66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind
Switzerland
Tasted Sunday, June 19, 2016 by Collector1855 with 12,753 views
Introduction
The Tasting
The term "once in a life time" is certainly overused today but this tasting qualifies - for any wine-buff. It was staged over two days (June 19./20. 2016) by Switzerland's most prolific Bordeaux collector in his private home's Carnozet. The host has been organizing 6-7 amazing tastings annually for nearly two decades. I have been invited to his group since 2006 and remember many fantastic verticals, horizontals and match plays. The wines are always served blind. So next to the hedonistic pleasure there is also a learning component in these evenings. In addition to 15 participants, the host always invites the French wine critic and Bordeaux specialist Jean-Marc Quarin to guide through the sessions. You can find Jean-Marc's ratings of the wines on his website (www.quarin.com).
This particular 66x Parker 100 pointer tasting was probably the most difficult to stage as it requires a very complete Bordeaux collection. The host has acquired almost all of these wines en Primeur except the few older bottles. These were purchased some time ago before the faking frenzy started to taint the fine wine experience. As a matter of fact, the reason why some of the older 100-Point icons (47 Cheval Blanc, 45 Mouton, 61 Latour, etc.) were missing, is precisely because it is nearly impossible to buy well stored, authentic bottles of these wines today. And we certainly did not want to spend the evening drinking Rudy Kurniawan's and Hardy Rodenstock's wines that have been recycled by Ed Koch…
How to rate wines if all of them are supposed to be perfect?
How to approach a tasting where every wine is supposed to score 100? How to avoid the brain's inherent urge to compare and rank everything? If two wines are fantastic but one is even better, do you give 2x 100 or 1x 100 and 1x 99? With the danger of being a nit-pickier and scoring too low, I went for the later approach and wrote down what I felt that night. The exercise is also not about critizising Robert Parker with 20/20 hindsight, he is and remains the godfather of independent wine tasters. An inspiration to all of us. I therefore recommend to the readers of this tasting story to interpret the scores as follows:
97-100: A 100 point experience. The right call by Robert Parker. The only reason why 100 points was not given by me to all of these wines is because an even better one sat next to it. 30/66 bottles (45%)
95-96: A close to 100 point experience. An understandable call by Robert Parker. Fantastic Claret that has the potential to be a 100 pointer, just not that night, because of either its stage in the aging process or of how the particular bottle showed. 16/66 bottles (24%)
90-94: Good Bordeaux but not a 100 points. A rather optimistic call by Robert Parker. The wines either structurally or aromatically do not warrant a perfect score, not now and most likely not in the future. 12/66 bottles (18%)
85-89: Unsatisfactory wines. Wines that have a quality problem beyond bottle variation or current age. A questionable call by Robert Parker. Interestingly, almost all of the wines in this category were from the right bank, suffer from over-extraction (often called called "parkerized" wines). Even more scary, almost all of them were from Gerard Perse (see below, point 5). 7/66 bottles (11%)
NR: Not rated because of a technical fault of the bottle (eg., cork): 1/66 bottles (2%). Lucky, only one corked wine.
Note: Next to my scores you will see the group score (based on the European 20 point scale) as well as the rank among the 64 red wines
How did the wines show? – overarching themes
1. Left bank wins over right bank – by a margin! Looking at the group score of the 16 experienced Bordeaux tasters makes this evident. There were 64x 100-Pointer red wines, 31 from the left bank, 33 from the right bank. In the best half, that means the top 32 wines, there were only 6 (!!) wines from right bank vs. 24 from the left bank. In the bottom 25%, the 16 least preferred wines, there was only 1 wine from the left bank (The 1986 Lafite), the rest were all right bankers. No need to say more.
2. Younger vintages (2005, 2009, 2010) trump over older vintages (80ies, 90ies, and even 2000). Especially the 1986 wines were meager and charmless (confirming my numerous previous experiences with this overrated vintage).
