TN: 1996 Ducru Beaucaillou and 2000 Barde Haut

[JCNorthway]

I've had a couple of really positive Bordeaux drinking experiences recently -

1996 Ducru Beaucaillou - We drank this with a lovely braised beef recipe. This was my first bottle of only four that I have. It was probably the most enjoyable Bordeaux wine I've drunk in the last year. Wonderfully deep and dark fruit still being supported by ample very ample but balanced tannins and minerality. This was a very rich drinking wine that is in a really good place right now. But it is probably in the early stages of it's drinking window. If I recall, RP scored this 95 or 96 points. On this night, it deserved every single one of those points, and maybe 1-2 more. Great experience.

2000 Barde Haut - Served with grilled ribeye steak. I've started to look into how some of my "smaller" 2000 vintage Bordeaux wines are developing. Based on this sampling. they are developing quite well. This was a really enjoyable wine with the steak. Adequate structure and fruit to stand up to the big meat flavors. This is probably as good as this wine will get in its evolution. However, it still has at least 5-10 years to go, in my opinion, any possibly more depending on you like your Bordeaux.

[AKR]

I've been surprised with how well Barde Haut ages. Very enjoyable stuff.

[Jay Winton]

nice wines Jon. Hope to see you two in DC next spring!

[Comte Flaneur]

Thanks for the notes Jon. Is Barde Haut deemed to be "modern" St-Emilion? I tried one a couple of years ago I think it was the 2001, which was very slick. I know Arv is a big buyer, which is a positive sign.

Judging from my from accumulated experiences I think Ducru really hit a sweet spot in 1995-2000. Apart from a few 78s, 82s and 86s, that is where my Ducru exposure is concentrated. My experience with the 1996 is that it is on a very slow evolutionary track, albeit one to greatness. Likewise the 2000 and possibly the 1995, while the 1999 is in the top five for the vintage.

[Blanquito]

The best of the 96 LB will need 30 years to fully summit.

I just had the 96 GPL last month. Definitely improved from a 4 years earlier, but will improve for at least 5 years and probably more like 10 years, and the 96 GPL -- while very good -- is not one of the best in the 96 vintage (unlike the 95 GPL).

[Blanquito]

I also just had the 96 Pichon Lalande from half bottle and it was in a weird, quiet place and the fruit was still mostly primary. I'm waiting on that one too.

Really, which 96s are truly at peak? I'd put the Lafon Rochet in that column, the Lagune and Cantemerle, maybe wines like Branaire Ducru. What about Pontet Canet?

[JCNorthway]

I drank a 1996 Pontet Canet a few months ago, and I thought it was still quite young.

[Comte Flaneur]

I also just had the 96 Pichon Lalande from half bottle and it was in a weird, quiet place and the fruit was still mostly primary. I'm waiting on that one too.

Really, which 96s are truly at peak? I'd put the Lafon Rochet in that column, the Lagune and Cantemerle, maybe wines like Branaire Ducru. What about Pontet Canet?

Pontet Canet is not there yet. I had it recently. It really is an old fashioned bruiser, loved it. An old fashioned wine, the worry is possibly that the tannins will outlive the fruit.

1996s that are ready:

Duhart Milon, Pichon Baron based on the last showing, Talbot likewise and splendid; Gruaud Larose, ready but still young and a beauty. Langoa, just about, Lagrange, I think so now, Montrose is close.

In Graves Pape Clement is ready but DDC isn't even close.

[Comte Flaneur]

Btw Patrick the last 1996 PLL I tried in May was truly magnificent.

[Blanquito]

Btw Patrick the last 1996 PLL I tried in May was truly magnificent.

My bottle showed quite mute, but there was nothing clearly wrong with it like TCA...

I have 6 bottles of the 1996 Lagrange, maybe I need to check in on one...

[AKR]

I also just had the 96 Pichon Lalande from half bottle and it was in a weird, quiet place and the fruit was still mostly primary. I'm waiting on that one too.

