February 24, 2023 - Enjoyed a bottle over dinner. Very smooth and easy to drink although the fruit has faded and it would be viewed by most as over the hill.
March 3, 2016 - Another delicious bottle of this, my last one... Savory, graphite, terrific green tobacco scents, dry impact, some leatheriness, cedar, sour cherry. Light, bright and long. Fully mature, happy trails old friend.
April 29, 2013 - This is lovely. Old-school, this sort of wine should be an object lesson for wine makers on how light-bodied wines make for beguiling aromatics, and if possessing good acidity like this 2000 TSB, plently of life without lots of extract. That all said, this is also the kind of wine Bordeaux sceptics would hate given its herby bouquet of basil-thyme-mint and semi-austere earthiness. I love it, could be my favorite $10 bottle of wine out there. Ths cru bourgeois is in a good place right now, with the herby notes starting to show some claret cedar. The palate has a surprisingly full texture, some good sweetness, but overall this is all about red berries and brightness, with a hint of sour orange and a distinctive finishing note of olive oil. Make no mistake, this wine is on the lighter and leaner end of the fruit spectrum, and is the better for it. There's still plenty of tannin on the finish, but this is probably at peak.
April 14, 2012 - i have to revise my last years rating. this is lovely and for 5 euros simply fantastc. my last one
October 21, 2011 - Since the 1990 vintage, a go-to petit chateau for me in strong vintages. The 2000 is very nice, with a lovely red-fruited perfume that's a clear expression of old-school claret. Nothing OTT or spoofed here, just a well-made wine (very clean, no brett as in some older vintages) from an excellent vintage. Like the Poujeaux, the palate is mostly about elegance and balance with food-friendly acidity, and perhaps a bit more stuffing would improve the wine, but at $12 for a classy claret, who's bitchin'? My favorite of the quartet by a hair over Potensac. Parker once called this a poor man's Grand Puy Lacoste, and I have to agree. Drinking well now.
May 11, 2011 - smell is more like 90. but the taste is overcooked jam. oh well, i think i paid 5 euros for it.
December 5, 2010 - Lite red mixed with sediment. Strongly perfumed red fruits and black pepper on the nose. Red fruit centric. Mild sweetness. Vanilla. Reminds me of a more rustic version of a ducru-beaucaillou. Finish fades a bit quickly and is bitter. A bit strong on the acids with nice tannins.
April 20, 2010 - Per a suggestion, I'm dipping into my stash of 2000 TSB. It's been 3 years since I last tried this wine, and it's coming along nicely. Still stemmy with notes of iron and smoke, it's also starting to show some age. It has a crazy nose (in a good way) of black tea, creosote, smoke, ash, and cinder. The palate is lean and light-bodied (lighter than the 1996), but filled with crisp acids and classic claret flavors of cassis and lead pencil that beg for red meat. There's not much tannin anymore, so I say drink 'em if ya got 'em. Solid B/B+ with a steak. If you like Bordeaux, one of the best $10 wines in the world.
April 10, 2010 - Sludgey and fruitless a shockingly poor wine for the vintage.
December 25, 2009 - Had for Christmas lunch. Mature, slight browness on the rim. Vegital nose. Nice.