TN: 2001 La Tour Carnet, Haut-Médoc

A compelling nose of licorice, berry fruit, tobacco, violet, and gentle oak is followed on the palate by dark fruits in abundance, especially plums, blueberries, and Morello cherries, but also an excellent cedary spiciness and very good minerality. The gentle oak is present, but in no way obtrusive, and the acidity is moderate. With time in the glass, the fruit gains more complexity and depth, adding subtle notes of red and black currants, red cherries, leather, cinnamon, forest floor, and a hint of chocolate.
The 2001 La Tour Carnet is an opulent, generously flavored claret full of character - neither modern nor traditional. It simply is a moreish, surprisingly fresh, excellently balanced Haut-Médoc that has developed very well. It has enough acidity to keep everything in balance and age for another decade easily. 13% alcohol.
I bought a case of this excellent wine on release and have enjoyed each bottle I have drunk so far. BTW, went well with the roasted duck breast on potato rösti and lamb’s lettuce last night.

The 1985 Petit Village, Pomerol, is next in line.

Rudi, I had noticed this lurking in the background of another photo and was intrigued to know what you made of it - well I must say you’ve flummoxed me! It sounds great, which is really not what i was expecting!

I was a great fan of the old La Tour Carnet before Magrez bought it - I enjoyed the elegance, the clarity of the fruit and just the general finesse. I bought the first few Magrez vintages without trying them; when I did, I sold the remaining bottles. I absolutely loathed the 01 and the 02! For me they were typical Magrez - oak, more oak and just a little more on top! So your assessment is really interesting and just shows how wines are capable of digesting the oak.

Anyway, I shall now try and find a bottle of 01. Cheers!

nice note for sure !
i have a few of these stashed somewhere and might open one over christmas; i remember the 2001 won some praise in one of mauss’s GJE tastings some time ago…
matthias

I gave this a good score in a blind tasting 2004 and bought some bottles. The wine was closed, tannic and a bit oaky for a long time and I did not open a bottle the last years. Maybe it is time to try one the coming holidays. Will post my impression. My highest scores went to Lafite, Ausone and Petrus. Well – not so surprising. But this La Tour Carnet was amongst the better wines of the tasting of 140 Chateaux and I was not the only one who liked it.

Of course, Julian, compared to pre-Magrez La Tour Carnet, the 2001 tastes more ‘modern’. This wine is undoubtedly more complex and opulently styled than La Tour Carnet in the past, but nothing is excessive or overdone, neither oak, nor extraction, nor alcohol. The wine is a tad ‘sweeter’, but remains subtle and elegant and shows the aromatic and flavor profile quite typical for the appellation. It is also not as high in acid as it used to be, but it is long-lasting nonetheless, and there is hardly a risk that the fruit will fade before the tannins melt away.

You’ve really piqued my curiosity now, so I will get looking!

Julian, would really be interesting to hear if you like the 2001 now. You may have sold your remaining bottles of the first few Margrez vintages a bit hastily.

Matthias, Jürgen, I look forward to reading your notes!

I think we all have unique senses, and what appeals to one, may not another; or what note hits someone a certain way, may not hit another. Brett is a perfect example. Oak is one as well, at least in my experience. I personally do not think oak digests or integrates as much as some other people might. My general experience is, if the wine had a very notable oak signature in its youth, it will have some of it in maturity. That’s not to say the wine is bad or flawed, as some may like that note, but for me, it just does not go away. Ridge throws a heavy American oak signature, and I have found that it does not go away, the perfume remains, just more nuanced and perhaps detailed. Oak in many modern Bordeaux does not seem to integrate for me, and after the youth of the fruit fades - and in some dries earlier than expected - the presence and sense of wood is actually worse. The 2000 La Fleur de Bouard that I popped last week is an example. I have not had the 2001 La Tour Carnet.

Robert, I of course agree that we all have different perceptions of tastes, oak along with all the others. My take on this wine about ten years ago was that it tasted more of coffee beans and planks than wine, but I think Rudi’s taste is pretty old-school and traditional, so I would not expect him not to notice a big plank in the middle of the glass! Hence my surprise, but it wouldn’t be the first time that a wine has evolved differently to the way I had anticipated, nor the last.

Rudi, I did keep a couple of LTC 2010s, since I was told that by 2010 he had scaled back the oak, but Magrez comes just after Lascombes in my pantheon of horrors! Each to their own of course and I know many like his wines, but to me they all taste the same. The only one I used to enjoy was a very modest Bordeaux called (very suitably) Le Bois Perthuis, which gave what I perceived as the same flavours for around 5 euros. He sold it a few years ago.

So funny, and I concur!

Ah, Lascombes, the Frankenstein’s monster of wine (careful with that oak, Igor!), or should that be the Bride of Wildenstein?

Pretty much my most hated left bank of the modern era as well!

Now that said, I do have a 1985 that I bet is quite pretty, pre-dating the modern savagery that his Chateaux has experienced.

Intend to pop it over the holidays.

I really likes the 2000 as well. They have developed well, no matter what the ownership/consultants may have changed.

My palate is indeed pretty traditional, but as long as a wine is excellently balanced, with a sense of its origin, it’s okay for me, and I don’t care if the winemaker or the consultant is known for making wines in modern style for the modern market. No question, considerable caution is required when people like Magrez, de Boüard de Laforest, Derenoncourt, or Rolland are involved, but from my experience, not all their wines have gone to the dark side, especially in vintages not hyped as “vintage of the century”.

A case in point, for instance, is the impressive 2004 Pape-Clément. Far from being jammy, over-oaked, or too alcoholic, 13%, this wine is extraordinarily elegant, seamless, refined and admirably nuanced from the nose to the finish.

BTW, Julian, I loathe Bois Pertuis wines.