Parker's buying advice

Jay Winton · Post by **Jay Winton** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 2:47 pm

from his post on the ebob board:
RB 2003, LB 00,01, 02 and "top" 04s

Comments gang?

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 3:53 pm

Where is that post, Jay?

stefan

Rieslingfan · Post by **Rieslingfan** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:54 pm

Actually he said RB 03 & 01. Some LB 2002s and "top" 04s.

It's in a thread about '08 EP.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:13 pm

Jay, The Bob's post suggest that he will be back from Bordeaux just before BWE-DC. Did anyone contact him about coming to the Charlie Palmer dinner?

stefan

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:57 pm

Hmm, good idea Stefan.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:43 pm

I'll e-mail him.

AlainB. · Post by **AlainB.** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:16 pm

Sorry..
Does RB mean Right Bank???
According to my own tastings, 2003 on the Right Bank is not (always) that exciting

Last week-end I attended to a blind tasting on the "2003 in France" theme. 38 wines were reassessed and the clear winners (Bordeaux speaking) were on the Left Bank (Sociando-Mallet) and Sauternes (fantastic 2003 Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Climens and Suduiraut). Right Bank properties have generally average to good reviews but seem a bit "overcooked" with a rather limited ageing potential. Of course this overview cannot be generalized to all RB wines but it nevertheless gave us quite a clear preview picture.

FrankD · Post by **FrankD** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:43 pm

Geez, I was thinking RB = red burgundy. Right bank seems more likely.

F

Rieslingfan · Post by **Rieslingfan** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:46 am

Considering that he was discussing Bordeaux, I would have though RB was obvious.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:28 pm

I thought he was recommending Red Bull.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:31 pm

I don't read ebob so I didn't know what the hell Jay was talking about.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:27 pm

I didn't read the whole '08 EP thread over there, but my thought on buying Bordeaux right now is: Don't.

Wait until the end of the year, when the '06s are languishing on retail shelves along with the overpriced '05s and the underloved '04s, and '07s are backed up in the pipeline, and '08s haven't sold through very well en primeur. If you still have any money left, that would be the time to buy.

As to vintages, I'm not a big believer in buying a specific year on the right or left bank blindly. It's all about the individual wines. It may be that the right bank produced a number of real winners in '01 and '03 and '04, and that some left bank '02s are winners, but give me more specifics.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:45 pm

RMP saying "buy 2003 RB" is a bit of news, is it not, I don't recall him being especially over-excited about that vintage in St. Emilion and Pomerol, although I could be remembering wrongly.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 2:48 pm

ACB says within the 03 RB look for properties atop limestone. Just say no to clay.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:34 pm

Whats ACB?

Not sure I recall RP's initial take on '03, but somtimes things turn out differently - maybe for specific wines or for good deals?

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:50 pm

ACB = me.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:33 pm

Houndsong wrote:ACB = me.

Shoulda known that...

I was thinking, American College of Bordeaux? Association of Concerned Bordeaux-philes? Nahhh...

FrankD · Post by **FrankD** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:33 am

Rieslingfan wrote:Considering that he was discussing Bordeaux, I would have though RB was obvious.

Read the first few posts and tell me where "BORDEAUX" is mentioned.

F

Chasse-Spleen · Post by **Chasse-Spleen** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:28 am

I'm still stuck trying to figure out EP... Easter Parade?

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:40 am

En Primeur.

jal · Post by **jal** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:49 am

I admit to also being confused with the various initials. Are we all that busy that we do not have enough time to spell out the words? I eventually got the EP and would have remained stumped on the ACB had Arthur not explained (I did blush afterward and had a chuckle when he did explain). However, LB is still a mystery to me; I assume it is Lynch Bages and not Leoville Barton.

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:59 am

I'm guessing it is Left Bank, Jacques, if RB stands for Right Bank. Although, it could be Lynch Bages or Leoville Barton. if it stands for Left Bank, I find it interesting that he touts the 2002 vintage, something we've been doing here on BWE since the beginning.

stefan · Post by **stefan** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:06 am

LB=left bank and RB=right bank I got. I still don't get ACB even after the explanation and Jacques statement that the explanation made him blush.

stefan, DTADDN

FrankD · Post by **FrankD** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:00 am

Personally I think this is OSD

One Stupid Discussion.

Let's try it again some time without all the abbreviations.

F

Claudius · Post by **Claudius** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:59 am

Guys,
If he says to buy 03 right bank, I'm surprised.
I did not buy a single bottle.
I found them rather stewed, low in acid and frankly, dull at times.

In relaiton to the RB, I midly agree with 01, 02 and 04.
I have numerous labels from each - and suggest buying all three vitnages with care not as a rule.

AlainB. · Post by **AlainB.** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:10 am

Claudius,
To my view, 2001, 2004, 2006 (and 2008?) are good to excellent on the Right Bank (no generalizations though!). But 2002 is much more a Left rather than a Right Bank success..
As for 2003, I recall Château Le Pin (Pomerol) didn't even produce one single bottle as they considered quality to be insufficient in regard to their standards..

