked their website and the tasting note for the 1999 was written by Michel Rolland. Uh huh, it figures.

Glenn

[Claret]

Day 2 from a recorked and refrigerated 375. The result is still the same.

[Blanquito]

Ugh, I'm glad I've always held off on this estate.

[Houndsong]

It's probably not as simple as this, but I would love for someone to catalogue/classify say the most popular 100-200 producers along these traditional/modern or old world/new world styles. I'm thinking just a spreadsheet format that you can sort according to these criteria, plus consultant, if any. You could search eBob for keywords like "lavish oak" "fruit bomb" and whatever other words he uses to tip what kind of wine it is. There's other indicators I'm sure. If I was as interested in wine as some of you and others who write books about it, have wine blogs, or develop online inventory tracking platforms, I would do this myself, but I'm just a consumer who wants to buy more of the Beau Sites of the world and fewer of the Larrivet Haut Brions. It's hard to tell without tasting the wine first (not always possible and rarely possible in my case), and it's hard to ferret out these indicators with a google search.

[DavidG]

That is a great idea, Hound! If someone here had the time and know-how, maybe they could set up a Wiki format as part of the BWE site. Start with Bdx, organized by appelation. Then maybe Burgs or Rhones. Let people contribute their opinion, with an editor to keep it all from getting too wild and wooly. I think that JimHow character said he was "semi-retired" - maybe he has time to run something like that...

[Blanquito]

Parker did this recently for Chateauneuf estates, classifying most of them as either traditional, modern or middling. I chimed in on eBob, requesting that he do the same for Bordeaux, but it never went anywhere. Too bad.

[JimHow]

I'm semi-retired from law, but I'm busier than ever, editing/publishing a novel, cutting a CD with my band, caring for an elderly father, and just being JimHow in general takes a lot of time and effort (apologies for the third-person reference). Plus, I can barely turn my computer on, let alone know the difference between Facebook, Tweeter, Wiki, MP3, jpeg, PDF, etc. I liked the 2000 Larrivet Haut Brion, I was actually thinking of buying a case of the 2009 en futuro from PJs for $29.97 per bottle, the notes above give me some pause.

[Claret]

If the chateau is one that you have never heard of before and got high Parker points, or if Rolland is consulting it is probably modern styled.

That Rolland guy really gets around. I caught a brief segment on TV last night about a winery in India where he consults.

Glenn

[Rudi Finkler]

...I liked the 2000 Larrivet Haut Brion, I was actually thinking of buying a case of the 2009 en futuro from PJs for $29.97 per bottle, the notes above give me some pause.

I too like the 2000. Both the 2000 and the 2001 are outstanding wines, and reasonably priced. I’m a fan of Larrivet-Haut-Brion. Even their lighter styled-wines from the Eighties were subtle and elegant, and I can’t remember a really disappointing bottle... BTW, I had the splendid 2001 a few weeks ago. Here my note:

A luscious nose of cassis, smoke, and cinnamon explodes out of the glass at first swirl. An irresistible attack of pure, ripe, black cherry fruit and licorice evolves into a deep, complex mid-palate of ripe black currant/black berry fruit, leather, cedar, tobacco, exotic spices, smoke, earth, and even a hint of dark chocolate. Medium-bodied, with soft, silky tannins and decent acidity, this elegant and perfectly balanced wine has a long finish with lingering dark fruits and spices.
The multifaceted character of this Larrivet-Haut-Brion changes from sip to sip. And with time, its initial Médoc character turns into a smoky, minerally, earthy Graves character. Simply delicious! At the same time, surprisingly, even the medium garnet color turns into a deeper garnet color. Interesting phenomenon. I was also surprised at the considerable amount of sediment in the bottle. This is great Bordeaux and a fascinating wine to contemplate...

[Blanquito]

Sounds like I need to try one for myself.