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Neil's 2000 & 2001 Bordeauxs
Piccolino, London
Tasted October 31, 2023 by oenanthe with 130 views
Introduction
An evening to compare the 2000 and 2001 vintages in Bordeaux at just over 20 years of age. Can the group be swayed by the leaner style of the 2001s, or will the plusher 2000s win out?
Flight 1 - White (1 note)
White
2001 Kalin Cellars Sémillon
90 points
Blind. Deepish yellow, immediate sign that we were dealing with an older wine. Pleasingly rich on the nose, with bales of straw, wet wool, pineapple, peppermint sweets, and perhaps the first hints of oxidisation. Very spicy, with a bitter and nutty edge, with the fruit elements less discernible although I do pick up something along the lines of lime pickle. It's pretty serious stuff, and whilst the group broadly get to Semillion we need various hints to get to the location. Time to drink up, but who knew? Not me that's for sure! A really interesting start to the evening, and a clever (devious!) blind entry.
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Comment
Flight 2 - Mixed 2001s (3 notes)
Red
2001 Château Figeac
93 points
Glorious nose, simply breathtaking. Could sit with this all night, and perhaps actually this is what this wine needed as it felt incredibly youthful with only hints of what is to come. You feel as if it could go on forever. Full on dark fruit, rich and ripe cassis, and at some point I write down burnt toast crust as one the aromas but this is all about the highest quality fruit. I think it's too young, drinkable for sure - eminently so, smooth and long - but I just want to wait. I should have set some aside in a spare glass all night to see what happened, but you know how it is... Lovely, but patience needed in my view.
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Comment
Red
2001 Château Le Dome
90 points
Deep red. Immediate green pepper freshness. This is the sweetest of the three, and the most advanced, and along with this there is some rusticity (perhaps from the high proportion of Cab Franc) that is quite delightful - an easy drinker par excellence although it can't match its flight mates this evening. Very atypical, I don't think I would have even got to Bordeaux if this had been served blind. Very nice and in a good spot.
Red
2001 Château Palmer
94 points
Immediately herbal on the nose, some curry and tobacco leaf, a bit of mint, it is a totally different profile to the other wines and whilst it might not have the wow factor of the Figeac it is extremely compelling. Very elegant, light and quite lean but not in a stretched way - this is in perfect balance, the finesse of Margaux really does show up. I really liked this, I tend to enjoy wines on the bluer or cooler spectrum, and so this was an early candidate for my WOTN.
Flight 3 - Domaine de Chevalier (2 notes)
Red
2000 Domaine de Chevalier
94 points
Served single blind alongside the 2001, and correctly called. Dark red, with a sweet and succulent nose that includes bell pepper, cocoa, soaring cassis. The fruit stands out as juicy as well as a bit chewy, very moreish, largely cassis but I get some extra sweetness from some red fruit elements that raises the level here. This is beautiful wine that is singing this evening and in a perfect spot, simply lovely. Another WOTN candidate? Yes - I think this just pips it.
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Comment
Red
2001 Domaine de Chevalier
91 points
Single blind with the 2000. Dark red. Muted on the nose versus the 2000, which I think would be expected but some more sensitive nasal passages than mine declared low-level taint. I wasn't sure, it seemed to be drinking fine, with all the hallmarks of aged claret, albeit behind the other wine (and it is true that the gap widens with time, even if both were opened mid-afternoon). I liked this, a different profile to the 2000 that also delivers pleasure especially with food, but the 2000 was several streets ahead.
Flight 4 - 2000 St Julien (2 notes)
Red
2000 Château Gruaud Larose
91 points
A bit lighter in colour, perhaps the first wine that shows some age in the glass, there is certainly some minor bricking that has not been present in an overall very youthful showing so far this evening. It is also a bit cloudy. It has a saline character, and some funk, but this is a pretty positive experience of mature old school bordeaux - cassis, dust, cigars and cedar come through quite strongly. Nice.
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Comment
Red
2000 Château Lagrange (St. Julien)
93 points
Powerful wine, very structured, and another classical bordeaux with cassis and old school desks and pencil shavings. Quite dense, unfussy, a little ponderous maybe, but it rises above it all to be become a quite lovely glass that I reckon punches well above its weight. It made me think about whether I had enough Lagrange in my cellar, which is a positive endorsement!
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Comment
Flight 5 - Pichon & Cos (2 notes)
Red
2000 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
93 points
The only nose that approached and came close to the Figeac, stunning. Real purity here, with crazy levels of high quality cassis emeging to beguile and please. Shockingly alive, engaging, spicy, sharp and point edges still but still manages an overall feeling of harmony. Feels very young, good to go, but with loads in the tank and if you are lucky enough to have some I would wait for a few more years.
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Comment
Red
2001 Château Cos d'Estournel
93 points
Slightly evolved colour here. The nose took a little while to come round, but ended up quite classical. There is a bit of brett, a bit of meat, but the fruit is long and pure, a very enjoyable glass. This is a cool and elegant wine in a good spot but likely with more to give. I really like wines made in this style, so a great shame that it was my last bottle! When will I learn....
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Comments (5)
Flight 6 - Pontet-Canet (2 notes)
Red
2000 Château Pontet-Canet
93 points
A great and bright nose. Smokey, vibrant, whole and round - served blind most picked this as the 2000 vs the 2001. There is a plushness here, a comfy roundness, and little sign of age - the dusty old claret tones are not yet present, or if they are the blackcurrant fruit is so clear and from the rooftop that I can't detect them. This is another wine that feels like it will keep forever.
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Comment
Red
2001 Château Pontet-Canet
93 points
More evolved than the 2000, and clearly less explosive on the nose - a straightforward single blind pick. This also seemed ridiculously young in the grand scheme of things, another wine that I would likely have failed to even place in the right decade, astonishing. The cassis is there front and centre, but it's a fresher wine without quite the same roundness as the 2000, and of the two this is the one I would open now. Equally you could keep this for a long while still. Delicious.
Flight 7 - Sweet spot (1 note)
White - Sweet/Dessert
2001 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey
93 points
We were all rather running out the door when this was served, but nonetheless this was greatly appreciated. A dark amber hue, full of toffee apple and manuka, very sweet but with a strict core that keeps it pretty fresh. A lovely finish. From a half bottle.
Closing
This was an incredible tasting, uniformly high quality with wines nigh on impossible to separate in any meaningful way. Although my personal and the group's WOTN pick came from the 2000 vintage, I think on balance I preferred 2001 at this stage. It's difficult to say why but I probably just prefer my wines to be a little cooler, a little leaner. Thanks very much to all my fellow attendees for a great evening and for bringing terrific wines, and to Neil for some fine organisation. The food at Piccolino was solid, the service excellent, and the setting in a room set slightly behind the main dining floor very good indeed.
#1 Domaine de Chevalier 2000 (also group WOTN)
#2 Palmer 2001
#3 Cos d'Estournel 2001