Bordeaux obliterates California

[marcs]

So for dinner the other night I decided the theme would be a comparative 2001 tasting, and opened the 2001 Pichon Lalande and the 2001 Spottswoode Estate. I actually thought the 2001 Spottswoode would be the easy winner in this comparison. Spottswoode is obviously a very good Napa producer. 2001 is considered the better year in Napa than in Bordeaux. The Spottswoode was more expensive at release and is still more expensive on the secondary market. The Cellartracker rating for the Spottswoode is much higher than the Pichon Lalande (93.0 vs 91.7 -- a huge difference for Cellartracker, which works on an effective 10-15 point scale), and there are well over 100 CT ratings for each wine, so it's not a random thing. I even told my guests to expect the Spottswoode to be the better wine.

Well, the PLL absolutely destroyed the Spottswoode. The Spottswoode was sweet, right from the attack through the midpalate. It was deep and had plenty of fruit, but the sweet quality was off-putting and not refreshing, with a touch of syrupy quality to it. The wine had some structure and varietal character but overall felt flabby and the sweetness made it a one-note wine.

If I had drunk the Spottswoode alone these problems might have stood out less, but when you put it next to the Bordeaux they became screamingly obvious. The PLL was a cool, savory, balanced wine which expressed richness without ever becoming overly sweet or flabby. It had excellent midpalate depth but really impressive complexity of flavor -- mint, bay leaf, a touch of oak, red fruit, some cassis, and then some herbal components on the finish. But that complexity was combined with purity and freshness of fruit (it is still a young and vigorous wine). Just so much more interesting. It offered a meditative complexity -- you could just inhale and sip and reflect on the different layers of the wine without the crude appeal to sweetness messing with your reflections.It was actually hard to go back to the Spottswoode after spending some time with the PLL.

Putting these two wines next to each other just really made me think Bordeaux has some fundamental superiority. Bordeaux is easily the region most represented in my cellar, but maybe I need to move it up even more.

[Blanquito]

Enjoyable read, Marcus. I have similar experiences pairing Cali and Bordeaux.

My wines buddies can think a blind Cali cab from a classic producer (Dunn, Togni, Mount Eden, etc) is a Bordeau, especially when mature. But they never mistake Cali for Bordeaux when both are in the blind lineup together, the contrasts are just to obvious side by side (which wine they prefer usually depends on how ready the Bordeaux is, as they don't grok shutdown, young claret very well, finding it too austere... but they love fully mature Bordeaux). I suppose you could cherry-pick a really modern right bank wine from 2009 and fool them that it was Californian blind, but I've never tried to do that.

[DavidG]

PLL is a favorite. California Cabs, even those that age well, still don't turn into Bordeaux, and I think your experience with this comparison bears that out Marcus.

[JimHow]

A harbinger of BWE California '17.

[dstgolf]

Marcs,

Your right on the money. I did this years ago at our golf club. One of my buddies was a Spottswoode fan. Swore nothing was better until it met Pichon Baron head up. Kicked its butt big time. It never changed his Cali palate but he certainly recognized the PB superiority. Nothing compares to the complexity of Bordeaux. My concern is that will Bordeaux try to make a more universal style to please the world palate. We're starting to see the modernized Bordeaux and many are not to my taste but the still seem to maintain nuances that maintain their Bordeaux identity. I'm a convert for sure and admit nothing quite rocks my world like Bordeaux.

[tim]

I paired a 2003 Dunn Howell against a 2004 Mouton. The wines were so distinctly different in style that it was easy to tell them apart. Overall, the Mouton outperformed the Dunn, even though the Dunn was a delightful wine. Of particular note was the alcohol content of the Dunn over the Mouton. If I were coming at this with a California palate, like so many of my Bay area friends, I would find the Dunn superior. But everyone at the dinner (all French) felt the Mouton was the superior wine, and that the Dunn was too much alcohol and too "heavy".

It is fascinating to see how different people react to different wines.

[AKR]

Interesting. I don't think I've had a Spottswoode before. One of our group offered to bring one last month but we didn't nibble.

[Nicklasss]

That happens all the time!

I remember many years ago, probably around 2005, I went to a Pomerol blind tasting. Someone add a mystery wine in the second round. Before uncovering the wine, the owner of the mystery wine asked everyone what it was? I said instantly Cabernet from California, and while good, nothing to rock my World that much. In the same flight, my favorite, by a strong light year over the mystery wine, was the 1995 Chateau La Fleur-Petrus... The mystery wine was the 1998 Harlan Estate.

But what was funny (of should I say not very funny), is that when some around the table said that the mystery wine was not their favorite when it was covered, it became suddently a great wine uncovered... The power of label!

Nic

[marcs]

Regarding Bordeaux possibly giving up their terroir to follow California, I think that happens more on the right bank. There are some spoofilated left bank wines (which I mostly avoid) but I think that Cab in a region like Bordeaux is too tough a grape to ever taste like California Cab. Merlot is more manipulable.

Tim -- that 'heavy' quality on the palate is one of the key elements that makes Bordeaux generally better than CA.

Blanquito -- yes, the general cause of people dumping on Bordeaux is drinking it when it is shut down. One sees this a lot on Cellartracker. In fact, I always assume that there is a several point penalty to Bordeaux on CT because there are years of scores from people drinking it while it is asleep. (And I am included in that, although I generally don't score in such circumstances).