3. The 2009 left bank was downright fantastic and very drinkable. 2010 left bank have closed down, difficult to assess - don’t touch them! The 2010 right bank were better than the 2009 due to the extra structure and freshness.
4. The 2005 St.Emilions are clearly too extracted and show dry tannins on the finish (confirming my impression during the en Primeur tastings). Note to St.Emilion Producers: Robert Parker is now retired and, no, it’s not the thicker the better.
5. The wines of Gerard Perse (Pavie, Bellevue Mondotte) were simply terrible, except may be the 2000 Pavie. They were oxidative, over-extracted and with drying tannins. This goes beyond personal taste and was unequivocally confirmed by the 16 tasters in the room. The 4 worst scoring wines in this blind tasting were ALL from the Perse stable - no more questions your honor. To me this is a late vindication of Jancis Robinson who called "the emperor has no clothes" first on this misguided producer.
The Top 10
Rk. Vtg. Wine Grp.Score
1. 2003 Chateau Latour, 19.30
2. 2010 Chateau Cheval Blanc, 19.15
3. 2005 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion, 19.14
4. 2009 Chateau Latour, 18.97
5. 2009 Chateau Haut Brion, 18.95
6. 1990 Chateau Margaux, 18.89
7. 2003 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, 18.88
8. 2010 Chateau Latour, 18.83
9. 2000 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion, 18.70
10. 2010 Chateau Le Dome, 18.68
The Bottom 10
Rk. Vtg. Wine Grp.Score
54. 2009 Chateau Bellevue Mondotte, 16.40
55. 2010 Chateau Beausejour Duffau Lagarosse, 16.38
56. 2005 Chateau Lafleur, 16.37
57. 2010 La Violette, 16.25
58. 2005 Chateau Peby Faugeres, 16.23
59. 2005 Chateau Eglise Clinet, 16.23
60. 2010 Chateau Pavie, 16.20
61. 2005 Chateau Pavie, 15.80
62. 2009 Chateau Pavie, 15.50
63. 2005 Chateau Bellevue Mondotte, 15.20
Enjoy the tasting notes.
Flight 1 - Evening 1: Left Bank (33 Notes)
Flight 2 - Evening 2: Right Bank (36 Notes)
Closing
There is nothing more to add, than to thank the host for organizing two unforgettable Bordeaux evenings.
1986 Château Lafite Rothschild 87 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Mute nose of very earthy notes, little aroma. Medium bodied palate, dry and rather charmless. 30 years old and still rough tannins... I don’t see any positive points here and confirms my numerous previous experiences with the rustic, over-rated 1986 vintage. Group score: 16.56/20, group rank: 51/64.
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1986 Château Mouton Rothschild 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Medium-dark garnet. Mute nose of clay, wood, some blue fruit, not much going on. Medium-full bodied palate with lots of tannins and a drying finish. Rustic, where is the pleasure here? Same as the Lafite 1986, not an impressive wine and it and confirms my numerous previous experiences with the charmless, over-rated 1986 vintage. Consistent with my previous tastings of 86 Mouton. Group score: 17.06, group rank: 40/64
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1986 Château Léoville Las Cases 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Nose of earth, blue fruit, pine, a touch of barnyard. Medium bodied with softer structure than the first two wines but still quite meager and drying tannins. I had better bottles of this in the past but it was quite a tannic experience every time. While better than the Lafite and Mouton 1986, still not really impressive. There was also a discussion on the table whether this bottle was representative or not. In any case, it confirms my numerous past experiences with the rustic, over-rated 1986 vintage. Group score: 18.03, group rank: 29/64
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1982 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Medium brick. Here we go, after three duds from 1986. The first wine in the tasting that evoked a wow. Expressive nose of cedar, barnyard, spices. Soft and elegant on the palate, great length. This is approaching the end of its drinking window and it is understandable that this probably was a 100 pointer when this was at its peak. Great, aged Claret still, 97 tonight. Group score: 18.61, group rank: 12/64
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1982 Château Mouton Rothschild 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Nose of blue fruit, forest, mint. Dense and ripe on the palate, tannins soft, well structured. Others liked it more, but I missed superior complexity for a higher score. May be just a so so bottle, we are talking 35 year old wine here after all. Group score: 18.48, group rank: 16/64
