Carefully tracking any Burgundy wine requires a yearly check-in. Oftener is preferable, though pragmatically difficult. Burgundies wide open six months ago routinely clamp down abruptly, and just as routinely return six months on wider and more open than before.
Bordeaux ages more slowly (and less capriciously) and five year check-ins are usually enough. This applies to whole vintages as well as individual wines. With Bordeaux we are for once able to generalize: Bordeaux wines tend to evolve as a cohesive group, Burgundy as so many hermits or solitaries.
We’ve checked in on a large number of 2000 Bordeaux this year and have been looking forward to a representative offer. A recent private cellar purchase afforded the privilege of choosing from a large menu of 2000s. What you see here are the result.
Nearly perfect August and September weather and ideal harvest conditions allowed careful and unhurried picking of beautifully ripe fruit. The wines have always been marvels of structure and concentration - a great many producers realized record-setting levels of dry extract and tannin - though textures have softened impressively over the past decade.
Side-by-sides are especially fascinating (speaking from experience) as the wines show underlying terroir as willingly as vintage character.
All wines come via a single-owner cellar and all were purchased on release.
Cheers,
Jason
