Checking on the progress of some 2000 big hitters

[Comte Flaneur]

Shamefully I have not commented on Alex's threat on Cotes De Castillon. But the UK Wine Society stocks quite a few of these at the sub £10 price bracket. I have meaning to get a tasting case of some of these and some of the Society's excellent exhibition wines.

We have a wine retailer here in the UK called the Sampler in which Keith Prothero is one of the major investors. We go there a lot because they often have interesting wines to taste in their oenomatic wine dispensers. This weekend they had four wines I bought from the Wine Society as part of a mixed case: three bottles each of Leoville-Barton, Ducru Beaucaillou, Lynch Bages and Palmer 2000s. Must have come from the same batch.

Leoville -Barton - still very young with grippy tannins but a magnificent wine underneath with an eternal finish. 95-98
Ducru - had a to die for cassis nose and was more open for business but still young; astonishingly refined multi-faceted, great juicy acidity, and a finish that just went on and on 96-99
Lynch -Bages - beneath the spikey tannins a very accomplished, complete and foursquare wine, don't touch this for ten years. 93-96
Palmer - very closed difficult to coax, but a vin de gard built for the very long term. I don't think you should think about touching this for 15 years by which time I am sure it will be magnificent - difficult to score.

[stefan]

Interesting. Wines a step below these are mostly mature or nearly so. How cold is the Sampler's storage? Usually retailers have storage that is well above the 55F that traditional cellars have.

[Comte Flaneur]

Bill these are probably wines they picked up from auction. I was not surprised because Lilian Sartorious, when she came to London in Nov 2014, brought her 2000 Langoa, and told us the Leoville is totally shut down so forget about it for several years. Of the four the Ducru was the most accessible but I would rather wait five years plus...the 1996 is still quite clasped btw..the Palmer needs an eternity and the Leoville and Lynch are somewhere in between.,the Leoville is a better wine than the Lynch, but they are all good. Of the four the only one I bought an extra case of is Ducru, and am pretty pleased about that. The 2000 could possibly be the greatest wine that Ducru ever made, pre-dating the transition from Xavier to Bruno, who went for a more glamrock style from 2003 on.

[stefan]

>>
The 2000 could possibly be the greatest wine that Ducru ever made
>>

That is a strong recommendation! I wonder if I can still get this as a PA from PC?

[Nicklasss]

Thanks Comte, even if I don't own any of these.

The 2000 Chateau Lynch Bages that JimHow brought in Old Orchard Beach in 2014 summer, was excellent to prodigious. I thought it was better that night than the 1995 Chateaux Cos d'Estournel...

Nic

[AKR]

A terrific vintage, now somewhat overshadowed by so many younger, prettier sisters.

[Roel]

Nice to read. 2000 indeed seems slightly forgotten after the various outher vintages of the millennium. The 2000 Leo-Poy I had last year was full of promise, but young. Easily a 94-95 pointer with some time. Bought mine on release and cellar them on the cold side. Reduces replacement investment too.