1999 Les Tourelles de Longueville, a defense in Quarternity...

Les Tourelles de Longueville: The name of this second wine of Pichon-Longueville Baron evokes an image of gun barrels blazing; even though the turrets undoubtedly refer to the four towers of the chateau.

I opened a 1999 at home last night. On Fridays, Lynn and I try cru bourgeois or second wines of classed growths, setting the anticipation for classed growths on Saturday. We had planned to drive to camp, but my work took me too far through the afternoon to make the hour drive and ready the frigid cabin for dinner, and still leave enough time to relax and enjoy a bottle of wine.

It’s easy to think of 1999 Bordeaux as an easy drinking year. Many of the offerings lack the stuffing, including backbone, to go twenty years. But some, because of a wet September, possess pretty harsh tannins without corresponding concentration of fruit. These wines shall live and die like the blue-black barrel of a gun, never soft or inviting.

The first taste of The Turrets suggested such a fate. Lynn suffers from a touch of reflux and does not generally appreciate blazing tannins, so it was with a bit of trepidation and guilt that I handed Lynn her glass. “Kind of tannic,” I said, “you might want me to open something else.”

“No, I like it; it’s fine,” she said.

So did I. To me it had wonderful balance and a panoply of subtly exotic, but dark, and masculine, flavors, – and a nice, long classic finish.

I used to feel second class when I purchased second wines. After all, these were the rejects that couldn’t make the grade. But what is the grade? Today, I believe it is the points, and, specifically, the Parker points. So often we see in his notes how wonderful a certain Bordeaux is because the property made such a strict and intelligent selection.

I looked to see if Mr. Parker would even bother rating 1999 Les Tourelles de Longueville. It seems that he gave up on the wine after 1994, whose season was similar to 1999, in terms of fall rain. He said of the 1994 Turrets, “The impressive color is deceptive, as this is a light-bodied, diluted wine lacking fruit, richness, and flesh…74 – 76 points.”

Almost ipso facto, then, the 1999 Turrets, and undoubtedly many other second wines, are not “Parker wines," and thus, possibly, are more like stiff-upper-lip Bordeaux before Parker took the region hostage and fused it, perhaps forever, with wopperized American tastes demanding big, lush, full-frontal, and instant gratification.

I say "more like," rather than "like," because the winemakers are of course trying to make the second wines as much like the first as possible. And this is not all bad, it's just not like it used to be. I have a semtimental attachment with what was, and still enjoy what is, which is what was and what is.

Almost ipso facto, then, the 1999 Turrets, and undoubtedly many other second wines, are not “Parker wines," and thus, possibly, are more like stiff-upper-lip Bordeaux before Parker took the region hostage and fused it, perhaps forever, with wopperized American tastes demanding big, lush, full-frontal, and instant gratification.
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Funny, I feel almost the exact opposite. I haven't had the '99 Tourelles, but most seconds to me are made specifically for easy earlier drinking - a pretty far cry from traditional stern Bordeaux. They might see a little less new oak than the firsts, but many/most (through lot selection, shorter maceration, microx, or whatever) are lighter (and often less distinctively Bordeaux) versions. Wines like Alter Ego de Palmer & Reserve de Comtesse are good ringers in a California Meritage tasting.

Thanks for notes, I seldom see the Tourelles.

Almost ipso facto, then, the 1999 Turrets, and undoubtedly many other second wines, are not “Parker wines," and thus, possibly, are more like stiff-upper-lip Bordeaux before Parker took the region hostage and fused it, perhaps forever, with wopperized American tastes demanding big, lush, full-frontal, and instant gratification.
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Funny, I feel almost the exact opposite. I haven't had the '99 Tourelles, but most seconds to me are made specifically for easy earlier drinking - a pretty far cry from traditional stern Bordeaux. They might see a little less new oak than the firsts, but many/most (through lot selection, shorter maceration, microx, or whatever) are lighter (and often less distinctively Bordeaux) versions. Wines like Alter Ego de Palmer & Reserve de Comtesse are good ringers in a California Meritage tasting.

Thanks for notes, I seldom see the Tourelles.

Dale, I think whether I am all wet or not depends on whether the fruit that is deselected today is deselected partly because it is not ripe enough; and if by not being as ripe, this fruit carries flavor elements not experienced in the super ripe fruit that is selected. In the past, more grapes, spanning a wider range of maturity, both in terms of sugar content and physiological maturity, were included in the Grand Vin. My thesis is that because second wines have this wider range of grapes, they would resemble past wines in ways that the first wines would not.

