Two fine Médocs and a reflection on vintage reputations

[AlexR]

I was invited to dinner recently and served 2 fine wines that belied some received wisdom about Bordeaux.

The meal started out in the back garden of my friends Dewey and Catherine Markham with white and red Lillet (I prefer the white). This patent aperitif is made in Podensac, in the Graves, and was sold by the Borie family of Ducru-Beaucaillou to Pernod-Ricard seven years ago.
Dewey wrote the definitive (and only!) book on the 1855 classification http://www.amazon.com/1855-A-History-Bo ... 0471194212 and his wife is office manager at Ch. Clerc Milon (Ph. de Rothschild). Other guests included Hamilton and Wendy Narby, former owners of Ch. Guiraud in Sauternes.

The first wine, 2005 Ch. Brane Cantenac, was served blind. I didn’t venture to say what it was because I was confused. There were elements of Right Bank smoothness, or so I thought, but also the tell-tale graphite smells of the Médoc – but without the body of the Pauillac and Saint-Julien wines I usually associate with those aromatics. I should have deduced from this that the wine was a southern Médoc, but didn’t and remained baffled. I was very surprised indeed when the label was revealed because here was a second growth Margaux from a great vintage, just ten years old, but fully enjoyable and ready-to-drink. The structure was supple, without any tannic asperity.
A wine like this confirms that vintage reputations are misleading. This 05 Brane is as good as it’s going to get. I don’t see it any better a decade or two from now, despite the qualities people associate with the 2005 vintage.
I might add, as an aside, that Brane Cantenac is coming up in the world. I did a vertical tasting at the estate with Gonzague Lurton not long ago and was particularly impressed with the 2010 – the best Brane I have ever had.

Wine number two was 2003 Mouton Rothschild. We all know what is said about 2003: record heat and wines that are supposedly alcoholic, low-acid, and often flabby. Well, I don’t know anyone who would taste this Mouton and find those characteristics… Furthermore, I think that even the most hard-bitten old-school English claret lover would agree that the wine is enjoyable to drink NOW. Why wait? The lovely trademark blackcurrant and pencil shaving nose is perhaps lacking in complexity and it’s true that might develop a little over time, but the wine is all there on the palate. Where the 2003 vintage has left its mark is in the wine’s exuberance, not unlike that found in some high-class New World Cabernets. A very enjoyable experience. The label celebrates the 150th anniversary of Mouton’s purchase by Nathaniel de Rothschild.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[JimHow]

I'm finding the 10-15 year range a good window for drinking fine Bordeaux.
I agree that the 2003 vintage has not turned out to be the way the experts predicted, but that 2003 Lafon Rochet from last night fit the '03 stereotype.

[AKR]

We love Lillet on the rocks with a twist of orange.

I think I'm out now. A specialty grocer in town stocks it for us.

Their posters are famous, and sometime seen in bistros

http://www.internationalposter.com/pima ... 06601z.jpg

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I too like most Bordeaux in the 10-20 year range, with that back end only for peak vintages.

At this point, most of my pre 1995 stuff has been consumed.

[RDD]

I bet long on two 2003s. Calon Segur (sentimental favorite) and Pavie MacQuin (Always love it).
May have some other scattered bottles.
The weird things about anomalous years is you can't predict them.
Never been seen before.

So who knows.
And that's the coolest part of collecting vintages.
What kiss of nature did we get that year.

[AKR]

You know what was a pretty good Pavie Macquin - 1997.

It never got much credit in a bit of a pricy and underwhelming vintage.

[RDD]

1999 is good too.

[DavidG]

I had a 2003 Branaire Ducru last week and thought it excellent. I agree that the left bank wines are turning out much better than the "hot mess" they were supposed to be. I bought about 2 cases of 2003s and am starting to try them.

[AKR]

My view is that a hot year on clay soils is often a good combo. Look at how nice the 1990's in St Estephe, as well as other parts of the Medoc ended up.

Great vintage for St Julien too.

We had an 03 Branaire maybe a month ago too. Very nice.

If we're lucky, the vintage will age like 1990, so keep your fingers crossed.

On the flip side, if things don't go well, it might end up like 1976, which I've had very few of, but because of the heat, didn't have the acidic spine to last.

[AKR]

Although not in the league of the 2003 Mouton that AlexR mentions, this St Julien has developed better than one could have hoped/expected. There's nothing in the way it tastes at age 20 that suggests a super crazy hot year. Perhaps the 2020 vintage - another hot/drought year will be as good or better, given how vintners have learned to handle climate change

[ericp]

As Alex points out I remember being early concern for that vintage being the wines being flat and flabby. In the end, bought wine from the more clay soil areas on the left that retain more moisture from St Estephe, Calon and Montrose.

At least for me, this is really a tale of 2 wines which is curious given they are neighbors. The Montrose has been amazing throughout its early adolescence until today. Calon on the other hand has been wound extremely tightly on the roughly 3 blanquitos. I’m due for blaquito number 4 so fingers crossed it’s finally open for business!

Eric

[greatbxfreak]

Alex,

I think there's a typo in your post.

As far as I know, Henri Lurton is the owner of Brane Cantenac, not Gonzague Lurton. The latter is the husband of Claire Lurton (Haut Bages Liberal and Durfort Vivens).

Brane Cantenac imho never is a blockbuster wine but typically Margaux wine with elegance and finesse. So I would not be surprised to taste it blind and discover it to be 2005.