WTN: Bordeaux 2004 blind tasting

This was a very interesting tasting. I was happy to find that few wines were acid deficient, though Bordeaux rarely is high in acidity. I was also surprised to find that the aromatics were so often dark and very ripe for a year that is generally considered "elegant", and that several "classics" were more "modern/international/anonymous" in style than "classic". Yet I was happy to find that one wine (Margaux) was sublimely beautiful; and sad that it is beyond my financial capabilities to buy one. I was sorry to see that my old favourite Haut-Bailly wasn't very lovable. These were served blind:

• 1990 Jacquesson & Fils Champagne Degorgement Tardif - France, Champagne (2/12/2008)
  Greenish, very young. The nose is very citrussy and takes time for the fruit to open - seems like a Bl de Bl. It is a rather extreme wine at first with extreme intensity and citrussiness and minerals; the elegant fruit shows only with a bit of air. I loved it.
• 1996 Krug Champagne Brut - France, Champagne (2/12/2008)
  A voluptious, fruitbasket nose, but with some attractive bread and apple scents also. Very intense, pure, high acidity yet concentrated fruit also. A rather full and oaky style of Champagne, but very good in its style.
• 2004 Château La Fleur-Pétrus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol (2/12/2008)
  This was an attractive wine. It started out rather oaky, but calmed down to a red toned, vibrant, more classically styled wine - yet when served blind, I thought it Graves rather than right bank! Fruity, but earthy and bright also. A vibrant and lively wine. Nice!
• 2004 Château Palmer - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (2/12/2008)
  Initially this showed much coco-powder/oak. With air it ended up a rather dark toned, un-Margaux-like, yet with some savoury herbaceousness beneath the dark fruit and oak. Dark, tannic and even a bit brutish. When revealed, I was very surprised as I had enjoyed this much more on a previous taste.
• 2004 Les Forts de Latour - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/12/2008)
  Dark, spicy, glossy, lifted; sweetly fruity, dark toned, pleasantly tannic but still an "easy" wine and very forward. Somewhat lacking in acidity and refreshing qualities. Not bad, but a rather "new world" style.
• 2004 Château Le Dome - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion (2/12/2008)
  A freakish wine! Served blind: bacon, animal, some attractive red fruit, but huge toffee and oak. Sweet, full bodied, meaty, smoky - but also lively acidity. It's not bad (if you happen to be more oak tolerant than I am) but I thought this was a LaLa or some other oaky N. Rhone syrah!
• 2004 Château Margaux - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux (2/12/2008)
  This was an ethereally beautiful wine. It was a bit flamboyant, spicy and oaky upon opening, but not overly so. This was more in the red fruit spectrum and had a great elegance about it. Perfectly delineated, refreshing, vibrant and with almost a Burgundian elegance and purity, except for the obvious left-bank aromas. Lovely.
• 2004 Château Haut-Bailly - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan (2/12/2008)
  I have usually loved this property, but I had one bottle before that I thought too oaky. Now served blind, I thought so too. But this did have some nice earthy and savoury aromatics, too. The palate, however, was vibrant and refreshing and has almost juicy tannins. I don't know what to think of this: I have loved most vintages, yet this leaves me rather cool simply because the oak is more obvious than I remember previous vintages to have been at this infant stage.
• 2004 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/12/2008)
  Served blind: Oaky, flamboyant, toffeed, SWEET nose - very "new world" in style. It even shows some banana-like aromatics. Soft, low acid/flabby, lacking in liveliness - it's not so over-the-top as to be offensive, but it is in a style that I don't appreciate. I fully understand that many will love this.
• 2004 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/12/2008)
  A very burly and masculine style, darkly fruity, yet very Pauillac. Delineated palate, but in a masculine way, perfectly proportioned, long and refreshing. Magisterial rather than lovable. I wouldn't mind a bottle or two in my cellar.
• 2004 Château Angélus - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (2/12/2008)
  This property has a reputation for being a rather modern style. Yet it didn't seem any more so when served blind than most tonight! It was darkly fruity, a bit sweet, rather oaky but still pleasantly lifted - seems more a Pomerol than St. Emilion style to me. Full bodied, sweet fruit, leafy, refreshing acidity - quite nice, but the oak needs to calm down.
• 2004 Château Trotanoy - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol (2/12/2008)
  This wine went through an astonishing transformation during the tasting. It started out as a flamboyant and even slutty, red toned wine; but it calmed down to a dark toned, ripe but classic plummy Pomerol! Ripe, but with lifted acidity, it manages to remain refreshing despite a sweet touch to the dark fruit. The oak isn't obtrusive; the tannins are ripe but young and noticable. I might buy one to cellar.
• 2004 Château Latour - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/12/2008)
  Coco-powder oak, mustard yet very perfumed and sweet at the same time. A very weird nose. It does have depth and promises complexity, but it is very different from what I remember other young Latours to have been like - I have never had such a sweetness/candiedness before. Soft, smooth, smothered in oak; the acidity only shows up on the finish. I found it quite unbalanced and lacking in delineation.
• 2004 Château Mouton Rothschild - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac (2/12/2008)
  Coco-powder oak, dark fruit - rather anonymous and modern in this company. Full bodied, low acid, soft almost flabby. Not bad, but I find it hard to get excited.
• 1993 Disznókó Tokaji Eszencia - Hungary, Hegyalja, Tokaji (2/12/2008)
  Under 5% abv, over 400g/l RS, and c.14g/l acidity! This is brown. Oxidative, apple-like, yet endlessly fascinating. Supremely sweet and intense yet refreshing despite being like olive oil in consistency. Endless aftertaste. I love it!
• 1993 Pincészet Borház Tokaji Aszú 6 Puttonyos - Hungary, Hegyalja, Tokaji (2/12/2008)
  A very strange, yet strangely compelling scent of peas and chlorine! It certainly divided opinions but I loved the hypothetical mix of botrytised sauvignon blanc and chenin blanc! Sweet, intenense and acidic - freakish but I loved it!

