Monday night with 12 classed growths (well mostly classed growths) from the 2000 vintage to see how they are progressing. This was a lot of fun and showed the 2000 vintage very well. 2000 Yquem was added to finish.
2000 Gruard Larose: Dark red, herbal nose with earthy tones, bright fruit, firm tannins matched by the fruit. Youthful
2000 Lagrange: dark red, riper chocolately nose, intense cassis fruits, lovely balance and length, Comes across as a modern style but beautifully done
2000 Leoville Poyferre: dark red, plumy fruits with oak on the nose, intense deep and concentrated, great length, needs lot of time
2000 Talbot: Herbal nose, a balanced middle weight, pleasant style, understated. Good finish
2000 Lynch Bages: dark red, muted and subdued nose of earth and spice. Intense ripe fruit with spicy notes on palate, youthful but lovely
2000 Pichon Baron: sweet plumy fruit on nose followed exactly on the palate with the same ripe plum fruits, firm tannins, beautifully made and showing extremely well. Very popular
2000 Pichon Lalande: Cool herbal to bell pepper nose. Intense blackcurrant fruits with firms tannins, austere but with lovely balance. Divided the tasters as many did not like the nose.
2000 Leoville Barton: inserted into the “Paullliac” flight. Cool but ripe nose with intense blackcurrant fruit with earthy notes. Firm but ripe tannins and slightly austere. Wonderful balance and elegance.
2000 La Mission Haut Brion: Deep profound gravelly nose. Lovely sweet ripe fruits, very intense but balanced with very long finish. A real treat to taste and enjoy even though it is very young
2000 Canon La Gaffiliere: Ripe plummy nose, lovely sweet fruit, nice balance with elegance and style not over extracted. Nice judged.
2000 Angelus: Very ripe nose with strong oakiness. Deep rich and powerful wine. Very impressive but too modern / over extracted and not St Em for me personally. Others liked it more.
2000 D’Issan: Sweet elegant nose with floral notes. Feminine with refined tannins. Very easy to drink right now. Elegant and balanced. The most ready to drinkwine of the vening.
2000 Yquem: mid yellow, marmalade and honey on the nose. Viscous smooth mouthfeel with lovely ripe intense citrusy fruit. Youthful but still wonderful to drink today.
All the wines showed well and showed the lovely ripe fruit of the 2000 vintage. None are really ready yet, with thenD’Issan being closest. The run away favourites of the tasting were the LMHB, followed by the Pichon Baron. I also really liked the two Leovilles even though they are quite different in style. The 2000 Yquem was a lovely treat to finish with