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1989 Château Lynch-Bages 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Our host decided to include this wine as a “99+ point pirate” to even out the flights of the 80/90ies vintages. Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Expressive nose of blue fruit, licorice, pine. Very aristocratic and deep. Good density in the mid mouth, soft and ripe tannins with excellent length. It was early in the evening so I only gave a stingy 97 to keep some of my powder dry. I recall drinking this wine 5 years ago from a DMG and it was a smash hit as well. Kudos to Robert Parker to having seen it first and having had the courage to give this mid-tier Grand Cru 99+ points back then. Consistent with my tasting note of a DMG a few years back. Group score: 18.00
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1989 Château Haut-Brion 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind; 6/19/2016-6/20/2016 (Switzerland): Tasted blind. Medium garnet. Exciting nose of blue fruit, pine, forest floor, balsamic tones. Delicate palate, softer than the 89 Lynch but more acidity. Very good balance. Somehow I am missing a bit of punch. Probably a few years past its peak. This wine is usually a consistent triple digit scorer, had it several times before. 95 tonight sitting sandwiched between three stronger contenders. Group score: 18.59, group rank: 14/64
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1990 Château Margaux 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Tasted blind. Nose of cedar, cloves, barnyard, blue and red fruit. Very discrete, but deep. Elegance continues on the mid palate, lighter body but impressive elegance and length. An almost Burgundian experience. Excellent, no surprise it made it into the top 10 of this large blind tasting. Group score: 18.89, group rank: 6/64
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1990 Château Montrose 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Tasted blind. Dark garnet, darkest of this flight. Expressive nose of dark fruit, oak, leather, herbs and barnyard, clearly more masculine than the Margaux 1990 next to it. Very complete mid palate, full bodied but fresh with good structure. Long and aromatic finish. I am giving 98, the group liked it a little less though. Again here, Kudos to Robert Parker for awarding this wine 100 points back then and by doing so recognizing that Montrose can shoot the lights out if the vintage is right. BTW, if you like back vintages of this cru, try the 1989 Montrose, which is equally impressive and quite a bit cheaper. Group score: 17.66, group rank: 36/64
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2000 Château Margaux 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Tasted blind. Dark ruby Nose of licorice, blue fruit, cedar some pine. Very structured and ripe palate. Fresh and quite full bodied. Impressive but not very charming, early drinking window. This is the first time where I wrote, "young/wait" during this evening. I only gave 96 tonight but I think for the patient collector this will be an excellent treat after 2025. 96+. Group score: 18.42, group rank: 19/64
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2000 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Nose of blue fruit, gingerbread, some green vegetables. On the palate a tad hot (Merlot?), feels like more alcohol than the 2000 Margaux next to it. While this has great individual components, tonight they did not sing together, also not so sure about the alcoholic heat. My verdict tonight is therefore: Good but not great, others in the group liked it much more. 94 for me it is. FYI, see my perfect score for the 2005 Mission HB later that evening. Group score: 18.70, group rank: 9/64
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1996 Château Latour Grand Vin 99 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Expressive nose of dark fruit, earth, barnyard. Wow, what a kaleidoscope of aromas! Full bodied palate, soft with great structure, freshness and long finish. I really loved it, the group somehow much less. Great wine, alas, a 1’000 bucks a bottle. Nice for all those, who are a bit older than me and had bought this en Primeur. Group score: 17.77, group rank: 34/64
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1996 Château Lafite Rothschild Flawed
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark garnet. Clearly corked. Fortunately the only corked bottle of this entire tasting. I had this wine several times in the last 5 years and it consistently showed in the 97-100 range. So if you still own a bottle and don’t want to sell it to the Chinese, go for it! Group score: NR, Group rank: NR/64
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2003 Château Lafite Rothschild 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Expressive and very ripe nose of dried fruit, cedar, some toast and blue fruit. This is overtly sexy. Ripe and round on the palate but staying elegant at the same time, balsamic notes with some leather tones on the long finish. What a beguiling wine, 100 it is tonight and I am not a big fan of the 2003 vintage. Happy to see this as I have given this wine 98-99 pts. previously. BTW, I only recommend a handful of wines of 2003. These are Lafite, Marguax, Latour, Montrose and Ausone, pretty much all the rest, I never liked, too cooked. Group score: 18.88, group rank: 7/64
