TN: A couple of low end Bordeaux 2000

Both these bottles were purchase right about after release for <$20, hence the “low end” mention in the subject line.

2000 Chateau Sansonnet, Saint Emilion
Drink up! My last 2 bottles drank over the last 4 weeks were sliding at the decline slope. B-

2000 Chateau Chasse Spleen, Moulis-en-Médoc
Going strong. A great wine value, with plenty of good claret characteristics, for the purchase price. Will easily drink well within next 5 years. B+

First, I’m going to guess the portion I underlined means “pencil shavings” among other typical characteristics.

Second, “Spleen”? That would turn me off right there.

Anyway, it’s interesting to see some relatively cheap Bordeaux drinking well after 15 years or so in the bottle. One more lesson in the education. Thanks!

LOL! Yeah, the name, if taken as it is in English is not appealing.

The current name, when translated from French, means “to chase away the blues” and which, according to Wikipedia, was what Lord Byron said when he was enamored with the property during a visit in 1821.

Thanks for your notes! I agree with your note on the Sansonnet. I have one bottle left to be consumed this year. I’ve also just put a bottle of the Chasse Spleen on the chopping block for the next 2-3 weeks, and hopefully mine shows as well as yours.

I’ve had a lot of 2000 Bordeaux, and the very low end started to fade around 2008 (Marjosse, etc), the “low end” is drinking well now and starting to fade (Charmail, Reignac, Lanessan), and the medium-end is showing beautifully with lots of time left (Armailhac, Beau-Sejour Becot, Moulin-St-Georges). I don’t have much “high end” (just a bottle or two of Montrose, Pichon Baron, and Lynch Bages) which I haven’t touched, and no first growths.

After tasting 80+ bottles of 2000 Bordeaux, my overall assessment is that the very low end was never that great (Marjosse, etc), but some of the budget wines and most of the medium-end are drinking really well. I haven’t found any that have blown me away, but then again I haven’t tried my best ones and I don’t have access to the best in the vintage. Not a bad vintage to have stocked up on, but I don’t think it was necessarily the vintage of the century that it was billed as on release.

Thanks for the notes. I’ve got some Sansonnet on the rack for consumption soon.

A bottle of the 2000 C-S last summer was terrific, way better than I expected. It feels like it can go a lot longer than 5 years to me.

It seems like people appreciate older Chasse Spleens nowadays more than I remember once upon a time.

Chasse Spleen is still great BDX value. Chases away my blues!

WineEx currently has some 2000 L’Ermitage de Chasse Spleen for $20. I’ve gone through a case already in the past few months and most of the bottles drank surprisingly well.

Wow, nice tip! Odd it doesn’t show in their searches, if you go by vintage, country, then region - have to do a keyword search for it

Hmm. Shows up for me after going directly to the winex.com website, typing in “spleen” (no quotes) in the upper middle search box and hitting enter.

that’s exactly what I said - it doesn’t show when you search ‘France, Bordeaux, and 2000’ as filters, but it shows with a keyword search

Oh, sorry I misunderstood. However, I just tried what you did and, indeed, it is in the list of filtered wines.

How many bottles did you pick up? Leave some for me – I’m going to stop by tomorrow and buy some more.

I won’t comment on vintage of the century stuff, as that is an assessment best left for the ages. That being said, the very low end wines were delicious when they were released. That was when to drink them. They should have been long gone by 2008, as they were not meant for cellaring. The next tier is a mix of wines with different aging potential. I see no fading in Lanessan, but some of the more modern-styled wines are losing their fruit and not developing anything to replace it. That being said, 15 years for a $15 bottle is nothing to sneeze at. Not sure why we should expect more other than that we are wine geeks with unrealistic expectations.

Since when is Chasse spleen low end???

Funny, I was gonna say that, too. This is a pretty classic, well-known Medoc. It is a QPR, though.

I had a wonderful bottle of Chasse Spleen '90 a week or so ago. At peak, and with plenty left.

By accident a few Villa Bel Air’s got lost and were only recently found. Despite their sub $10 price points on release, they were still drinking great, and had developed some complexity.

But I do agree with your general view.

Although I group Chasse Spleen into the ageworthy category irrespective of its price. I put down some magnums of 2010 for the long haul based on how well the 2000 has kept and improved.

All Bordeaux or red wines do loose fruit when they get old. When a red wine has no more fruit it´s not that the wine is at the end of it´s life. It´s starting it´s second life with mushrooms, underbrush, truffle etc. flavors and aromatics. A good 2000 Bordeaux like Lanessan is certainly not going downhill. I have two cases. It´s even not at peak so far. IMO.

Amen.

The 1989 Chasse Spleen is marvelous.

I’m finishing up the last of an 00 Sansonnet right now. It’s quite good, and from the Jean Michel Arcaute era – the architect of the great Clinets of another generation – before he died in an accident. On the first day there was some bandaid/medicinal notes, but by day 2 the fruit bloomed and it was very enjoyable. Only vintage I’ve ever had, but maybe 2015 will be worth keeping an eye open for. Personally I prefer the 2000 St Emilions for drinking today, versus the 1998s, although in general they should all be on the rack/queue to get consumed.