Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

I’m beginning to think 2009 is really something.

Some dinged 2009 as too "solar" or too ripe without enough balancing acidity, though I don't recall anyone coming right out and saying it was unbalanced or flabby. Talking in generalities/left bank. Some St. Ems were overdone - big surprise.

I've been loving them. Sure, they show ripe fruit and a bit of sweetness/modernity, but I've been really impressed. Even liked Clos Fourtet. Angelus was over the top. The left bankers have been uniformly excellent.

My issue with the 09s early on was the boozy heat, but that seems to have integrated really nicely in the intervening years. I’ve become quite high on 2009, like many here.

I think many 2003's have gotten past the "boozy heat" as well. YMMV.

I tried a lot of 2009s and 2010s in the last year and they are both fantastic vintages, quite different in personality. I was already well loaded with 2010s but light on 2009s, where the release prices were absurdly high, and which in some cases have come down a long way, so now is the time to accumulate this vintage opportunistically. I would say along with 2010 and 2016 it is in the top three vintages of all time. In the last year I picked up a case of Leoville Barton, ridiculously cheap for the quality, a six pack of Ducru - at the previous auction for a snip - the wine that Bruno Borie compared to Beyoncé when he showed it in a vertical about five years ago - and a three pack of Mouton. The Haut-Bailly was reestablished on my hit list when I tried it last year - as David noted it really is ‘killer’ wine. Unfortunately its 100 RMP rating has been reflected in its price, but was very pleased to pick up the six pack this week at a reasonable price. The other one I am on the look out for is SHL, also afflicted with a 100 RMP rating and slightly dearer. It would be interesting to revisit GPL, which I heard has settled down into a more Bordeaux-like, rather than Napa-like wine. The other 2009 I tried last year that knocked my socks off was LLC, but that is pretty expensive now. D’Issan is very good as well, but the no-brainier purchase is Leoville-Barton.

I did pretty well in my 09 futures shopping, with a case of GPL, Beychevelle, Lanessan (best ever at this address IMHO), a case and a half of Magdelaine, and half cases of Calon Segur, St Pierre, Domaine de Chevalier rouge, Leoville Barton, Gazin, Lagune, Gloria, d’Armailhac, and Cantemerle.

My 2009s:

Brane Cantenac x 2
Calon Segur x 3
Canon la Gaffeliere x 1
Client x 1
Gazin x 4
Giscours x 7
d'Issan x 2
La Gaffeliere x 1
Meyney x 12

It is amazing that 2009 and 2010 are very strong vintages, and so different at the same time.

For sure, everyone need a bottle of 2009 Pontet Canet.

The 2009 Léoville Poyferré is quite a special wine too by it complexity and length in mouth. Thought maybe not a 100 points.

Other very strong 2009 I've tried are Calon Segur (superb complexity and elegance for a 2009) and Pichon Baron (very complete wine).

I just looked at my CT which I have been quite fastidious in updating and last year I also bought last year 12 halves of Langoa 09, a six pack of the super Brane Cantenac, a six pack of Trotanoy which was the star of the show in a Trot vertical featuring 98/00/05/10/15/16/18, and a half case of Haut-Brion, which some say is better than the 1989.

Pre 2020 I also had a case of Beaumont, a case of Clerc Milon, a case of Pontet-Canet recommended by Alex and a case of Giscours, recommended by Jim - how could I not? It was after all BWE woty...

Well done, Mr. Flaneur.

I still can't get over how excellent that 2009 d'Armailhac was that I had a few months back.

I LOVE 2009. I think it's a great vintage, in fact one of two vintages of the century so far along with 2000. Other VOTC candidates like 2005 and (especially) 2010 seem overrated so far to me, and 2016 seems unproven, at least to me.

I feel like 2000 is the great classically styled vin de garde vintage this century, with 05/10 being overextracted and clumsy in comparison, while 2009 is the great hedonistic fruit-forward vintage. Others seem to agree as I've noticed that 2009 prices have elevated a lot on the secondary market, they are consistently higher than 2005.

I don't have all the 2009 I'd want but in my splurge last year I did solidify my position. I have case lots of 2009 Montrose (VERY excited about this one, I think Montrose does great in fruit-forward vintages -- this could be the new 1990), 2009 Leoville Barton, 2009 Trotanoy (super excited also), and 2009 Canon (down to 10 bottles, hard to stay away from this one it's so delicious). I also have 3-4 bottles apiece of Pichon Baron, Gruaud Larose, GPL, Conseillante, Giscours, Branaire Ducru, and Malescot.

