Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

I bought a case of this based on a tasting a year ago, the day before we set off for our epic Ventoux-Bordeaux adventure. Based on the first two bottles I am glad I did. It really stood out in a high class field of 2005s including wines like Leoville-Barton and Montrose.

This really is a class act. Cool fruited Cabernet (hints of menthol) with delicious plummy merlot, lends this wine a precocious attractiveness that leaves other more backward, sterner, more Cabernet-focused St -Juliens floundering in its wake. It will be fascinating to watch how this evolves absolutely and relative to its St-J peers. Already delicious and unusually precocious for 2005 this had a wonderfully alluring porcini mushroom truffly entry. This wine is not cheap - after all it it comes with dragon boat image - but the 2005 Beychevelle is worth it!

Yum, glad I have some of this. Prices for Beychevelle are kinda unpredictable-- usually too high especially for recent vintages, but then stuff will pop up on auction at quite reasonable tariffs. Duhart Milon went through this phase too and it was a harbinger of the hyper market for theses specific chateau really softening.The only really expensive Duhart these days seems to be the 09 and 10, and that's probably because people paid so much as futures (thanks to the hype and big Parker points), they aren't prepared to eat big losses yet. In the secondary market, prices for older vintages of Duhart have already come down a lot, though not all the way back to the pre-Lafite stable craze.

Wondering, honestly and not as some sort of troll, whether the openness of that 2005 is:
1) the Merlot at work, giving a softer wine at this stage, and/or
2) worrisome, given how generally closed down a structured vi rage like 2005 should be right now, especially for a classic and ageable wine like Beychevelle.

There's a contingent on Wine Berserkers that just loves to open GC Burgundy 2-4 years from vintage, pop and pour. And a sizable contingent that thinks they're classless heathens. tasting a 2010 Barolo a few months ago, there was about ten minutes of pleasant drinking before the Door of Tannins slammed shut in my face, but that's to be expected.

So the question: what does an open-knit, pleasant 05 Beychevelle mean for its long term prospects?

Can't speak to Beychevelle in 2005, but a number of less prestigious 2005s are showing early maturity at age 10 and a half. Part of it is how soft the tannins can be in 2005-- soft might not be quite right, maybe ripe and fleshy is more apt. I think wine making approach is also key, as it is the mid-modern wines that are already drinking well by and large (as always), like the 2005 Haut Bergey and du Tertre (both of which have a decent slug of merlot). In terms of the aging curve, 2005 probably will not turn out to be another 1986. But it is early enough still that the cepage and the wine maker will determine approachability at this stage.

I saw the same pattern with the 2000 vintage, which despite having dry, austere tannin in many cases, started to drink well around year 10. But it was still hit and miss, depending on who made the wine that year.

One wine that I found shockingly soft at a young age was the 2009 Talbot, although I haven't had it since.

Beychevelle is a wine we don't see often in BWE events...

I never bought a bottle of Beychevelle for my cellar. I think I only had the 1989 that I found glorious that day.

Wonder why I've never been more exposed to Beychevelle, liking the Saint-Julien like I do!

Nic

20 years ago it generally wasn't consistently good enough to bring to a wine dinner, unless it was a peak vintage or something. Nowadays its price is generally too high for its quality, so again it doesn't show up much. That being said, at least in the group I used to meet up with in NYC, it certainly showed up periodically, at least vintages in the 70-00's. Lucked out once on a case of their 86 that a friend called me after a live auction, where it was a passed lot, and he could pick it up for $600 all in. Different era of course...

Duhart Milon is a wine I have not had in a long time. I've only tried a few vintages maybe 96 or something, and don't really have any impressions of it.

Time of course will be the judge of that. A few random thoughts

- I would not describe the wine as either soft or open knit. It has a dense core, a hallmark of 2005s
- While it is clearly more forward than say Leoville-Barton I too have tasted other quite accessible and delicious 2005s. Two examples that immediately spring to mind are Pichon Lalande and Sociando Mallet.
- Likewise I can think of several wines from the 1980s which were remarkably accessible in their youth and are still going strong now, or even still have scope to improve. The best example of this is Lynches Bages 1989 which I first tasted at a restaurant in Vail in 1995. We were stunned by how good it was even at that age.
- No question the high merlot content helps make this wine more approachable. Of course there are some very long-lived merlot dominated wines on the right bank.
- though I have not tried it recently the 2000 Beychevelle appears to have matured faster than other 2000 St-Js.

So my guess is that this wine will provide a lot of pleasure for at least 20 years, probably longer.

