Black Lion Wine Club - 2004 Bordeaux Tasting

Tasting of 2004 Bordeaux with Charles, Jon, Tony, David, Rob and Michael. Good chance to compare and contrast various wines I had in the cellar (plus a couple of others provided) 10 years on from the vintage.

• 2004 Château Malartic-Lagravière 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Clear, dark crimson, narrow ruby rim. Clean nose, intense fruits of blackcurrant and prunes (especially 24 hours later), vanilla, cedar. Medium palate, quite sweet, soft tannins, low acidity, well integrated and quite elegant. Medium+ finish. In its ideal drinking window.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château Saint-Pierre 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Clear and bright, medium ruby red, lighter ruby rim. Clean nose, quite sweet and intense fruits - blackcurrant and blackberry, liquorice, graphite, cocoa, some spice. Medium palate, tannins quite evident but well integrated, fruits still to the fore, good structure. Medium finish. Very good, plenty of life ahead of it.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château Léoville Barton 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Slightly cloudy, dark crimson, narrow brick red rim. Clean nose, sweet dark fruit, blackberry to the fore, intense, cedar and tobacco. Well integrated medium palate, tannins and acidity evident but quite well-balanced. Longish finish. Good but probably not as good as hoped/expected. This clearly needs more time to develop greater complexity.

  Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château d'Issan 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Clear, dark crimson, narrow brick red rim. Clean nose, very intense jammy fruit, vanilla, smile, menthol. Full palate, quite meaty, hints of pepper. Medium+ finish. Overall a bit too much in your face for my taste, possibly over-extracted and over-worked. I wonder if this will come together better with time.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château Batailley Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Clear, dark crimson, narrow brick rim. Nose suggested the bottle was defective, certainly very dusty with no fruit. Similar on the palate. Can't rate it based on this bottle.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château L'Arrosée 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Clean, dark bricking red, wide ruby/brick rim. Clean nose, dark cherries and blackcurrants, some spice, especially cinnamon. Medium palate, sweet and soft, lacks structure and definition. Medium finish. Disappointing.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2004 Château Milens 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Clear, dark ruby red, wide lighter ruby rim. Clean nose, quite complex, dark fruits, cedar. Medium+ palate, quite soft but well balanced and integrated. Long finish. Excellent, with plenty of life left in it.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

Overall, lots of nice wines, but with no real standout successes and no particular commune/region standing out. No one wine impressed everyone, although Chateau Milens, Chateau Saint Pierre and Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere stood out on the upside, whilst Leoville-Barton and Arrosee were a little disappointing. Sadly, the Batailley was flawed so we couldn't compare a Pauillac to the others. Chateau d'Issan was the least refined.

Having said that, we had a great evening and I'll certainly be enjoying seeing how the wines in my cellar develop from here on. There isn't any hurry to drink up.