2000 Bordeaux has had some raps brought against it but every bottle we had on this night was nothing shy of superb so I'm not sure of where the complaints are coming from.
2000 Pontet Canet was my star of the night and having this wine many times before this certainly didn't disappoint firing on all cylinders with well integrated but present tannins. Dark purple with little to no signs of aging this wine has a beautiful dark brambly nose with matching smooth palate with long finish. Lead pencil,cassis,spice and great length made this a superb wine with lots of life yet with no signs of tertiary notes as of yet. Not sure where this will develop but delicious right now. 97pts
2000 Leoville Barton was a very close second and starting to show some age with slight bricking on rim but still purply dark. Dark berry fruit and leathery lead pencil ever present with resolving smooth tannins. No harsh edges and smooth long length. Nothing disappointing here. 95pts
2000 Calon Segur beautifully perfumed on the nose and lighter more femine wine than previous two with more prominent bricking with background ruby red in glass. Another beauty with lighter berry fruits,spiced cedar and nice length complimenting the more masculine of the three wines so far. 93 pts
2000 Leoville Las Cases left us divided amongst the lovers of this estate and those that were indifferent. A very well crafted wine with muted nose and typical black cherry/cassis with some cedar notes but more unidimensional to me than the others. Didn't show the same progression in the glass over the evening that the others did but I'm certainly biased and usually underwhelmed by LLC especially in view of its pricetag. 90pts
1998 Leoville Las Cases for me was actually showing better than the 2000 with much more open nose with similar black fruits/current/cedar and lead pencil. Smoother more balanced and great length with everyone surprised at how it showed so much better than the 2000 on this night. 92pts
2000 Caymus Special Selection thrown in as a ringer and no fooling anyone that this was Cali Cab and a long ways behind its Bordeaux brethren. Amazing how this wine on its own typically shows well on its own but so unidimensional compared with everything else tasted on this night especially when cost is worked in. 88pts.
1998 Dominus thrown in for comparison as a typical Bordeaux styled Cali blend also disappointed. Lighter style and a very weak showing. Again on its own this has shown well but side by side this is blown away and a step shy of the Caymus. 86pts
Great night with wonderful company highlighting some wonderful Bordeaux wines that were showing very well with none really disappointing. Select Cali wines were overshadowed by comparison once again confirming our passion for great growth Bordeaux. My/our only fear is that with escalating pricing is that the millennials will not be able to enjoy the future of Bordeaux with their improving winemaking skills because of escalating costs in the years to come. It will be interesting to see the sustainability of classified Bordeaux as these wines should not be deemed such a luxury item that they can be only afforded by the very top tier of society but I'm afraid that this is where it will end up. First growth are one thing but when second through fifth growths are pushing multiple hundreds of dollars a bottle I think this house of cards will come tumbling down with the next pullback in the economy and we're overdue for that unless Donald can pull a rabbit out of his ...!