Posted from CellarTracker

I've heard the '04 Ch. Margaux is great from folks I respect.
I liked the Palmer and Baron better than you did, Lynch Bages less (found it short and unstructured).
Le Dome is a caricature of a wine, blech.

Do you think the Baron will settle down and integrate the oak in five years, Otto?

I've heard the '04 Ch. Margaux is great from folks I respect.
I liked the Palmer and Baron better than you did, Lynch Bages less (found it short and unstructured).

I really enjoyed Palmer in my previous taste of it (notes are somewhere up on this board), so I was very surprised at how indifferent I was to it this time. That is a very strange sounding bottle of Lunch-Bags if it was short and unstructured. I have had it once before and I commented then that it had much tannins and a refreshing and long finish.

Brian, possibly. I recently tried and reported here about the '98 and '99 and both have started to show more attractive to my tastes, though they were rather oaky and a bit international when young. I would give it ten years just to be sure, though.

-O

Nice notes as usual Otto - thanks for the information.

My most recent tasting of Bordeaux 2004s included the Lynch Bages and my experience was very similar to yours - but Lynch Bages has been a favourite of mine since I bought my first case of the 64 around 40 years ago.

The other 2 were Gruaud Larose [doesn't seem to be much in favour these days] and Pontet Canet [the opposite] but frankly I rated all 3 as being very close in quality if quite different in taste.

If I had to separate them I suppose I would put the Pontet Canet highest in potential terms with the Gruaud Larose [which I think will drink earlier than usual] and Lynch Bages close behind BUT if I wanted a safe bet I would go for the Lynch Bages if only because I have drunk and enjoyed so much of it over the years.

[David M. Bueker]

I have found young Latour to have a lot more fruit than it used to. Some older versions I have had the lucky opportunity to taste really needed some more fruit to balance out their tannins, so I'm not concerned that a young Latour had a bunch. When I first had the 2001 I thought it a Pomerol due to its exuberance, but recently it has shut down & gotten properly sullen. I have no doubts for its future, and I suspect the 2004 is the same.

I admit I am always surprised when I don't read the word "exotic" in a Mouton note. It's invariably the first thing that strikes me & makes it reasonably easy to identify blind.