Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Last night we had a terrible encounter with several 1999 Bordeaux which were in a very bad mood and grumpy due to being waken way before their time. The Montrose, Mission, and Las Cases were really shut down while the Mouton, although really not showing much, was at least enjoyable. The experience was so palate wrecking that we decided to meet for lunch today in order to make amends.

Lunch was at Casa Manolo, a solid Spanish restaurant in San Juan. We started with a totally appropriate California Pinot to forget about breakfast and then moved to a 1998 Remirez Ganuza Gran Reserva to pair with lunch. The business at hand was drinking though. First at bat was a 1989 Phelan Segur. What a difference a decade makes! This bottle was gorgeous, alive, fresh, screaming Bordeaux from the get go and full of classic vintage and commune elements. Having erased the memories from last night we then moved one to create new ones with a pristine bottle of 1985 Pichon Baron. This wine was pretty close to perfect and made each of us swear that we would not repeat the stupidity form the night before.

I think that is the most tough thing with Bordeaux: open a shut down wine.

I would expect the 1999 to be ok, after 14 years, but medium vintage Bordeaux can hold easily 25 years in good cellar conditions. The best example, the 1979 Château Pichon Lalande that was glorious in this year convention.

Nic

We drank a 1999 Haut Brion for Lucie's birthday a couple of weeks ago. While not fully mature, it was very good and certainly not closed down. That makes me surprised that the '99 La Mission was unyielding.

By happenstance I opened a 1999 Leoville Barton last night with a grilled rib-eye steak. My experience, gladly, was different than yours. This wine had a good amount fruit that was obscured by the still obvious structure of this wine. But the grilled and marbled red meat had a way of softening that structure and revealing the really nice dark fruit flavors. This was a thoroughly enjoyable wine with the food. I'm just sorry that it was the last of my very few bottles because this will be enjoyable for at least another 10 years. However, I do have a couple of 1999 Palmers that I will let rest for several more years.

Carlos,

Out if curiosity, did you pop and pour or were these wines decanted?

One hour decant and 20 minutes in the glass before tasting... On another note I can still taste the 1985 Pichon Baron, what a wine!

stefan wrote:We drank a 1999 Haut Brion for Lucie's birthday a couple of weeks ago. While not fully mature, it was very good and certainly not closed down.

Better luck than me! The bottle of 1999 Haut Brion that we opened for my birthday two years ago (May 2012) was quite closed down. Good to hear that it's starting to come around.

Chris Bublitz

Two years older, and my cellar is probably warmer than yours, Chris (60-64F where I held the H-B).

FWIW, with very few exceptions, I find most 1999 Bordeaux at peak drinking levels today. Some are even already on the slow downhill slide. 1999 is not a vintage for long term aging. I'd drink almost every wine from that vintage sooner than later.

What about latour and Cheval Blanc Jeff? Last time I tried these they needed quite a lot more time.

Jeff, have you had any left bank 1999 classified growths that are on the downslide? I have not and would be surprised if any are, at least for my taste.

Ian... Tasted in 2013.... 1999 Latour is already showing secondary characteristics. But there is no hurry to drink it. Tasted in 2013, 1999 Cheval Blanc, ready for prime time.

Stefan... Off the top of my head, no. I do not remember, You can if you're ever bored search my tasting notes. http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/tasting-notes/

1999 is not my favorite vintage. I think I have perhaps 3 wines in my cellar. They are just not exciting for me as most on the lean, less ripe side of the style range.

Jeff Leve wrote:Ian... Tasted in 2013.... 1999 Latour is already showing secondary characteristics. But there is no hurry to drink it. Tasted in 2013, 1999 Cheval Blanc, ready for prime time.

Stefan... Off the top of my head, no. I do not remember, You can if you're ever bored search my tasting notes. http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/tasting-notes/

1999 is not my favorite vintage. I think I have perhaps 3 wines in my cellar. They are just not exciting for me as most on the lean, less ripe side of the style range.

Jeff:

"lean, less ripe side of the style range..." sounds about right. I did feel though that the wines tasted had some upside with cellar time and that's why I used "closed" instead of "lean". Time will tell but agree that it does not look like a long term vintage.

Thanks, Jeff. I did not realize how easy it is to search your notes. Nothing you wrote suggests that anyone should be in a hurry to drink up classified wines from the left bank even if you do not expect further improvement from many.

I brought a 99 GPL to a friend this weekend but we decided to dine out and didn't get to it. I'll have to get a report from him. I agree with Jeff, 99 not too exciting though Lynch Bages and Sociando weren't too bad.

99's remind me a of 88's. Not quite ripe enough and hard to cuddle up with.
But I've enjoyed every bottle of Pavie- Macquin I've had.