2001 Bordeaux tasting in London

[Comte Flaneur]

All wines from 2001 barring flight one, all red wines double decanted before we sat down.

Flight one:

Chateau Bouscat Blanc 2011

Really liked this. Lemon lanolin entry, citrus and tropical fruits, lemons curd, greengage and guava, nice creamy texture. Excellent wine and I bet it didn’t cost a fortune. Worth seeking out. 92


Flight two:

DDC - slow out of the blocks, initially stern, then starts to blossom and show its class. Not overly expressive, more nuanced at this stage. At the beginning of its drinking window. My fourth favourite of the ten red wines we drank that were not corked. 92

Petite Eglise - a little clipped, drying and spirity. These wines were meant to be drunk young. It did improve a bit in the glass, but drink up/ avoid. My equal least favourite. 82


Flight three:

Cantemerle - corked . Shame because it seemed like a good wine underneath.

La Tour Carnet - Bernard Magrez’s Haut-Medoc showed very well and is in a very good place now, with lovely ripeness of fruit, lending it a modern style, but it is neither anodyne nor anonymous. Nice cedar notes and excellent balance. My sixth equal favourite red. 90


Flight four:

Dufort Vivens. - nice structure and grip. Old school claret. Bookish. Elegant. Feminine. A bit of puckering at the back. Food wine. Sixth equal. 90

Rauzan Segla - Lovely elegance, poise, class, a little more outgoing than its flight mate but still correct claret. Nicely resolved. My fifth favourite. 92

Both these wines are good examples of the Margaux appellation. Fans of modern style wines might feel they lack generosity.


Flight five

Certan De May - elegant, lovely tomato and tobacco leaf and earthy notes. Beautifully resolved Pomerol from a fabulous terroir; leans rustic but at the same time fine. My third favourite. 93

Conseillante - more brooding, black pastille fruits, richness and opulence, oozes class. If you told me this was Petrus I would not doubt you. The only wine needing more time but my wine of the night. 95


Flight six

Gruaud Larose - corked

Leoville-Barton - another bottle of Leoville Barton 2001, another brilliant showing. Gorgeous, resolved, complete, accessible at this age for this estate. Understandably the group’s favourite. My second favourite. 94


Flight seven

Batailley - bland, charmless. I don’t regret selling my halves a few years ago. Sell/avoid. My equal least favourite wine. 82

Sociando Mallet Cuvee Jean Gautreau - quite extracted, soil and earthy notes. A lot of fun, but nothing profound. My eighth favourite wine. 89

Flight eight

Sigalas Rabaud - lovely, expressive, hazelnuts, nougat. 92


So what of the 2001 vintage?

It is a very good and useful one. The wines are accessible, and with one exception well into the early stages of their drinking windows. If you go up to the really expensive wines - the firsts and their equivalents - they are generally not ready yet, but these wines last night were in a good place.

Quality wise it is on a par with 2004 and 2008. It is not quite as good as 1996 or 2000, which has pulled ahead in the last 2-3 years.

[jckba]

Nice notes and boy do you get around! After reading through, I found myself daydreaming about the futures / release prices of most of these offerings and the unfortunate reality we find ourselves in today, where the current releases of these same wines are generally at least 3 times more than they once were. At any rate, thanks for sharing and I hope you have a happy thanksgiving abroad!

[BordeauxNut]

I opened a bottle of the 2001 La Tour Carnet a couple of weeks ago. I remember really liking it in the first few years after release. This bottle, while good, was pretty oaky. The oak kind of stood out for me and seemed rough -- like some or all of it might have been American oak. I suspect that's not the case, but whatever it was about the barrel treatment, it didn't stand the test of time for me. The fruit was still nice and it was otherwise quite good.

[JimHow]

I like La Tour Carnet but I believe it should be consumed upon releasee.

[Nicklasss]

Very interesting Comte and from that snapshot, 2001 a Right Bank vintage.

The comments about the 2001 Certan de May is interesting because it reminds me the bottles of the 2011 I tried. A bit unusual, like you wrote lean rustic but at the same time complex and fine.

La Conseillante seems a winner.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have any 2001 red Bordeaux left...

Nic

[robert goulet]

Nice tasting....My favorite '01 is Bahans Haut Brion