Four highlights of the past two weeks

[Rudi Finkler]

Forest floor in the nose, dark berries in abundance, and lots of herbs and exotic spices. Smoky blackcurrant, plum, blueberry, anis, and iodine on the palate. Absolutely silky texture, excellent balance, and a long, elegant finish. Predominantly Merlot, but only 13% alcohol. This is exactly the kind of dangerous stuff that makes you want more and more, and this is not an extraordinary Pomerol, or a stupendous classified growth from Saint-Emilion... This is 2001 La Dauphine, Fronsac.


Subtle, ripe, delicious dark berries on the nose, with earthy spices and an elegant touch of dried herbs. Complex dark berries on the palate too, blueberry clearly dominates, but also cassis, Morello cherry, leather, licorice, and a hint of iodine. Exquisite in its elegance and opulence, this reminds me of the wonderful 1990 Rauzan-Gassies, but it has more tannin, acidity, and minerality to balance the fruit, and to give the wine more structure and longevity. A classy, meaty structure, BTW. This classically styled 2001 Rauzan-Gassies shows more 'cool understatement', which is so typical for the 2001 vintage, than the fabulous 2001 La Dauphine, and it therefore requires a bit more attention and devotion than the latter. 13% alcohol. A 'connoisseur's choice' so to say.


A wonderful wine. Perfectly ripe, and very typical Pessac-Léognan. Like an walk through the late summer forest. Full-bodied nose of forest floor, with wild flowers, cedar, mushrooms, blackberries, blueberries, elderberries, sloes, and even juniper. Sweet licorice in abundance, exotic spices, tobacco, and dried herbs dominate on the palate. But there is also bitter chocolate and an irresistible hint of anise. A silky, creamy texture coats the palate through the lingering finish. 13% alcohol. This elegant, gentle 2001 Larrivet-Haut-Brion is more forward than the La Dauphine and especially the Rauzan-Gassies, but there is no need to hurry.


Gorgeous, complex bouquet of spices and herbs, with aromas of red and black fruits, iodine and camphor. Excellent precision and mid-palate intensity. Polished, silky tannins, and vibrant, refreshing acidity. Nicely layered cherry fruit, raspberry, black currant, blackberry, and elegant, restrained notes of tobacco and smoky oak carry into an intense, lingering, minerally finish. Not the slightest trace of modern madness. Amazing balance instead, at 12,5% alcohol. This is 2001 Fleur Rose Sainte-Croix. Superb!
We were six of us Tuesday night, a good opportunity to open the three other delicious 2001 clarets already described above as well: La Dauphine, Larrivet Haut-Brion, and Rauzan-Gassies. Because all four clarets were simply excellent, the decision was not easy, but finally Fleur Rose Sainte-Croix was the wine of the night for all of us. Only around 650 cases are produced. Mature Listrac at its finest!

[AKR]

Wow. I have a lone bottle of that Listrac, vintage 2005. I've not had that AOC in many, many years. If they have avoided the gritty tannin problems, that would make the commune more interesting.

2001 was a year I stuck more to the sweet Bordeaux, but it sounds like the dry reds ended up ok.

[Chateau Vin]

IIRC, Jim and Comte are big fans of 2001 vintage...

[AKR]

Gorgeous, complex bouquet of spices and herbs, with aromas of red and black fruits, iodine and camphor. Excellent precision and mid-palate intensity. Polished, silky tannins, and vibrant, refreshing acidity. Nicely layered cherry fruit, raspberry, black currant, blackberry, and elegant, restrained notes of tobacco and smoky oak carry into an intense, lingering, minerally finish. Not the slightest trace of modern madness. Amazing balance instead, at 12,5% alcohol. This is 2001 Fleur Rose Sainte-Croix. Superb!
We were six of us Tuesday night, a good opportunity to open the three other delicious 2001 clarets already described above as well: La Dauphine, Larrivet Haut-Brion, and Rauzan-Gassies. Because all four clarets were simply excellent, the decision was not easy, but finally Fleur Rose Sainte-Croix was the wine of the night for all of us. Only around 650 cases are produced. Mature Listrac at its finest!

So I had a couple of glasses of the 2005 Fleur Rose Sainte-Croix [Listrac] tonight with a strip steak and broccolocini. I figured something with tannin would work well -- this is really good! Yes, there is plenty of tannin (still) but its fine grained, and in a ripe vintage, and with some steak it marries up well. I could see this being quite the surprise in a blind tasting...lots of flavor, depth, and a sappy backdrop of red fruit. I doubt I will trip over this wine much, but it seems to age and improve well, so I'll be alert to the estate in future big, ripe years. And for those who like young wines with some grip and fruit, try it by itself.

Very nice.

[robert goulet]

love '01 and '04

[robert goulet]

2001 bahans haut brion was fuqn incredible...beautiful stuff...better than any big brother vintage I have tasted!!

[AKR]

upon closer review of the bottle - it was actually the 2005 Rose Saint Croix [Listrac] I had.

Not sure what/how it is related to the bottling discussed by Rudi Finkler.

I suspect the Fleur level bottling is the luxe cuvee, as both seem to be owned by Phillipe Porcheron.

On day 2, the wine had lost some of its oomph, btw.