2004 Château Bel Air-Marquis d'Aligre

Community Tasting Notes (12) Avg Score: 92.1 points

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  3/20/2024 - WetRock wrote:

  Something of a strange mess. The up and down notes here make me think there is some variation with this wine. Definitely some advanced oxidation floating around. Not strong but it most made me think of the character of a 40 year old lower-middle end Cab from California that lived alright but is clearly showing its age. This '04 Bordeaux had a bit of that character. There is also a clear note of new wood floating over the less than concentrated fruit. Its much strong on night two and three. Solid green notes that are more weedy than leafy. Very frustrating wine that will see the balance of it go down the drain. Hoping my other bottle is more like the positive notes I'm seeing here.

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  2/15/2024 - salil wrote: 86 Points

  Good, not great, and rather disappointing given both the price tag and wine bored hype. It's a older style, lighter expression of Bordeaux, though it feels surprisingly mature for an '04 with lightly oxidative/black tea notes in between the red fruit, earth, and tobacco notes. Time in the decanter helps freshen it up as the oxidation clears somewhat and the fruit deepens, but it always feels relatively simple and one-note. Perfectly drinkable, but at the price tag ($80 in the recent Flatiron offer) it leaves me wishing I'd gone after another producer like Cantemerle or Tronquoy-Lalande at a fraction of the price.

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  1/30/2024 - Derek Darth Taster wrote: 89 Points

  Classic Bordeaux theme dinner at New Ubin CHIJMES. Drank in Sydonios Meridional. Pop and poured. Drank over 3 hours.
  Appearance is clear, medium intensity, ruby colour. Thin legs.
  Nose is clean, medium intensity, with aromaas of green weedy herbs, thin blackcurrant fruit, blackcurrant leaf, lots of earthiness with more air. Developing.
  On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium- alcohol (12.5%), medium tannins, medium body. Medium flavour intensity, with flavours of eath, weedy green herbs, blackcurrant, thin black cherry. Medium finish.
  I like elegant Bordeaux. However, on this night this just came across as dilute and lackluster. On the simple side and lacking charm. Perhaps just not in a good place somehow.

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  6/4/2023 - Guillaume-en-égypte wrote: 93 Points

  This took a few hours of air to come together, but was delightful when it did. (It wasn't tight on opening, rather lacked a bit of freshness and focus and had a somewhat unappealing lactic note, all resolved itself - so definitely decant!)
  Predominantly red fruited, with damsons / plums, and violet notes...Not hugely complex, but had a lovely mouthfeel, balance, purity of fruit and back end freshness. I could drink this everyday & be happy!

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  5/23/2023 - Julian Marshall wrote:

  Hopefully a bad patch or a bad bottle, which is always a risk with BAMA, because this was rather stewed and syrupy, not something I've encountered before. So unlike the previous bottle in 2020 that I won't give it a score.

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