Wine Spectator Bordeaux First-Growth Tasting

Wine Spectator's New York Wine Experience, 10/22/2005.

Second seminar on Saturday morning.

This tasting appealed greatly to me. I've had only a couple tastes of any first growths from any year, so being able to taste all 5 2000's and 5 other good years (even if still young) held a lot of appeal for me. I was looking forward to this for some time.

I'm told the wines were all double-decanted prior to serving. I don't know how much air they really got given that they were poured at 11am - I doubt they opened them last night and they were probably quickly out of the bottle and back into it.

I'm really a novice with these wines, and have relatively limited experience with high-end bordeaux, most of which has been focused on older wines which I've loved. So this was educational, and will be even moreso when I can try some of these later in their lives.

• 2000 Château Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Deep red, medium body. Nose of red fruit & cedar, some alcohol. Nice structure with noticeable but approachable tannins. Bright red fruit, cedar, some light white pepper and spice.

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• 2000 Château Margaux

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Deep bright red, medium body. Nose of earth and barnyard. Beautiful wine, with nice structure. Thick, red fruit, a touch sweet. Very powerful, yet very elegant at the same time. My WOTF.

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• 2000 Château Mouton Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Red, a little thinner than the others in this flight. Nose of burnt toast? Cherries, sweet red raspberries, and cocoa on the palate. A little tart. A little disappointed. Closed period? Off bottle?

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• 2000 Château Lafite Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Very bright red, medium body. Nose of gentle round red berries. Nice, well-balanced wine, with notes of cocoa, cedar and tobacco.

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• 2000 Château Latour Grand Vin

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Dark red, medium/full body. Very subtle nose, not showing much. Bright, wonderful red fruit. Silky and big.

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• 1996 Château Latour Grand Vin

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Deep dark red color. Nose of barnyard, earth, wet woods, and tobacco. Fruit, barnyard and earth tones on the palate, along with hay and soil. Didn't do it for me.

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• 1995 Château Margaux

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Dark red, transparent wine. Nose of cedar and cherries. Thinner wine than the rest in the flight. Nice mouthfeel and flavor structure. Very delicate. Cherries, cedar on the palatel. Nicely balanced. Not what I expected but very nice.

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• 1990 Château Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Medium red with rust tones, some sediment. Nose of dark soil, red fruit, light barnyard notes. Beautifcul structure. Sweet tobacco, red cherries, cedar and woods on the palate. Very nice indeed.

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• 1989 Château Mouton Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Rusty red, transparent. Wet soil, barnyard on the nose. Red cherries, tobacco, wet earth flavors. Beautiul texture, with silky, subtle tannins. Very nice.

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• 1988 Château Lafite Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Reddish orange, medium bodied. Nose of cedar and gravel. Beautiful red cherries and fruit, with cedar. Very subtle tannins, silky cherries, and a tiny bit of tannins still resonating.

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Overall, I have to think that these wines will all be much better with sufficient time. They were all so heavily structure with significant tannins and strong earthy notes. My strong suspicion is that these will be much better after enough time to integrate more and show more secondary and tertiary characteristics.

Still, this was a great tasting and gave me a much better sense of the difference between the different first growths.

A great education in many respects.

Margaux certainly appears to be my favorite of the bunch - both the 2000 and among the older wines.