Party Like It's 1999: A 10 year look back at 1999 Bordeaux

Overall I think I liked these wines better than most folks around the table. I found them generally to be open and easy to drink, but a bit heavy and a little tiring by the end of the evening. The Margaux was the clear winner and the Palmer was excellent too. The Leoville Poyferre was a surprising treat as well.

The restaurant was very good, if a bit loud for our purposes. The food was very good and although there were a lot of flavors that I feared would clash with the wine, in the end I found it not to be the case. The service was very good and they treated us really well, we reciprocated by sharing our wines with the staff and after the rest of the party had gone home, Brian and I poured samples for the waitress and somillier and sat around discussing the region, wines, and vintage. (Full disclosure: the restaurant manager is a friend of mine and was kind enough to hook us up with the “special” treatment and a no-corkage deal).

I didn’t take notes on the Mobousquet blanc, as I believe it was flawed. I remember as I sat down (a little late) and the first drop hit my mouth I actually said “this is wonderful”. As the wine sat a few seconds on my toungue I said “hey, what’s wrong with this?” Guess I was just excited to drink some wine!

• 1977 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Served blind. Mature but without a ton of structure. Some sweet notes, some sap/syrup. A bit of acid. Warm, herbal. Has a lot of life ahead, but drinking well. Very nice, but I didn’t love this as much as many around the table seemed to.
  B+

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• 1999 Château Trotanoy

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Juicy, bright with acidic tannins and some slight coffee. Not closed, but not exactly ready to drink either. Light on it’s feet. I found this to be a beautiful wine, delicate and restrained and I believe it will mature very nicely.
  B++

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• 1999 Clos l'Église (Pomerol)

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Deep, dark, smooth with fairly heavy weight. Soy, oily. Dense and ready to drink but a bit flabby.
  B+

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• 1999 Château Pavie Decesse

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Full purple flavored with bright long finishing tannins and excellent concentration. Lots of espresso, glycerine. Strong with years of life ahead.
  B++

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• 1999 Château Pavie Macquin

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  A bit closed with tight herbal tannins and dense concentrated fruit. Short and loose finish.
  B/B+

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• 1999 Château Lynch-Bages

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Smooth, silky, somewhat sweet and soft. Bright with herb and some coffee.
  B/B+

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• 1999 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Not a lot of concentration but nice herbal quality. Thick fruit but a bit flabby. Pleasant enough but short and unremarkable. A disappointment.
  B/B-

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• 1999 Château Léoville Poyferré

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Dense and ready to drink with some aging potential. Concentrated and thick with mint and herb. The flavor profile reminded me of the 1996 vintage with good muscular fruit but not overly done. I really liked this.
  A--

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• 1999 Château Palmer

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Wonderful. Well balanced with fine tannins, dense sweet herb and coffee. Very complex with a long finish. Still drinking young, but very enjoyable.
  A

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• 1999 Château Margaux

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Smooth with a long long finish. Coffee, sap, dense and oily (in a good way). Very concentrated. Excellent.
  A/A+

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• 1999 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Smooth and silky with an acidic edge and a long finish. Bright, high toned with sweet tannins. B++

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• 1999 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Sweet baking spices. Bright, open, med-light weight. Clove and candied fruit. Too sweet, this reminds me of some of the sweeter vintages of the early 00’s as Bordeaux lunged toward a more modern style. Lacks concentration, complexity.
  B/B-

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• 1999 Château Mouton Rothschild

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Some baking spices and good bright fruit. A bit of coffe with a long finish. Although a little on the sweet side, a very nice wine. My #4 of the evening.
  A--

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• 1999 Château Rieussec

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Strong, bright, outgoing. Drinking well but young and has many years ahead of it. A bit candied. Not the greatest vintage, but very very good.
  B++

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Here were the votes for WOTN:
Margaux 25
Palmer 16
Mouton 9
Leoville Poyferre 4

A few people mentioned that they would have voted for the Mondavi if it were eligible, but I would not have.

Thanks to everyone for coming and bringing their wine. Looking forward to the next one!