I just ordered another case of 2014 Ch. Meyney. The price has stayed between $30-35 since I bought my first bottles in 2018.
My note on the 2018 suggests the '14 may be preferable so I stocked up.

2014 Meyney is one of my best QPRs in recent years.

12 x 2016 Chateau Bourgneuf in 375

Any recos on where to grab 2014 Meyney?

Saratoga Wine Exchange

Shhsh!

JCNorthway wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 3:02 amShhsh!

I got mine.

So things got out of control a little today:

1982 La Lagune x 4
1995 Margaux x 2

Amazing!

Buying La Lagune swill again, Jacques? Probably you could have bought a third bottle of Margaux for what you spent on the over the hill Haut-Medoc.

The BWE devils are clawing at me again-2014 Meyney

stefan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 8:32 pm Buying La Lagune swill again, Jacques? Probably you could have bought a third bottle of Margaux for what you spent on the over the hill Haut-Medoc.

The Margaux was 3x the price of that plonky imitation of a wine Stefan. I'm such a sucker for even buying it.

Racer Chris wrote: ↑Mon Mar 01, 2021 3:12 pm I just ordered another case of 2014 Ch. Meyney.

And they just arrived. That's probably the fastest turnaround for a shipped case that I've ever experienced.

I need to stop
1989 Cos d'Estournel x 2

You are on a roll, Jacques! Time to buy another wine fridge.

Very, very well done indeed.

Not yet purchased but looking at:
- E. Pira & Figli Chiara Boschis Barolo Mosconi '16
- Fratelli Alessandria Barolo '16

And some outliers from Canada:
- Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Block 9/14/23 '17
- Painted Rock Red Icon '17
- Black Hills Nota Bene '18

Very nice, I like 2016 Barolos but they will need a long time, imo. I find 2011, 2013, 2014 much more ready to drink. Patience will be rewarded Frederico.

Some interesting wines.
Mt. Veeder 1978
Chateau Olivier Blanc 1945 (great color)
Louis Latour assorted village wines
Louis Remy Combottes 1971

And to fill a couple of tastings Cheval Blanc 1998

Just bought 2 PIchon Lalande 1955 for my brother's birthday...

jal wrote: ↑Thu Mar 04, 2021 1:40 pm Very nice, I like 2016 Barolos but they will need a long time, imo. I find 2011, 2013, 2014 much more ready to drink. Patience will be rewarded Frederico.

Thanks for advice. For Fratelli Alessandria normale, how long from vintage should I wait? 10 years enough?

I would wait at least 5 years Frederico. And even then, it may need a long decant. Hopefully, ten years will do it.

Just bought 2 PIchon Lalande 1955 for my brother's birthday...

You are a great brother, Antoine. And a great BWEer....
Well done. Very well done, indeed!

Thanks Jim! He was born in 1955 (I was going to write 1855... but no... he was not Bordeaux classified... too late) and I knew it was a great vintage on both accounts. Unfortunately, the bottles were delivered 2 days after I left so we will open them when I return to visit him. I also needed to cheer up because we are stuck in France (homeless in Normandy at the moment) and can't return to London as we caught Covid early February (with very few symptoms) but still test positive so can't go through customs... Looking for a migrant boat to cross the channel... . Will retake a test on Monday and hope we can cross this time... Longing for vaccination...

Stay well, Antoine! I'm hoping to get vaccinated in the next week or so as a 60+ year old.

I can vouch for Antoine as a dear friend with whom we went on holiday the week before the epic BWE tour of 2015, and we should welcome him into our BWE fraternity. We toured burgundy in mid May 2015 with Antoine, stayed in his wonderful house in Provence, and cycled up the legendary mountain Mont Ventoux. Antoine has also been caught up in the cross fire of the Trumpian-inspired Brexit disaster orchestrated by English racists in the British media who also hounded Megan Markle out of the Royal Family.

Getting back on topic I bought two bottles of 78 Lafite, probably my #1 desert island wine.

4 bottles 2016 Chateau Argadens Bordeaux Supérieur
2 bottles 2014 Rossignol-Traper Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes
2 bottles 2019 Paul Prieur Sancerre

Nic I bought some of the Argadens 2016 late last year after having a good experience with the 2015, in half bottles. It is great qpr, perhaps the best ever. I bought a case of the 2016 from the UK Wine Society for £126 all in. Not tried it yet, however.

I don't see any Argadens in the NH inventory.
I do see that NH has European wines on sale this month, any deals out there, Gerry?