Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Well not actually against and just some gross impressions here.

1. Had the LL last night. For a much maligned vintage this was reallt good. At first it seemed a bit simple but showed good acidity anyway. After an hour or two though all I could think was man I wished I'd had this will a roast beef and the first signs of fall air (it's snowed three times in the Colorado High Country in August). Dark, rich, brooding, sweet but with good cut from the aforementioned acidity.

2. Had the SM last week. Excellent bouquet, really high, tight and piercing. As for the palate, nice entry and grip and with good weight and palate coverage but the finish seemed a little acidic. I was of two minds: this wine is not quite ready to give its last full measure of devotion; or this wine is slipping off the slope now and should be drunk before it dries out and becomes overly tart.

Probably both wines should be drunk up is my guess. They are at different ends of the style spectrum but are giving pleasure now.

Jackson: Do you smell that gunpowder, the flint?
Lee: yes, so much like that Haute Brione that Jefferson is always wagging on about

Interesting. I have one bottle left of the 2002 Sociando Maillet in the cellar that I'm afraid to touch because I enjoyed the first 11 so much.

Ah, the age-old question, when does a bottle just need more time or when is it starting on the backside of the curve?

I did not had Lilian Ladouys often, but always liked it. I read somewhere that the wine is made from grape from many small parcels dispersed in Saint-Estèphe. It is an excellent Cru Bourgeois.

Nic

Lilian Ladouys has been doing well since 2000 at least when I first discovered it. I plowed through two cases of the 2003 and they are long gone but very very enjoyable. The 2005 is drinking well but lots of life ahead. I have a case of the 2009/10 but haven't sampled yet. I'm trying to hold off because I felt I drained 24 bottles of the 03 prematurely. Even though it gave great enjoyment we felt that it was never close to peak. At $21cdn per bottle on sale this became a house wine until cleared out. This shoots well above its price level by far and has not received much if any discussion on this board. Its not only Alex looking for value in Bordeaux and this wine deserves some attention.

I have a few of the 2000 and 2003 left. The 2000 is now coming into form. It was never a precocious wine, it was reserved and backward, ime.

I raved about the 03 L-L a long time ago too, and drank a case, also far too young.

Despite NM's curses, I also enjoyed the 1990, but that was quite a while ago.

It sounds like a decade or so is a long enough window for consumption.

Yes, you and Hound were high on the 03 L-L back in 2006, I recall. It was available quite inexpensively at PJs (<$20) at the time and as I was still based in NYC, I went through 3-4 bottles at the time.

I found a single bottle of '03 LL last night in a liquor store I'd never been in before.
Price was the same as the '10 next to it - $29.99.
I passed after looking quickly at CT on my iphone and reading a few so-so tasting notes.
Maybe I should have gone for it anyway. The only other thing I have from '03 is some Potensac - nothing special but is drinking very nice right now.

I was in the store because their website said they had some 2010 Ch. d'Arvigny which I loved from 375 a couple years ago.
The website was wrong, they had the 2011 which I already have enough of.
Website also showed that they had some 2010 Haut Maurac, which I would have bought, but none on the shelf.