Reassessing the 2000 vintage in Bordeaux

Bordeaux 2000
A great vintage revisited - tasting 13 top wines

The 2000 vintage in Bordeaux was considered by most to be a really good one, and one of the best recent vintages (along with 2005, 2009 and 2010). Here I got a chance to revisit several top wines to look at how they are developing in bottle, after more than a decade. This is a particularly valuable exercise for journalists like me, who normally get lots of chances to try young wines and then fewer opportunities to see how they turned out after some ageing.

Overall, the wines showed very well. All were delicious, and some were truly memorable. Note the alcohol levels: these are proper Bordeaux. In recent years these alcohol levels have crept up quite a bit, such that in ripe vintages, 14.5% isn’t uncommon. I’d be happy to have these wines in my cellar; I would be uncomfortable about cellaring Bordeaux wines with much higher alcohol levels.

The wines were shown by Berry Bros & Rudd (www.bbr.com) whose prices per bottle are given in brackets.

THE WINES

Château Giscours 2000 Margaux
12.5% alcohol. Elegant nose: cherries, plums, spice and minerals. The palate is fresh and elegant with lovely concentration of red berry fruits and some tannic grip. A lovely wine. 94/100 (£90)

Château Lascombes 2000 Margaux
13% alcohol. Refined, elegant nose leads to a fine palate that’s quite lively, but which also has some meaty, earthy notes. Some angles here. 91/100 (£80)

Château d’Issan 2000 Margaux
12.5% alcohol. Spicy, meaty nose is lovely and robust with plum and berry fruits. The palate is showing some evolution: elegant berry fruits, hints of spice, earth and roast coffee. 91/100 (£81)

Château Palmer 2000 Margaux
12.5% alcohol. Supremely elegant and fresh with some firm structure still. Lovely cherry and plum fruit, nice minerality and good freshness. Taut and linear still. 95/100 (£276)

Château Beychevelle 2000 St Julien
13% alcohol. Subtle, herby, sappy with some green notes. Lovely spicy, slightly animal berry fruits. Real complexity and interest: a lovely wine. 93/100 (£144)

Château Gruaud Larose 2000 St Julien
13% alcohol. Appealing spicy, mineral nose is quite fine. The palate is complex, savoury and earthy with good fruit and some spicy complexity. Lively and mineral. 94/100 (£115)

Château Léoville-Poyferré 2000 St Julien
13% alcohol. Lively, spicy and beautifully aromatic with notes of tar and minerals. The palate is dense and robust with firm tannins and some animal notes. Grippy. 91/100 (£162)

Château Léoville-Barton 2000 St Julien
12.5% alcohol. Beautiful lively aromatics, showing elegant, pure cherry and berry fruit. Lovely balance on the fresh palate with taut fruit showing structure and minerality. Still youthful in a classic style. 96/100 (£154)

Château Pape Clement 2000 Passac Léognan
13.5% alcohol. Some savouriness here, with notes of tar, roast coffee and fudge. The palate has ripe, elegant fruit with warm spicy notes. A rich style. 92/100 (£148)

Château Léoville-Las Cases 2000 St Julien
12.5% alcohol. Some roast coffee and spice notes as well as firmly structured cherry and blackcurrant fruit. Youthful, dense and firm. 91/100 (£320)

Château Batailley 2000 Pauillac
13% alcohol. Some earthy, spicy notes here. Evolved, but still quite elegant with nice fruit. Some earthy notes but it’s still an expressive wine. 91/100 (£54)

Château Lynch Bages 2000 Pauillac
13% alcohol. Dense and ripe with pure blackberry and blackcurrant fruit and some nice, ripe, earthy notes. Structured and mineral with lovely ripe fruit. 94/100 (£236)

Château Pichon Longueville Baron 2000 Pauillac
13% alcohol. Superbly elegant and still youthful with notes of herbs, earth and spice. Structured with taut berry fruits and some minerality, too. 94/100 (£208)