2001 Château Rauzan-Gassies

Community Tasting Notes (18) Median Score: 90 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View jkscully's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/20/2024 - jkscully Likes this wine:

  I feel like I managed the wine pretty well. It was plummy and reductive at first, but after about 2.5 hours of double decanting in bottle and then 30 minutes in a decanter, this was drinking very nicely. It’s not super sophisticated, but it has a nice velvety texture that is reminiscent of milk chocolate (it tastes chocolatey too) along with fresh berries, a touch of pencil lead, herbs, and jalapeno on the finish. It has an attractive taste of wet stone minerality. I enjoyed it quite a bit and it was a perfect match with Cassoulet. Well done.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View YagerWine's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/20/2023 - YagerWine Likes this wine: 93 Points

  This is in its window but isn't going anywhere for a while. The most remarkable element of this wine for me was the mouthfeel - it had every bit of the silkiness I'd expect from Chateau Margaux but at a fraction of the price tag. Really elegant wine that punches way above its weight and vintage. Could still get better, especially if you like your wines on the mature side. I drank this over two hours with no decant. Didn't budge with air.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View AllRed's profile
  • Report Issue

  1/14/2023 - AllRed wrote: 93 Points

  First of three, popped and poured with dinner. Rather perfumed and very pretty, with lavender and rose petal, cassis, black currant and cedar notes. Black fruit on the palate, with softened tannins and balancing acidity.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Julian Marshall's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/15/2022 - Julian Marshall Likes this wine: 94 Points

  I already knew about this particular wine and vintage so it came as no surprise, but even so, the last bottle was over five years ago, so I was relieved to see that not much had changed.
  
  The nose is better than before, with raspberry and violet added to the fresh blackcurrant there was previously. In the mouth, it is perhaps more refined than the last bottle, with a delicious blend of blackcurrant, raspberry, dark cherry, and still the creamy middle section followed by a dusty finish of brambly fruit.
  
  One of the best 01s I have tasted and surprisingly, one of the best wines opened recently. To be sure, we tried it with a Sociando-Mallet, one of my benchmark 01s. Great though the S-M was, the RG was just better - more fruit, more elegance.
  
  RG is an oddity, possible many people's choice, along with stablemate Croizet-Bages, as their least favourite CC. I believe that to this day, they still use machines to pick the crop. But occasionally, they get it right. 2000 and 2001 were a little purple patch - they had a good team and in spite of the paucity of their equipment (I saw for myself in 2001 just how little they had), they somehow produced two wines which for me are much better than their more prestigious neighbour's. Both wines succeed in being both plump and elegant.
  
  Having tried 00 and 01 together, I can confirm that for me at least, the 01 is the better wine.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View AdamNC's profile
  • Report Issue

  3/9/2022 - AdamNC wrote: 52 Points

  Very much tertiary and mineral at this point. Maybe a little black fruit. Better with a little air but then done.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comments (1)

View all 18 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.