Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Until 2000, I thought a case of 1984 Cos d'Estournel was the worst purchase I had ever made. Far from it! Ironically, two 1er Grand Cru Classé wines from Saint-Emilion, 1994 Clos Fourtet, and 1994 La Gaffelière, were even more worse and still hold the record of the most unpalatable wines I ever had.
The cases still lie around in the furthermost corner of my cellar, and every few years since 2000, I have opened another bottle in the vain hope of a miracle - two or three bottles were used by a friend for cooking, all other bottles went down the drain. Last night, I did it again...

In 1994, too many wines show an excess of acidity, but very low levels of ripe fruit. The result is vinegar at best, but not wine. Fortunately, there are some exceptions, but not all too many, which show enough fruit to balance the declining acidity over time -often a va banque play. Nevertheless, I have good experiences with Las Cases, GPL, Léoville Barton, and Pape Clément. But that was it so far.

To make it more interesting, my wine buddy Alfons brought a bottle of 1994 Talbot and a bottle of 1994 Lagrange, and my hope was that at least one bottle was drinkable...

But the worst case happened, and as you can see on the filling levels of the bottles, the Talbot was the most 'liked' wine of this quartet of horror... before all bottles went down the drain. Once again, Clos Fourtet desperately competed with La Gaffelière for the title of the most disgusting wine ever, but in vain. The Lagrange showed the best colour, but was so much bretty that is was a shame.
Remains the Talbot. It was the only one that got a second chance, in the name of science. It showed a little bit ripe fruit on the palate, as well as a hint of leather and spices, but far too much forceful acidity to evoke any kind of delight...

Alfons meant the wines were ideal as poison for cockchafer grubs in the garden, but I do not want to do that to the poor animals...

Thanks Rudy for your sacrifice!

Very tough to read. I don't have any 1994 left, but enjoyed the Branaire early on. I'm amazed to read that even the Bordeaux of these level, did not hold that much long, as 1994 has never been considered great but an ok or just below ok vintage.

Seem to me that at the end, 1993 was really better.

Nic

I thought the 1994 Lagrange was pretty good. But a 1994 Grand Mayne (or maybe it was Grand Pontet) was pretty bad; thin and acidic with bitter tannin.

Ouch. Nice pictures but sorry the wines didn't shine.

In general many of the wines to my taste were hard, tannic, and underfruited - and that was in their youth. I didn't think they aged well and drank them up mostly young, with just a couple held past age 10. They were fine with ribeye steaks.

L'Evangile was quite good, as were a few other Pomerols and super seconds.

The one thing the 94's did have in their favor was their modest pricing, and in that era, when I was exploring various regions, it made it easier to buy multiple bottles (or cases).

I think you are right, Nic. Most wines from 1993 showed significantly more fruit than most wines produced in 1994. At least between 1997 and 2003, the 1993s provided a lot of fun, but, unfortunately, most of them were not very well structured and therefore not suited for a long storage...

Rudi,

I loved the retrospective review on duds. We are all too happy to discuss the wines that shine but the opposite much less so. Often times it's a review such as yours that's more valuable and lasting when an opportunity comes to see a wine at an auction or on a wine list that you're not sure about. The 94 vintage has not weathered well but as you mentioned the Leoville Barton was an exception. I have not had many others from 94 so thanks for sharing your disappointments.

I agree that 1994 is a bit of an ugly sister on the right bank, but it think it is better on the left bank. Chateau Margaux is fantastic and Latour and LLC are strong. Leoville Barton is in a sweet spot, which I suspect won't last more than 5-10 years. Even Ducru, which I drank at the weekend, is better now, with some attractive gravel notes on the entry and a smooth-textured palate.

I liked 2004 Angelus, Clinet and L'Evangile in 1994, though not up to par with their top years. Agree with Ian regarding Margaux and Latour. As with all vintage generalizations, there are exceptions. But I had more thin underwined duds than winners from 1994.

I thought the right banks were better than the left banks in 1994 personally/generally.

There were some Medocs that were solid (seconds and higher it seemed like) but in the main, I thought they were more wines to consumed than enjoyed.

In Pomerol, at least many of the wines were enjoyable. It did seem like it did better than St Emilion though. Not sure why.

Troplong Mondot was unusually disappointing to me in 1994 across many bottles. Eventually just got rid of them.

1994 was a superb year for Northern California though. Still have a few left !

I seem to be in the minority on 94. Yeah there are some dry tannins that have mellowed with age and I find the RB wines to be generally superior. I still have some LLC, LB, Montrose and Rausan Segla.

BTW, a very interesting secondary aspect of this tasting was the influence of the awful acidity and the obnoxious tannin on the taste buds in the mouth. At least half an hour, the taste buds were so irritated and annoyed that the first sips of the following wine, a well-balanced, ripe, and elegant 1999 Haut-Marbuzet, tasted ghastly. A half bottle of water, a glass of sparkling wine, and a full plate of garlic and thyme flavoured roasted chicken breast, with cherry tomatoes and salad, were necessary to calm the palate...

I particularly disliked the 1994 wines from St Emilion - perhaps it was the disagreeable flavor of unripe Cab Franc. Better luck with Latour, LLC, Haut Brion and a couple others from the left bank.

Chris Bublitz

94 Leoville Barton was a pleasurable old school Claret with smooth tannins last night.