Really, which 96s are truly at peak? I'd put the Lafon Rochet in that column, the Lagune and Cantemerle, maybe wines like Branaire Ducru. What about Pontet Canet?

Pontet Canet is not there yet. I had it recently. It really is an old fashioned bruiser, loved it. An old fashioned wine, the worry is possibly that the tannins will outlive the fruit.

1996s that are ready:

Duhart Milon, Pichon Baron based on the last showing, Talbot likewise and splendid; Gruaud Larose, ready but still young and a beauty. Langoa, just about, Lagrange, I think so now, Montrose is close.

In Graves Pape Clement is ready but DDC isn't even close.

Probably somewhat casually I drank up a case of 96 Talbot over the years, probably finished the last 5 years ago. I thought they were mature by the last bottle especially in smaller/regular formats. I hope there is an odd one lurking around somewhere I don't know about.

[DavidG]

I drank my few 1996 Talbot as well. Very nice stuff but I'm sure it's got many great years ahead. I stupidly bought very little in '96, and those I do have other than the Ducru (Leoville Barton and Leoville las Cases), are probably not even close to ready.

[AKR]

Well to be fair, back when the 96's were the current releases, Talbot hadn't really been that great between 88-95, so it wasn't like it was a lay up or anything to buy the 96.

They were solid enough. But if you were choosing between the 86 or the 96 sometime back in 1997, the 86 might have been well worth the premium. IIRC the prices were something like $35-$40 for the 96 versus $65ish for the 86 at that point, although maybe I'm looking at this with rose colored glasses.

=====

Tonight was a night of disappointing wines - a thin rose, and then a rosso di montalcino with VA.

[Nicklasss]

I can't remember when I had the 1996 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, but it was an amazing wine already. I guess most of the 1996, 19 years after the vintage, are probably starting to be ready.

Never had a Barde Haut.

Nic

[JimHow]

Re Ducru, I think I have a single bottle each of the 95 and 96, and a couple half bottles of the 2000. And that's it, as it has become too over-priced.
I will say, however, that the BWE '15 visit to Ducru, for me, was one of the underrated little highlights of our trip.
I totally enjoyed that visit, including the crazy, fun little neon display in the cellar. I thoroughly enjoyed our non-English-speaking host, I think Nic and Alex were doing translating extraordinaire during that visit.
The greatest Ducru I've had, not surprisingly, was the 1961. Consumed one night with SF Ed, EricP, and Josh Wertlieb if memory serves, just north of Boston an eon ago (well, ok, maybe about 2004 or so). Wow was that a great wine!

[AKR]

Whatever happened to EricP?

[JimHow]

I think the last time I saw Eric was when we taught a wine class at Harvard back in spring 2004.

[AKR]

I just had a pretty solid bottle of the 99 Barde Haut, although among the 98/99/00 trio, I think its a nose behind the others. I wouldn't wait if people are still holding though.

[marcs]

One of the biggest mistakes of my wine drinking career (excluding of course the failure to mortgage my house and buy all the first growths/Burgundy grand crus I could in 2000 or so) was drinking all my 1996 Bordeaux way too young. I really didn't have too much experience as a collector, didn't have enough older vintages to drink as cellar protectors, and I drank them all at around 10-15 years old because that seemed like a lot of years of aging to me. I just had no visceral feel for how long it really takes good Bordeaux to age. Not a ton of wine, maybe 10 bottles or so of Ducru, PLL, and Lynch Bages, but what a waste.

Had a glass of 1996 PLL a couple of months ago and it was fantastic. For me probably the best of a wide-ranging PLL tasting that included 1982, 1985, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, etc.

[stefan]

Lucie and I drank 2001 Barde-Haut last night with left over steak because there was no 1983 Lynch-Bages left over from from the night before. Full bodied and aromatic with western spices, the wine was a good match for the rib eye. Modern, to be sure, but its right bank heritage showed. Good now and for years to come. At its price point, the 2001 Barde-Haut is hard to beat. It would be fun to drink it alongside the 2000, which, unfortunately, I do not have.