A disappointing showing of 1999s

[Comte Flaneur]

As procurer for a tasting dinner of the 1999 Bordeaux vintage I typed out a tasting sheet for our notes. If I had been diligent I would have researched this vintage, and included some notes about the growing season. I vaguely remembered that the harvest was quite wet. On checking Parker’s Bordeaux 4th edition in fact there was a deluge. There were storms and hailstorms and more than six inches of rain in September alone. The heavens opened the week before the harvest commenced on 12 September. There was only one dry day after 20 September before the harvest was completed on 5th October. The Reverse Osmosis machines were working overtime “just about every wealthy estate has such a machine, save for a handful of traditionalists (Haut-Brion, Petrus and Chateau Margaux)...though there is no doubt these machines work, only 10-20 years of bottle age will reveal whether or not they alter or mute important terroir nuances at the expense of concentration.”

Well 18 and a half years later we had a decidedly mixed showing of a broad selection of 1999s last night. Many of the wines bore the hallmarks of a difficult vintage. I also attended the RSJ dinner in 2015 and remember the wines as being rather charming and in a good place.


White

Domaine De Chevalier - two halves, both advanced, one more wobbly than the other, bruised apple, started falling apart, drink up **

Pavillon Blanc - 100% Sauvignon Blanc, clumsy, like a hippo on ice (14.5%) **1/2

Right bank

Roc De Cambes - simple and one dimensional * 1/2

La Croix St-Georges - attractive Pomerol plumminess on the front, less good on the back end **1/2

Pomerol

Clinet - flawed NR

La Conseillante - the most complete of the right banks but it is reticent with a distinct lack of charm and generosity; and as noted may become meaner with age. By this estate’s impeccable standards forgettable ***

Pessac

Domaine De Chevalier - pleasant but a little bit of hollowness and brittleness evident **1/2

La Tour Haut-Brion - walnuts, greenness, angular, awkward and dilute **

Margaux

Palmer - a good showing for a wine which I usually find understated and sometimes backward. An elegant and classy Palmer, it is just about there now. ****(1/2)

Margaux - a more subdued showing than last time I had this, but towards the end of the evening it was opening up beautifully and pulling away **** (*)

St-Julien

Leoville-Barton - not a good showing. At Lilian Barton’s tasting in Nov 2014 it was the surprise package. This bottle was not right. NR

Leoville-Poyferre - a good showing and the best wine outside the Margaux flight. Maybe they used two RO machines? ***1/2

Pauillac

Grand Puy Lacoste - quite nice but a bit spikey and brittle **1/2

Pichon Longueville-Baron - my second favourite of the also rans after Poyferre. As good as it it will get. ***

Saunternes

Giraud - I don’t remember this being corked and thought it was pleasant enough ***

The voting at the end of the evening gave Margaux 21, Palmer 14 and Poyferre 12. Everything else was in low single digits or zero.

I hoped to come away from this saying how charmed I had been by these wines and how lovely they were. I remember exactly the same thing after tasting some 1994s in 2011, when we worried that the tannins would outlast the fading fruit. The shortcomings of a difficult vintage were on display again last night. I would say 1999 is similar, qualitatively to 1994, and well below 2001 and 2004. However there are some superb wines.

The Palmer and Margaux were head and shoulders above everything else in my opinion. Brilliant efforts in a difficult vintage. Good bottles of Ch Margaux 1999 are spectacular (if you look on cellartracker you will see my last note under Comte Flaneur). Cheval Blanc was excellent last time I tried it a couple of years ago. Parker noted that the most successful estates in 1999 declassified up to 75% of their crop.

[stefan]

1999 Margaux and Palmer are outstanding, but I generally have had good experiences with 1999 right bank wines. We drank a 1999 Pavie Decesse a couple of weeks ago and it was in a good place even if pricey at $90. I have drunk through most of a case of 1999 Leoville-Barton without encountering a bad bottle. Maybe I have been lucky.

[AlexR]

Hi Ian,

It's odd - I read other participants' comments on UK Wine Pages and did not have the impression that the overall quality was disappointing...

Compare that to the Clos de Vougeot tasting, where only a minority of the wines probably attained grand cru status.

Alex

[Comte Flaneur]

Alex

The majority at this tasting were underwhelmed by these wines

Ian

[robertgoulet]

'99 d'armailhac tasted this 5x ...3 were v. good ....
2 were incredible.

[JimHow]

Yes, d'Armhaillac was excellnt in 1999.