I think that's right, Ian. It's not that the 05s won't go for decades, it's that they will have a wide drinking window like the 82s and 85s. Still, on release I'm not sure I would have guessed that, as what I tried in 2008/9 seemed brutally tannic for the most part.

Indeed, Ian, 1989 Lynch Bages first came into my consciousness in the mid to late 1990s.
I remember being in a wine shop in Falmouth, Maine, probably around 1998 or so.
I had three bottles of '89 Lynch in my hand. It was starting to get pricey, I remember it at $75 by that point.
"Hey Jim," I hear from behind. It was our senator, Olympia Snowe, in the store shopping for wine for a holiday dinner.
I remember telling her tha was my favorite wine.

My experience with 1989 Lynch Bages has been different. I found it shut down until 2002 or so. You could tell it was a great wine, with lurking power, but it was not nearly as giving as it became with more bottle age. These were bottles purchased as futures ($30/bottle, $70/mag) and stored at 55-57 degrees from release. Then again, young Bordeaux tends not to be my forté. And I never ran into any celebrities or Senators while shopping for it (what are Sen Snowe's preferences in vino?). But the wine is in the zone now and I think it will continue to drink well for decades. An almost ageless wine.

The 89 Lynch Jim opened in his hotel room late one night at DC '16 was yooooung. Beautiful but a baby still. It could have used a 10 hour decant.

Indeed. You could tell it had a cool cellar provenance. That wine will last a hundred years.

Ian, just saw that you gave the 05 Beychevelle 95 pts on CellarTracker, wow!

89-101 with 95% confidence, normal distribution.

2005 Sociando Mallet (750 ml) is selling for $120 right now at Zachy's. They are mad. They are madmen.

Selling, or that is what Z's is asking, Jim?

zachy's is selling it for $119.99. for a 750. That's nuts.

JimHow wrote:zachy's is selling it for $119.99. for a 750. That's nuts.

I never liked Zachy's. They inflate the price and put it on sale. Once in a while they have free shipping and that is more reasonable...

i hear you, CV. their 2015 futures seem to be a dollar or two less than most other places. otherwise, they are usually a dollar or two more expensive. they do provide good service though.

I got some 2005 Sociando last year at WineBid for $40 including the premium.

I checked my Beychevelle purchase as well and I got my seven bottles of 2005 Beychevelle this past February for $75 all-in.

I succumbed to temptation today and bought a six pack of Beychevelle 2015. Worked out at £44.50 or $75 a bottle.

In 2013 I bought a case of Sociando 2005 for £310 in bond, which works out at less than $50'a bottle. When I tasted it a year ago it was much better than I expected, but Zachy's price is OTT. What a price you got Patrick. In 2015 apparently it was a rare dud given its northerly location, which got hit by late rains.

Guess what I am drinking tonight. I think this is what is called the Jim How Syndrome - aka fetish for young wines and compulsively drinking through cases of them.

Baby doll, that looking's very enticing, Comte, very well done indeed!
My lone bottle of Beychevelle in my cellar is this 1996 purchased at the chateau in September 2000.

Comte, Tell us more about that 2005 Beychevelle. But poor you following the BD on the Dark Side. Soon you'll drink it with moules marinières or salmon with lemon remoulade...

Nic

The youngest Beychevelle we have in the cellar is 1989. I kept trying them through the 90's but that was an extended weak patch for them. Sounds like it's time to circle back.

Winebid sometimes has good deals. FWIW, I usually go for the ones professionally stored atleast. I also purchased 05 SM under 45 last year. It's strange that Zachy's is selling a 750 for a price of a magnum. Based on Comte's and Blanquito's remarks, I got a bottle of 96 Beycheville for around 70 bucks at winebid.

JJ Buckley has been sending 2015 futures offers. With PCP rates, they are generally lower than other retailers'...

Nic - the wine is as described in the first post and in other posts. Nicely accessible but not soft or open knit. In the bottle I had last night the tannins were a bit more noticeable.

Tom - I have had the 1989 Beychevelle a few times in the noughties and it was excellent. Not had it recently though. Likewise the 1986, the two strongest vintages for this estate in the 1980s.

Re the 1990s I had the 1995 a few weeks ago. It is exceptionally fine and pleasant St-Julien in a lighter style. Some would say it lacks stuffing on the mid and back.

The 1996 is glorious in my opinion but again it is a much lighter and less substantive wine than the likes of a leoville -Barton, Gruaud, even Lagrange. This is probably the right time to broach your 1996 Jim.