2019 Croizet-Bages and the corroboration of Mr. Dick.

[JimHow]

So back in the summer of 1979, when I was 20 years old, and I weighed in at 139 lbs., and I was going to be the President of the United States of America someday without any question, I was malingering on a bench one afternoon at Christ's College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, U.K., during a time when I was studying Shakespeare and Victorian History. Christ's College is the alma mater of Erasmus, Milton, and Darwin... and some dude named Sacha Baron Cohen... and I'm guessing more than a few other lunatics. I think there is a Monty Python alum or two with a connection. I was sitting on a bench near Milton's mulberry tree in the garden there at Christ's College, planted back in 1609 and still there to this day, and one of my professors came by and asked me what I was reading... David Copperfield, which I had finally gotten around to... and I recall the old stuffed shirt saying to me... "Well, you can certainly do worse than that...." And I remember that was the day, in the summer of 1979, when I was 20 years old, that I first learned the word "corroboration"... Such a British, Victorian word.... I was at Chapter 23 of David Copperfield, titled; "I Corroborate Mr. Dick and Choose a Profession." I thought of that moment in time, back in the summer of 1979, in the garden at Christ's College, Cambridge, when I sipped the 2019 Chateau Croizet-Bages tonight, a very lovely Pauillac, in all my years of drinking Bordeaux I'm not sure I've had the pleasure of a Croizet-Bages, this is an Oxford-Cambridge kind of effort, checking in at a "low" 13% alcohol level. I love this wine! To me it is about as "classic" Pauillac as you are going to find! It is great, and "corroborates" everything that I have heard about the 2019 vintage, which some, no less than the experts at Farr Vintners, are calling the "greatest vintage ever." I have to say, from what I'm seeing, 2019 is "2016 with personality."* I have been stunned by what I have seen from 2019 so far, especially the Montrose, and now this beautiful Croizet-Bages, whose loveliness "corroborates" the reputed greatness of the 2019 Bordeaux vintage. I got this for in the $30 range on sale in NH, will search out more. Classic, pure, beautifully representative of the Pauillac terroir, and coming in at a beautifully balanced 13%, which defines this wine. Bravo! 93+ points.

*Can I trademark this term -- "2019 is 2016 with personality," before some "expert" <rolls eyes> steals it.

[DavidG]

I guess when it comes to 2019 Bordeaux, we could say that you have Great Expectations.

Love your reminiscenses Jim. Don’t let the coming Arctic blast do anything more corrosive than corroborating Mr. Dick.

[robert goulet]

Had the '16 of this, but was a very weak effort...bummer from one of the vintages of the century.

[AlexR]

Jim,

The wine has pretty poor press, with Robert Parker famously writing that "Life is too short to drink Croizet Bages".

*However*, things change and there has been a definite upswing in quality in the past few years.

I'm glad you enjoyed the 2019.

AR

[JimHow]

It’s going to be cold as a bastard tonight.

[Nicklasss]

This morning, it is -29 C, - 49 C feel with wind chill....

[Claudius2]

This morning, it is -29 C, - 49 C feel with wind chill....

Nic/Jim
Well it’s 9.40 pm and still 30C/86F just like every other day though we’ve had a hell of a lot of rain with sporadic flooding.
At least you never need a jacket or overcoat here - in fact shorts and a t-shirt work well.

Regarding Croizet Bages, I had the 2015 recently - a gift from a visitor - and it was surprisingly drinkable. I did not expect much but it was quite fruity and balanced but at the same time rather simple and light to medium bodied. The fruit was much more in the red spectrum and I’m not sure it tasted like a Pauillac - more like a Merlot based Cotes wine but actually not bad.

I got an email this week from an importer talking the 2020 vintage of this up though really did not take much notice.

I also read RPJnr’s review of this wine in his “Bordeaux” book, though I’d say that a handful of decades ago, particularly the 70s, there were quite a few under performing Chateaux in Bordeaux, and realistically, the region wasn’t early as wealthy then. He wasn’t exactly positive about estates such as Camensac, La Tour Carnet, Rausan Gassies and even D’Issan to name a few.

Cheers
Mark

[JimHow]

It's colder than a witch's nipple.
You know, we had as low as minus 68 when we were in Alaska, minus 30 consistently every day, but it was dry and not windy.
These temps seem much more brutal, especially with the wind.

[greatbxfreak]

Doesn't surprise me.

Young generation of Quie family has made better and better wines since 2016 vintage at Croizet Bages and at their other property, Rauzan Gassies.

[AKR]

It could also be that temperatures are warmer, and riper grapes excuse some of the Quie practices.

=========

I am happily surprised to see Croizet Bages is being imported, and available at release. I have never tasted one, and only have stefan's cruel cautions of their 70's efforts, to whet my taste buds.

[Nicklasss]

This morning, even better it is -30 C, - 51 C feel with wind chill....

You have to try it one day: going outside lightly dressed, under those conditions... you feel like Jack in Titanic within a minute...