The 2000 Leoville Barton has been uncorked and decanted....

[JimHow]

Hey, you only live once....

[JimHow]

A young man named Whuzzup__ called me from Bordeaux during the spring tasting an eon ago and said this was the wine of the vintage. SteveH got me six bottles of this wine back in 2004 for $50 per bottle. He had a bunch of them and was gonna sell me a case but I guess someone else wanted some too. I drank one bottle at a restaurant overlooking the Pacific from the west coast of the Baja penninsula, about halfway down the peninsula, with some fish that was about the best fish I've ever tasted. No, it WAS the best fish I've ever tasted. The wine was amazing that night as the sun set.

Tonight, so far, on the nose and palate, about 15 minutes after tasting, as that great silver and gold prospector Yukon Cornelius would say: "Hmmmm.... Nothing....."

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Funny how everything goes through the dumb phase except the color.

[JimHow]

Same observation here, it is a black beauty. Struggling to coax something out of it now an hour later.

[JimHow]

Starting to show it's stuff.... Work with me baby. Yeah that's it. Show me pouting. Show me angry....

[JimHow]

It's scruffy. Ornery.

[JimHow]

Came around in the end. A big wine, it will be great in 20 years. 95 points. A monumental effort, just needs lots of time. Great finish.

[Tom In DC]

Jim, Jim, Jim - I know we can't stop you but I'll say it again anyway - Upper tier classified Bordeaux should not be consumed anywhere near the "10 year old" mark.

Glad it came around for you. Maybe you can find a wood case for the rest of the bottles?

[JimHow]

I have 4 bottles left, all to be consumed during the 25-35 year window.

[RDD]

Well when Leoville Barton is dumb it is really dumb in my experience.

[Jay Winton]

old school for sure. Thanks for taking one for the team, BD.

[JimHow]

That's the beautiful decanter Art and Kathy brought from Colorado when they visited my house a couple years ago, it is my go to decanter. There is nothing weak about this 2000, it is the real deal. It's going to be even better than the 1982 Leoville Barton.

[hautbrionlover]

Has anyone tried the 2000 Leoville Poyferre recently?
It was served at a party I attended two years ago (along with some otherworldly, but still way too young, '01 Yquem) and I thought it was spectacular - in the 95-97 point range.
I had it again this past summer at a 2000 Bordeaux horizontal, and once again I thought it was excellent - one of the top wines of the tasting, although it was clearly one that needed another 5-10 for truly optimal drinking.

[Comte Flaneur]

Nice picture, it just looks so painfully young Jim.

Tom drank a decent ten year old tonight - Pichon Baron 2002. Marvellous marvellous stuff but still very young.