3 Very Different Bordeauxs

[Hm$(still)]

I don’t really do detailed tasting notes, but,

2015 Château d’Aiguilhe — Very happy I bought a case of this a few years ago for <$30. In great place right now.
2003 Château Branaire-Ducru — Very happy this is the last bottle I have of this. Less enjoyable than in years past, especially on the finish (was was short).
1979 Château Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande — I’m biased toward this wine in any year (except 2000) but this was lovely. Round, supple, balanced, and not at all past its peak. Everyone at the table loved it.

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

Hm$

[JimHow]

Nice. Happy Thanksgiving Howard.

[stefan]

Yeah, most 2003s I have drunk in the last couple of years should have been consumed years ago.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Lisa! Make sure you drink some nice Pinot Noir today with your turkey.

[Chrysostomus]

Most of the 2003's I've drunk recently performed very well! I think it depends on the Chateau or the region. 80% of my experiences have been good/great, 20% bad.
Branaire Ducru didn't show well 2 years ago - I agree! But it was one of the rare exceptions...
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

[Hm$(still)]

The only way I’m putting Pinot down my gullet is if some one sneaks it into the sangria or the gravy.

Hm$

[JimHow]

Same to you Markus.
I agree, I have had generally good experiences with 2003, from the earlier days to present time.

[Claudius2]

Guys
I have yet to try a 2003 that I’d consider to be a good example of the Chateau. I won’t go over the old ground here. I did a few big tastings of them in release in Australia and many tasted like hot climate Aussie wines.

I have one last Pontet Canet 03 which I was going to bring to The 2020 event largely to see if my palate was totally different from that of others.

The best wines I tried from 03 were Lafite and Montrose but I’d take most other vintages of both.

The alcohol was often too high and kept picking up dry, raspy tannins and over-ripe fruit. Interstingly the 03 vintage was similar in South Australia - Brian Croser described these wines as having Dead fruit character.

I’ve been to two big tastings over the last few weeks and I am never going to like 2018 either. It was particularly over ripe fruit which I have never been fond of.

As for the Pontet Canet, it just got worse with age. After it was more than ten yrs old, it (for my case) simply got worse and the last one was dry and burnt - and all were in air conditioned storage. Oh well.
Cheers
Nark