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2003 Château Latour Grand Vin 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Ripe and overt nose with dark fruit, cake, gingerbread, pine. Soft and full bodied on the palate, a real blockbuster but without being heavy. Very close to the Lafite next to it but not as elegant in my view. Another terrific showing in this outer-wordly flight. The group really, really loved this and it was the overall winner over the two days. Congratulations to Chateau Latour to win this large Bordeaux 100 Pointer shoot out. Group score: 19.30, group rank: 1/64
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2005 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Expressive nose of blue fruit with whole kaleidoscope of aromas with mint, medicinal notes, herbs, earth, fantastic stuff. Full bodied, powerful but fresh and racy. This is still very young but most impressive. 100 it is. The winner for me of awesome flight against 3 First Growths. Wow! The group liked it as well and it finished third in group rank over the two days. Group score: 19.14. Group rank 3/64
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2005 Château Haut-Brion 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of red and blue fruit with toast and forest floor. Soft and ripe on the palate but with a bit of heat, for which I need to make a deduction. Very good for sure, but not quite at the heights of the other 3 wines in this awesome flight. Group score: 18.14, group rank: 5/64
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2009 Château Haut-Brion 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Expressive nose of dark fruit, toast, licorice, spices, really flamboyant and engaging. The positive impression continues on the palate where the wine is full bodied, with soft tannins but with excellent freshness as well. Long, aromatic finish. Wow, what a show this HB put on, liked by everyone! Group score: 18.95, group rank 5/64
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2009 Château Latour Grand Vin 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Expressive nose of dark fruit, forest floor, oak. Very deep and complex nose, nice. The palate is lush and ripe, modern, a warm vintage for sure. The mid palate structure struggles just a bit to keep up with the alc. volume. Young. An impressive wine but for me outshined by the Haut Brion 2009 next to it. We are splitting hair here… as we can see by the photo finish. Near perfect, may will be with some more bottle age. 98+. Group score: 18.97. Group rank of 4/64
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2009 Château Montrose 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of dark fruit, pine, earth, medicinal notes, very ripe as well. Impressive palate front to back, ripe but structured as well. Young, ripe tannins that need softening. This is going to be awesome in 15 years, no doubt. 98+. Group score: 18.45, group rank: 17/64
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2009 Château Pontet-Canet 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of blue fruit, toast, alcoholic heat, iodine. This is very Napa in the nose. The palate is full bodied, a bit hot, very southern but good structure and acidity, not a lot of aromatic complexity either. Almost painful to taste. I clearly am missing the balance here (which the 2010 Pontet Canet delivered in the next flight). Group score: 18.03, group rank: 30/64
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2010 Château Haut-Brion 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of blue fruit, cocoa, chocolate and caramel. Lots of Merlot here in the nose, very modern and ripe. This continues on the palate where the wine is big and ripe. Technically ok but a bit too much for me. Young, to be revisited. 96 for now. Group score: 18.31, group rank: 24/64
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2010 Château Latour Grand Vin 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Impressive nose of dark fruit with medicinal notes, pine and earth. Very complete. Full bodied with ripe fruit but also commanding tannins and acidity. Very young, it has "do not touch" written all over it. Impressive material though, I can see the 100 Points here. 98+. Group score: 18.83, group rank: 8/64
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2010 Château Montrose 99 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of dark, forest notes, eucalyptus, earth, not dissimilar to the Latour 2010 both on nose and palate. Full bodied with excellent structure, fantastic mouth feel as well as length. Young tannins like all 2010's in these flights, a big wait is needed. The more I went back to this wine the more I was impressed. 99+ for now but in 10 years, quite surely three digits. Group score: 18.33, group rank: 23/64
