With separate steak dinners at home, sometime in the last 2 weeks.
2002 Chateau Branaire Ducru, Saint Julien: An old school claret. Gave more pleasure than expected with my $23 dollars at-release purchase price. Classic in both bouquet and taste with that sweetish fruit. A-
2002 Chateau Pontet Canet, Pauillac: Unexciting. Almost felt like this wine was unsure of whether to be traditional or otherwise. True to my last taste (from same lot) 5 years ago. B
Wow, you are an easy grader. A “B” seems like a good grade especially for a wine from an early drinking vintage that is 15 years old. That aside, thanks for the notes. I always liked the 02’s but most need to be drunk in the next few years at best.
I’m another fan of the 02 Branaire. Like you Ramon, I found it is better than I expected.
The 02 Medoc is definitely an early drinking vintage by Bordeaux standards and many are showing very well right now, but for my tastes I can’t think of any that are in need of drinking up in the next few years (the Right Bank could be a different story).
The Mouton and Leoville B, are great '02 wines too.
The Pontet Canet is not My taste. A tannic, dark experience. Here latest TN:
The Branaire sounds more open. I haven’t tried it with age on.
Thanks for notes.
-Søren.
I had a similar disappointment with 2002 Pontet Canet a couple of years ago. Tight, stiff with hard oaky tannins. I chalked it up to being closed. Wishful thinking?
Branaire always comes across as being incredibly average in barrel. It’s only recently after a doing a couple of verticals that I have begun to realize this is a wine that really benefits from bottle age, and its balance and elegance become really obvious. I’ve had the same experience with Beychevelle (same terroir) but I think Branaire is even more extreme.
I agree with your note on the 2002 PC. In another down vintage the 1999 was also underwhelming. Then by 2007, another relative down vintage, you can see they are well into turning the corner and entering their modern age, when even the down years aren’t so bad. The 2007 is really a nice bottle of wine. More refined and without the astringency and hard tannins.
nice updates
I’ve only had the '02 PC once, which was in Oct '09, in a vertical of the '01-04…it finished last. Still, for $30 it was decent juice.
Thanks for the note on the Branaire! Nice to know. Maybe St Julian’s were the strong spot? The '02 Leoville Barton I had last September rocked
The 02 Leoville Las Cases was another outstanding St Julien when I tried it in 2009.
In addition to the 2002 LLC, I also recently liked Palmer, Haut Bailly, and Leoville Poyferre, from the vintage.
Definitely agree re: 2007 Pontet Canet. They were pouring it blind at their lunch during En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux. You were only allowed to find out that it was the 2007 vintage on the way out the door. Most agreed that it was showing surprisingly well while guessing that it might be 2004 or 2006.
I really liked the 2002 Cos d’Estournel as well as some of the other wines mentioned (Leoville Barton especially). The Cos had an unusual level of fruit for the vintage without seeming forced in any way.
Didn’t like the Palmer so much – it was a solid wine but nothing special, and for that price you expect something special.
I think you are onto something here - can’t go wrong with ANY Leoville in this vintage imho, and other '02 St Julien’s I’ve had have well outperformed expectations. The vintage has a character that may not appeal to all (more austere in my experience), but could definitely argue there’s overlooked value here in light of how the 2002 vintage is viewed overall.
I’ve been fortunate to have Cos and Haut Brion '02s and thought they were excellent. Actually haven’t tried much Pauillac or St Julien, though I found a Latour quite disappointing and rough (perhaps it needs much more time).
2002 Lagrange is quite a nice bottle. 2002 Pichon Baron was the best I’ve had from the vintage. That said, I just closed out this vintage in my cellar at approaching 15 years. They were taking spots for better years.
Yup. +1 on that. Think its time to get these rack spots opened up for the next wave of VOTC.
A bunch of BWEers got together recently, and among the massive amounts of swill consumed, I brought a 02 Leo. Barton in mag and thought it showed nicely.
That 2002 Pichon Baron had the most votes for Bordeaux-of-the-night during our 2002 Burgundy/Bordeaux dinner back in March. It bested LMHB, Palmer, and Cos d’Estournel. Incidentally, the Cos didn’t even garner a single vote.
I, too, love my claret with plenty of age, but based on my personal sampling, as well as during last month’s local dinner of 2002 Bordeaux/Burgundy (we combined 2 regions as our local group didn’t have enough 2002 Bordeaux for a robust all-Bdx tasting), I’ll be digging into my cellar to drink up my smatterings of 2002s much more frequent than ever. Certain exceptions include the LLC, which I plan to age longer.
MacArthurs had a bunch of 02s at basically release prices in March of last year (for legal reasons they couldn’t mark it up). A lot of it was already gone when I heard about it the next day, but I got a case and a half of Pichon Baron for $35, Cos for $38, and Gloria for $24. Others got Leoville Barton, Calon Segur, Malescot St. Expury, and Clerc Milon at $29, Montrose at $35 and Palmer at $39.
From what I’ve tried so far from this haul and my original purchases, many 02 are definitely in the zone now like Gloria and Branaire, but I can’t see them failing apart any time soon based on what I’ve tried. YMMV.