dave's bordeaux blowout

backstreet wine salon
Tasted Thursday, April 30, 2009 by jeff nowak with 1,149 views

Flight 1 (2 Notes)

Flight 2 (2 Notes)

Flight 3 (6 Notes)

Flight 4 (7 Notes)

  • 1998 Château Haut-Brion 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    quite fetching. smooth tannin and boldly concentrated fruit. interesting vintage.

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

  • 1999 Château Haut-Brion 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    soft and reserved, no distinction.

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

  • 2000 Château Haut-Brion 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    showy, even at this young age. outstanding balance, and expression of fruit. tannic, for sure, but those tannins are very well tuned/silky. this is a blockbuster for the house. will improve.

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

  • 1996 Château Lafite Rothschild 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    i've had this enough to know it's a legend in the making. one of the few bottles that went thru some prep via decanting. weird, almost bitter out of the gate. it settled down and peeked out from under the hood. this ferrari needs to be garaged for a while.

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

  • 1998 Château Lafite Rothschild

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    one of the few wines in the tasting that i just didn't care for. i'll chalk it up to a bad bottle, but not flawed in the specific sense.

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

  • 1999 Château Lafite Rothschild

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    lots of discussion about whether or not this was corked; not readily apparent to me. seemed to follow the vintage theme of being transitional.

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

  • 2001 Château Lafite Rothschild 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    looks like i'm not a fan of the 01 first growths. very tannic, consistent with a wine where the fruit won't catch up.

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

Flight 5 (8 Notes)

  • 1998 Château Margaux 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    rich and excellent balance of fruit. showed some traditional power and grace/femininity. underrated vintage.

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

  • 1999 Château Margaux 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

    left bank wine of the vintage/finest first growth? i certainly think so. didn't show the awkward aspect of other 99s. savory.

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

  • 1990 Château Léoville Las Cases 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    expressive, fine tannin, still developing. drink or hold.

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

  • 1983 Château Latour Grand Vin 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    more firmly structured than the 83 pichon, but not as keenly balanced. this was a bit harsh, in fact. not a wine i would hold or seek out.

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

  • 1985 Château Latour Grand Vin

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    a total brett bomb to me, although i didn't hear this complaint from others.

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

  • 1986 Château Latour Grand Vin 88 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    as this flight progressed, i wasn't embracing the mid 80s latour ethos. little to distinguish itself here. a very average wine.

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

  • 1998 Château Latour Grand Vin 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    finally, a latour to enjoy. nice structure, needs air/decanting, the most backward of the 98s.

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

  • 1999 Château Latour Grand Vin 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    i felt this was a fabulous young bordeaux, and i might have been too hasty in calling out the margaux as vintage first growth top dog. in fact, i will annoit the latour because it has a more interesting complexity with more to develop as it ages. super wine.

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

Flight 6 (3 Notes)

  • 1988 Château Climens 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    i am unaware of tasting this wine in any vintage prior, so i spent more time with it. dried fruits, honey-tinged. seemingly botrytis challenged, and rather softly delineated. solid, but not impressive.

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

  • 2003 Château d'Yquem 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    pleasing wine, consistent with previous thoughts. suffered next to the 01.

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

  • 2001 Château d'Yquem 97 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    from magnum! showy for the format. seemingly bulletproof to time and/or format. no additional useful thoughts on this wine which i've now had countless times.

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

×
×