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2010 Château Pontet-Canet 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Nose of dark fruit with strong medicinal tones as well as a touch of asparagus which made me worried initially. There is no greenness on the palate though, quite the contrary. Excellent volume and mouth feel. Top notch claret front to back in the mouth. Much better than the 2009. Group score: 18.52, group rank: 15/64
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2009 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Medium purple. Expressive nose of blue berry, cocoa, bakery, quite modern/warm in its profile, the Merlot is detectable here as well. Impressive plate, ripe, full bodied but also structured as well. If you like it a bit more Baroque this is a very interesting wine. 97+. Group score: 18.08, group rank: 28/64
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2009 Château Haut-Bailly 97 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Expressive nose of dark fruit, very deep and brooding, forest floor, pine. The palate is soft and creamy, full bodied and caressing. Really nice, a touch of alcohol at the finish is preventing an even higher score. BTW, as previously stated, I personally think the 2010 is an even better wine than this. So, spare yourself the 100 point price premium and go with the 2010 is my recommendation. Group score: 17.95, group rank: 31/64
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2009 Château Léoville Poyferré 100 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Right of the bat this wine impresses with a fantastic nose of dark fruit, toast, chocolate, spices. Full bodied, tannic, young. Great mid-mouth feel and long finish. This is really awesome, lush with aromatic depth. I was surprised when Robert Parker gave this 100 pts but now I can see why. A fantastic showing today. Keen to see if this wine can repeat this performance in ten years time. Group score: 18.61, group rank: 13/64
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2009 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Another fantastic nose here. This flight is on a roll. Expressive nose of dark fruit with a kaleidoscope of aromas including earth, toast, bell pepper. Also here, just like the Leoville Poyferre a full bodied mouth feel with great structure and acidity. Great wine, I recently tried the 2010 and it is equally impressive if not even better. Group score: 17.89, group rank: 33/64
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2009 Château Cos d'Estournel 99 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Tasted blind. Dark purple. Expressive and complex nose of dark fruit, forest floor, berries pine, deep and complex. Really Medoc. Full bodied, soft mouth feel, yet enough freshness. Very long finish. Wonderful.
PS: I was pleasantly surprised to see that this wine turned out to be the 2009 Cos. I had this wine several times and it always had issues with lots of alcoholic heat, over-ripeness, never really pleasant and balanced. This is the first bottle that shows impeccable with all in check. So there may be bottle variations of this wine, not atypical when maturity is pushed to the limit. BTW, for Cos lovers, look out for the 2010 Cos which is really amazing, more classic, more consistent in bottle and cheaper. Group score: 18.31, group rank: 25/64
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2009 Château Smith Haut Lafitte 95 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Deep purple. Nose of dark fruit with a yeasty smell, Maggi beef stock intermixed with a herbal touch, quite complex. On the palate this is now tipping towards too heavy for my palate, enough structure though. Very solid but not great/sophisticated. Group score: 18.42, group rank: 20/64
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2010 Château Pape Clément 94 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Tasted blind. Expressive nose of cocoa, toast, dark fruit, pine, chocolate. Sweet and soft on the palate. Of all these fantastic wines served in the last two flights this one is the most concentrated and Californian. Over the top for me, so I had to make some deductions. Given my excellent experience with the 2000 vintage of this wine, let's see how this wine does in ten years. 94 points for now. Group score: 18.41, group rank: 22/64
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2009 Château d'Yquem 98 Points
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Served with the Cheese and charcutery buffet at the end of the tasting. Medium yellow, quite light color for a Sauternes. Nose of apple, quince, lychee, tropical fruit. This is very fresh and airy, very different to the 2001 which was more unctuous and smoky. A ballerina of a Sauternes. Very nice.
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