2000 Château Haut-Bages Libéral

Community Tasting Notes (234) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  4/20/2024 - drmarclevine wrote: 89 Points

  Decanted to remove sediment. Opened quickly with a classic Pauillac nose of cassis, cedar, cigar ash, and a pleasing vegetal funk. Not quite as engaging in the mouth, however. Red cherry, sous bois, and charcoal with a bold attack but finishing somewhat thin. Lacked stuffing. Was hoping for more.

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  4/4/2024 - Bordeaux_Jon Likes this wine: 95 Points

  From a 375mL, this half bottle proves again the quality of the 2000 vintage for lesser Grand Crus and Cru Bourgeois. Though I prefer 2001 generally, 2000 is certainly a great and reliable vintage.
  
  The 2000 Haut-Bages Liberal really has everything you could ask for in a aged Pauillac with red and black fruits, oak, cigar, and cedar. It drinks smooth, with resolved tannins, good concentration, and a nice finish. Dare I say I was more impressed with this wine then a recent half of 2000 Margaux, supposedly one of the wines of the vintage. This bottle delivers on what Bordeaux does best, which is to demonstrate that Cabernet is indeed the King of ageability and what rewards aging a Grand Vin can provide.
  
  Perhaps, I just got lucky, but unlike prior tasting notes, this wine seems to have 10 more years, though I'd drink it now for my taste.

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  12/3/2023 - SimonG wrote: 89 Points

  1/12. First look at 2000 HBL, and despite lots of suggestions on CT that its’s open and giving, this was pretty monolithic. Dense, almost impenetrable full ruby, really dense and inky in the decanter and glass. Tight nose of blackcurrant and maybe something a little more mineral. Still some tannin, but resolved enough for drinking comfortably, but the fruit dense and unyielding, profile more St Estephe than Pauillac currently. If you told me this was only five or six years old I’d believe it. Over the course of five hours in decanter and glass it opens slightly, but remains a brooding presence, if not sulking then certainly far from garrulous. That said, it does go well with a roasted rib of beef, but grudgingly so. A third poured back into the bottle and popped in the fridge to see what tomorrow brings. **(*)

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  11/20/2023 - The Wine Monkeys Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Slow ox for 3 hours. Firing on all cylinders. Wonderful blend of primary & secondary / young & aged, traits. Dark fruit, some leather, petrol, with nicely integrated tannins. Our opinion is it’s prime time for this HBL.

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  10/15/2023 - rocknroller wrote: 91 Points

  Monthly Tasting Group: Bordeaux 2008 and Older (BLVD Kitchen & Bar, Wayzata, MN): Tasted, no notes. Good, still pretty youthful.

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