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:36 am

I didn't realize '01 was such a strong vintage for Langoa Barton.

jal · Post by **jal** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:27 pm

Funnny, Jim.

I never thought it was Langoa.

stefan wrote:I still don't get ACB even after the explanation and Jacques statement that the explanation made him blush.

Arthur was just kidding by putting his initials and his opinion just after:

JimHow wrote:RMP saying "buy 2003 RB" is a bit of news, is it not, I don't recall him being especially over-excited about that vintage in St. Emilion and Pomerol

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 12:42 pm

Mea culpa for perpetuating the "EP" confusion. I am usually very anal about spelling things out, unless they are in notes meant only for myself. But I will tell a story about that. I was once employed by a large multispecialty medical group with close to 100 docs - you can imagine the number of abbreviations. Management decided to make a standard glossary of accepted abbreviations and asked for everyone to submit their recommendations to a committee that would rule on who got to use what in the medical record. Just out of training and with more time than patients, and chafing a bit at some bureaucrat telling me how to write my notes, I compiled an exhaustive list of ophthalmic abbreviations. All of the other docs were too busy seeing actal patients to bother, so my lone contribution was accepted by the committee (which had no docs on it - typical big company bureaucracy). When it was published, the primary care docs and other specialists were a bit peeved that all of their favorite abbreviations for really common things now stood for some obscure ophthalmologic procedure or diagnosis. Of course, no one paid any attention to the bureaucrat's rules anyway, so we all got over it.

Anyway, back to wine...

2003 was supposed to be an "irregular" vintage on both the left and right banks, with some properties doing very well, and others, like Le Pin that Jacques mentions, doing terribly or bailing out. In a year like that, the need to talk about specific wines rather than generalities like right bank or left bank wines is even more critical than usual. My feeling about vintage charts is that their only use is in helping improve your odds picking off a restaurant list containing a bunch of unknowns. Given the time to think about a purchase, I would always go with a more specific recommendation than a generalization. And now in the era of web-enabled cell phones, we're rarely out of touch with our own notes, recommendations from friends and professional reviews.

Houndsong · Post by **Houndsong** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:46 pm

Blame it on JW. He is nowhere near as funny as MV used to be.

Tom In DC · Post by **Tom In DC** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 4:02 pm

What the Bob said:

...seems to me the smart money/drinker is cherry-picking the falling prices for the RIGHT 2003s,the right bank 2001s,some left bank 2002s ,and 2000s if they drop in price....even some of the top 2004s..a largely forgotten vintage, merit attention if the price is right....wine lovers always tend to look to the future for the next best thing ..in these times...going backwards could put alot of great Bordeaux in your cellar...

So not Right Bank 2003's but essentially "the CORRECT 2003s"...

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:24 pm

There you go, complicating things with the facts, Tom. I certainly would agree with the "correct" '02s, '03s, and '04s. In addition to pricing deals, for wines languishing on retail shelves you have the advantage of being able to try them before diving in with larger purchases. If you've got the time and the interest, you can decide for yourself which ones are "correct."

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:04 pm

...Well I like the "right" 1991s, 1992s, 1993s, 1994s, 1997s, etc., etc.

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:32 pm

And I like the "right" '82s, '86s, '89s and '90s even better...

JimHow · Post by **JimHow** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:36 pm

Yes but do you like the "wrong" 1982s better than the "right" 1991s....

DavidG · Post by **DavidG** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:05 pm

Hmm, I think we need to do that tasting. I'm sure we could pick 'em so that either side would win.

AlainB. · Post by **AlainB.** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 10:00 pm

Who said there where no great wines but only great bottles?

RP's correct sentence makes much more sense to me now..

Rieslingfan · Post by **Rieslingfan** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:54 pm

You guys are missing half the fun - misinterpret RP then get the human shields to mock you in a 15 page thread on RP's site.

Kids...can't...teach...them...anything.

AlainB. · Post by **AlainB.** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:58 pm

Rieslingfan wrote:You guys are missing half the fun - misinterpret RP then get the human shields to mock you in a 15 page thread on RP's site.

This kind of reminds me something..

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 9:36 pm

Let us not forget that RP missed the barrel tastings of the 2002 Bordeaux vintage altogether because his wife pleaded with him not to travel by air for a time after 9/11. In my opinion he never revisited the vintage in a dedicated fashion, so exploration and futures buying was limited. As a result, prices were very reasonable: all of the 1st Growths were $90., and the top 2nd and 3rd growths were sub $50./ bottle. The U.K. and French wine critics were rather impressed with the northern Medocs. Yields were small, and the talented winemakers' best efforts paid off, especially on the left bank. On the right bank, Vieux Chateau Certan is outstanding. We were thrilled to drink one of these last month.