I agree of course that Grand Vin are macerated longer for concentration and experience more new oak, and even sometimes get stems, which are not included in second wines, making them later-term offerings; and that this long time in the bottle, in comparison, would bring out interesting flavors that the second wines would not develop.

But (and here is where I am not sure, and what I would think more people than just you and me would be interested in talking about) my question is, are the flavors that would come from the less ripe grapes those very elements that some people would call funky; the same interesting flavors that are lacking in the more homogenized, ripe wines of today?

I think that the harshness of tannins that some of these second wines have, even though they are indeed bred for near-term drinking, come from the underripe grapes. Even reduced maceration will not eliminate the style of the tannins, just their concentration.

Covert, I've had considerable experience with the 1989 vintage of this wine, having bought a case on release. It has been very very good, and more classic than many in this California-type vintage. My last taste was in 6/01 at an offline where on that night I preferred it to a bottle of 89 Leoville-Barton. It impressed me enough that I bought a case of the 2000 futures, which has the packed fruit of that vintage but is very much "real" Bordeaux and should drink well for a decade or more. I'm told (I tasted and greatly liked the '89 years ago) that those are both excellent vintages for the Grand Vin of Pichon Longueville, though neither is a classic Bordeaux vintage.
Best,
Charles

Covert, I've had considerable experience with the 1989 vintage of this wine, having bought a case on release. It has been very very good, and more classic than many in this California-type vintage. My last taste was in 6/01 at an offline where on that night I preferred it to a bottle of 89 Leoville-Baron. It impressed me enough that I bought a case of the 2000 futures, which has the packed fruit of that vintage but is very much "real" Bordeaux and should drink well for a decade or more. I'm told (I tasted and greatly liked the '89 years ago) that those are both excellent vintages for the Grand Vin of Pichon Longueville, though neither is a classic Bordeaux vintage.
Best, Charles

Thanks for your note, Charles. I'm glad that you discovered this gem, too. I have a bottle of the '98 which I plan to try soon to compare it with the '99.

Best,
Covert

[Jenise]

I had a half dozen of the 96 which we started drinking the year we moved up here, in 2003. I liked it a lot, more for what it wasn't than what it was, and not in a way that had anything to do with any overt knowledge of winegrowing or winemaking--I didn't even know it was Pichon's second label at the time. I could taste, and liked about it, it's lesserness. It was just a good little no-frills claret that wouldn't be too strong or too demanding for the food.

I had a half dozen of the 96 which we started drinking the year we moved up here, in 2003. I liked it a lot, more for what it wasn't than what it was, and not in a way that had anything to do with any overt knowledge of winegrowing or winemaking--I didn't even know it was Pichon's second label at the time. I could taste, and liked about it, it's lesserness. It was just a good little no-frills claret that wouldn't be too strong or too demanding for the food.

You put it more accurately than I did. I regretted my use of the word "exotic." Exotic applies to wines like Mouton, which have flavors that might remind you of the Far East or some other flamboyant far away place or mood. This one is not that. The subtle flavors were reminders of almost forgotten expressions I recognized from the past, which are lacking in many plush, super ripe offerings of today. Not even funky flavors, really; I remember a little rubber; just suggestions of interesting scents, which super ripeness and selection seem to squeeze out.

But the thing I liked best about it is just what you said so aptly: what it wasn't. It didn't shout; it was very subtle. You had to pay attention, and then your were rewarded. I even almost used the word "claret," but people get so beaten up for using that word that I chickened out.

Covert, to me green and funky aren't synonymous. For me funky can take various forms (some use it for earthy), but generally denotes brett or similar odors. I don't mind - actually usually like -small amounts of brett. I don't like sticking my face in manure. Different strains apparently have different aromas, obviously different people find different strains offensive or attractive.

And I'm not totally opposed to green notes in wine- I drink far more Loire reds than the average wine drinker, and those are far more likely to have true green notes than Bordeaux. But to me truly good Bordeaux comes from ripe grapes - neither under nor overripe. I would think the better chateaux had no problem harvesting ripe grapes in 1999 (dilution was a bigger problem). As noted, I haven't had the Tourelles, but the '99 seconds I have had (Fiefs de Lagrange, Alter Ego de Palmer, Reserve de Comtesse, La Chappelle de LMHB) seemed quite ripe, if not very big.