2000 Château Malescot St. Exupery

[Elmo]

Hi all,

I have 4 bottles of this lying around and am tempted to open one. Did anybody try one recently?

[SteveH]

Elmo, I have not tried the 2000 vintage, but for what it's worth I recently poured two bottles of the 1990 down the drain.
This was not from my cellar, but from a cousin's in Connecticut, so the pre-cellaring storage may have been problematic.
I would definitely uncork one now to check.

[Winona Chief]

I really liked the bottle of this I shared with a friend in the in the summer of 2007. I believe it had been decanted in advance and we drank it over three hours. It is a very good wine with a rich flavor. It was a bit on the young side but very enjoyable. I have six or seven bottles - one of which is standing up that I plan to open soon. Parker gave it 92 points with a drinking window of 2007 - 2022. I generally agree with that assessment.

Chris Bublitz

[Elmo]

Great, thanks a lot for the opinions. My third one is expected to be ETA in about a month. So this seems like a nice wine to honor the occasion....

[Michael Malinoski]

Elmo, I was served the 2000 Malescot blind twice in 2008--the last being in August. So, these are not especially "fresh" notes, but I hope do convey that I think the wine was in a nice early drinking phase within the past year.

August 2008: 2000 Château Malescot St. Exupery Margaux. This wine is a bit bigger all around when compared to the previous wine. It has a somewhat similar profile on the nose, but seems a bit darker, more serious and perhaps a few years younger. Aromas of tobacco leaf, roasted green pepper skin, old leather, forest ferns and soft purple fruits greet the nostrils. It gets better and better the longer one stays with it, too. In the mouth, it does not have the immediate charm of the preceding wine('00 GPL), with more aggressive tannins and more sharply-defined acidity. Still, it shows outstanding class, structure and balance to its black currant and blackberry fruit profile and finishes long and strong. This is really good stuff that can be enjoyed now but ought to perhaps rest a little while longer.


March 2008: 2000 Chateau Malescot St. Exupery Margaux. This has a brooding but compelling nose of black currants, cassis, lead pencil, tapenade, flower bouquet greens and sweet red fruit deeper down. This shows a lot of class to go along with that sense of richness. In the mouth, one really notices the outstanding balance right from the start. There’s a beautiful balancing twang to the meaty ripe red fruit in the mid-palate and the cooler blue fruits found toward the back. There are very refined tannins, a tensile structure and a refined, yet giving nature to this beauty. I especially like the way it flows so gracefully through from entry to finish, showing different but linked facets of its personality. Clear wine of the flight for me.

-Michael

[HarryKaris]

Indeed, this is a great wine. I drank more than a case of splits over the past years. My last bottle was about 2 months ago and showed very much open and balanced.
In case you drink a regular bottle I would recommend you to decant for a few hours........

B-Harry

[Elmo]

Interesting... I tend (almost) never to decant. Rather, I pop&pour while keeping tabs on the bottle over the course of the night. This is because I always fear the decanting and leaving it for a few hours might result in the bottle being 'downhill' when I actually try it. Maybe irrational, but definitely on top of my mind whenever I try it.

As to this Malescot: it is (for me) a quite high-end bottle, and I only have very few of them. So, I do not want to risk anything that could diminish the experience. Therefore, I think I will forgo the decanting and simply keep sniffing...

When I do get around to it (probably in about a month or so), I'll be sure to post a TN.

Thanks for all the advice!

[Elmo]

*&$%$(*&$((%%%%$!

Heavily corked. It's not fair, no flavors that I could detect on nose or mouth. It's not fair.

Oh well, three minus one leaves two more attempts.

But it's not fair!

[Houndsong]

That sucks.

[stefan]

Too bad, Elmo. This is an estate that has made great strides recently. Good luck on your remaining bottles.

stefan