66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind

[Collector1855]

The Tasting

The term "once in a life time" is certainly overused today but this tasting is in this category, for any wine-buff. It was staged over two days (June 19./20. 2016) by Switzerland's most prolific Bordeaux collector in his private Carnozet. The host has been organizing 6-7 amazing tastings annually for nearly two decades. I have been invited to his group since 2006 and remember many fantastic verticals, horizontals and match plays. The wines are always served blind. So next to the hedonistic pleasure there is also a learning component in these evenings. In addition to 15 participants, the host always invites the French wine critic and Bordeaux specialist Jean-Marc Quarin to guide through the sessions. You can find the ratings of the wines on his website (http://www.quarin.com).

This particular 66x Parker 100 pointer tasting was probably the most difficult to stage as it requires a very complete Bordeaux collection. The host has acquired almost all of these wines en Primeur except the few older bottles. These were purchased some time ago before the faking frenzy started to taint the fine wine experience. As a matter of fact, the reason why some of the older 100-Point icons (47 Cheval Blanc, 45 Mouton, 61 Latour, etc.) were missing, is precisely because it is nearly impossible to buy well stored, authentic bottles of these wines today. And we certainly did not want to spend the evening drinking Rudy Kurniawan's and Hardy Rodenstock's wines that have been recycled by Ed Koch…

How to rate wines if all of them are supposed to be perfect?
How to approach a tasting where every wine is supposed to score 100? How to avoid the brain's inherent urge to compare and rank everything? If two wines are fantastic but one is even better, do you give 2x 100 or 1x 100 and 1x 99? With the danger of being a nit-pickier and scoring too low, I went for the later approach and wrote down what I felt as each wine sat in the glass that night. I therefore recommend to the readers of this tasting story to interpret the scores as follows:

97-100: A 100 point experience. The right call by Robert Parker. The only reason why 100 points was not given by me to all of these wines is because an even better one sat next to it. 30/66 bottles (45%)
95-96: A close to 100 point experience. An understandable call by Robert Parker. Fantastic Claret that has the potential to be a 100 pointer, just not that night, because of either its stage in the aging process or of how the particular bottle showed. 16/66 bottles (24%)
90-94: Good Bordeaux but not a 100 points. A rather optimistic call by Robert Parker. The wines either structurally or aromatically do not warrant a perfect score, not now and most likely not in the future. 12/66 bottles (18%)
85-89: Not so good wines. Wines that have a quality problem beyond bottle variation or current age. A questionable call by Robert Parker. Interestingly, almost all of these wines in this category were from the right bank, suffer from over-extraction (so called "parkerized" wines). Even more scaring, almost all of them were from Gerard Perse (tasted blind, no bias) and were universally disliked by the audience of 16 seasoned Bordeaux tasters. 7/66 bottles (11%)
NR: Not rated because of a technical fault of the bottle (eg., cork): 1/66 bottles (2%). Lucky, only one corked wine.
Note: Next to my scores you will see the group score (based on the European 20 point scale) as well as the rank among the 64 red wines

How did the wines show – overarching themes

1. Left bank wins over right bank – by a margin! Looking at the group score of the 16 experienced Bordeaux tasters makes this evident. There were 64x 100-Pointer red wines, 31 from the left bank, 33 from the right bank. In the best half, that means the top 32 wines, there were only 6 (!!) wines from right bank vs. 24 from the left bank. In the bottom 25%, the 16 least preferred wines, there was only 1 wine from the left bank (The 1986 Lafite), the rest were all right bankers. No need to say more.
2. Younger vintages (2005, 2009, 2010) win over older vintages (80ies, 90ies, and even 2000). Especially the 1986 wines were meager and charmless (confirming my numerous previous experiences).
3. The 2009 left bank was downright fantastic and very drinkable. 2010 left bank have closed down, difficult to assess - don’t touch them! The 2010 right bank were better than the 2009 due to the extra structure and freshness.
4. The 2005 St.Emilions are clearly too extracted and show dry tannins at the finish (confirming my impression during the en Primeur tastings). Note to St.Emilion Producers: Robert Parker is now retired and, no, it’s not the thicker the better.
5. The wines of Gerard Perse (Pavie, Bellevue Mondotte) did not show well at all, except may be the 2000 Pavie. They were oxidative, over-extracted and with drying tannins. This goes beyond personal taste as was unequivocally confirmed by the 16 tasters in the room. The 5 worst scoring wines in the tasting were all from the Perse stable. To me this is a clear vindication of Jancis Robinson who called "the emperor has no clothes" first on this producer.

The Top 10
Rk. Vtg. Wine Grp.Score
1. 2003 Chateau Latour, 19.30
2. 2010 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 19.15
3. 2005 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion, 19.14
4. 2009 Chateau Latour, 18.97
5. 2009 Chateau Haut Brion, 18.95
6. 1990 Chateau Margaux, 18.89
7. 2003 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 18.88
8. 2010 Chateau Latour, 18.83
9. 2000 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion, 18.70
10. 2010 Chateau Le Dome, 18.68
...

The Bottom 10
Rk. Vtg. Wine Grp.Score
...
54. 2009 Chateau Bellevue Mondotte, 16.40
55. 2010 Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarosse, 16.38
56. 2005 Chateau Lafleur, 16.37
57. 2010 La Violette, 16.25
58. 2005 Chateau Peby Faugeres, 16.23
59. 2005 Chateau Eglise Clinet, 16.23
60. 2010 Chateau Pavie, 16.20
61. 2005 Chateau Pavie, 15.80
62. 2009 Chateau Pavie, 15.50
63. 2005 Chateau Bellevue Mondotte, 15.20

If you are interested in all 66 detailed tasting notes, see Cellartracker:
https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp ... ource=list

What's your experience with the right bankers? Did you encounter similar issues?

[DavidG]

Thanks for the report. I've had a few of these and for the most part agree with your TNs, though I found the 1986 Lafite and Mouton much more enjoyable than you did. Not meager or charmless at all, whether I've had them blind or not. Could be I've got a broader range of tolerance for tannin. To my palate the balance was there. Or perhaps the timing, food and setting gave me a greater opportunity to enjoy them.

How much time were you able to spend with each wine? I find that my impressions often change over time, and no longer trust the first impressions I'm limited to when tasting small samples over a short period. Especially if there are more than 8-10 wines to taste. I get palate fatigue. I'm also a bit wary of group score averages as different palate preferences can hide differences between wines. Some idea of consensus vs. diversity of opinion is helpful in understanding the results. Certainly your individual TNs and scores are tremendously useful, as I can compare to my own impressions.

[Nicklasss]

Thanks again, for that detailed report.

My perception is that your palate prefer younger wines than older, when I read that report and the one on Lafite. So i guess i can base some future buyings on your palate, for 2005 and younger vintages still available today.

Nic

[AKR]

I've had a scant few wines off that list, but not in the context of some gigantic beauty contest.

It must be hard to evaluate them like that.

But I also (personally) would almost rather just enjoy rather than review rarities like that.

Thanks for sharing.

[stefan]

We drank '82 Mouton and '89 Lynch Bages last night. Both were great, but everyone other than (of course) Jim preferred the Mouton.

[robertgoulet]

2003 lafite is awesum stuff no question...bobby and I tasted this at our annual 'Tour de France'wine dinner...u can pop it now but will be better in 10yrs.

[Collector1855]

Any recent experiences with over extracted right bank wines?