I call this an “impression” and not a “TN” because I can’t really write TNs that are publishable…
This is a wine that I bought back in 2008 once the bottles were state-side. There was lots of hype around this wine back in 2006/2007 and of course the vintage as whole being hailed as the vintage of the millennium. I had opened some bottles over the years, some were nice, others were so so. I opened one tonight to go with some osso bucco. It’s a great wine/bottle! Nicely aged, smooth, strong aromas. Still very dark, no bricking. This is one of the scenarios when Bordeaux delivers in spades: a relatively cheap bottle, in a great vintage, aged for 15+ years in a good cellar ==> lots of pleasure drinking.
I’ve been working through occasional bottles of 2005 Vieille Cure over the past several years, and the last one I had a few months ago gave me the impression that it had moved just over its peak. Still delicious and very enjoyable, but I plan to drink up the last couple I have sooner rather than later.
Interestingly I had the 2010 on Sunday. It had rich, forward fruit, with coarse tannins. However, the finish was extremely short; short enough that I suspect low level TCA. I have had several corked bottles from this producer. After very good initial results with '05, I bought the '07, '09, and '10 versions. A case of the '07, purchased for all of $10/btl, IIRC, drank very well young. The '05, '09, and '10 have produced more mixed results. Some bottles were good, but at least two bottles of the’05 were corked (out of five consumed) and neither the '09 nor '10 has ever shown particularly well, with some bottles of each vintage also suggesting TCA. I seem to recall others posting about TCA in the '05 as well. These weren’t expensive, but I haven’t bought anything since '10 and can’t see that changing.