Chamber of Horrors - the sequel: 2003 Bordeaux revisited - 2/16/2023
Last night ten of us assembled to mark the 20th anniversary of the 2003 vintage at Piccolinos behind Liverpool Street Station, in the City of London.
Some of these 2003s reminded me of that famous woman-in-the-bath-in-room-237 scene in the Stephen King’s The Shining.
The Gaston Chicquet 2008 magnum was a civilised way to start the proceedings. Bready, yeasty, with good palate presence, though short of outstanding 90
On to the first flight of St-Emilion. The Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse, 13.5% abv, had an attractive mellow red fruited nose with hints of decay. That was the best bit, because it had a roasted quality too and the palate was a mess. It was coarse and astringent and short on the finish. An omen of things to come but by no means the worst wine last night 80
In this company the Tertre Roteboeuf was triumphant. It started with a really intense exotic red fruited nose which carried over into the palate, which was lush, smooth and round, in typically exuberant fashion. Really enjoyable but with 14.5% abv I am not sure if I could get through a whole bottle. But a terrific effort in a difficult vintage on the right bank and deservedly my and the group’s wine of the night 91
On to the miscellaneous left bank flight starting with Giscours. This had a red fruited nose but then literally nose-dived like a kamikaze pilot attacking Pearl Harbour. Horribly roasted and acerbic on the palate. A shocker! 75
The next two wines were a lot better. Ducru Beaucaillou fashioned an accomplished wine amid the challenges of the 2003 vintage. It is nicely balanced and has been drinking well for over a decade. It has become a bit soft now but still has decorum, with decent persistence. But put it next to the 2002 we had last July and the 2003 would be a long way behind. Still creditable, 90
The Sociando Mallet had a bit of a bretty volatile nose initially but that receded. Now there is nothing really smooth or refined about this - it is somewhat rustic - but it has an attractive chewiness and savouriness to it. It has a bit of grippy tannin left, cedar, cigar box and green pepper notes, with little of the odious roasted, bitter and acerbic traits that marred many of the other wines last night, especially the Pauillacs, the worst flight of all. In fact if I had to choose a wine from last night’s line up I would like to spend an evening with - perhaps on a Friday night with steak and chips in front of the tele - this would be the one 89
On to the Pauillac flight. The good news was that the ghastly, discombobulated Grand Puy Lacoste was not in the line up. The bad news was that the ones that did make the line up were just as bad as the GPL was last time. Batailley was even worse than I feared, really unpleasantly astringent. I won’t dwell further on its shortcomings, just flat out terrible 77
The Duhart Milon had an unpleasant roasted almost burnt quality. This is suppose to be the coolest micro climate in the left bank. It was very green and astringent on the palate. This was the problem in 2003, the grapes were burnt before they ripened; horrible 78
Pontet Canet is just getting worse as it ages. I have had much better bottles of this in the past as recently as 2017. In a sense it is not actually aging because what hits you first is an intense burst of primary fruit. But it all goes horribly wrong on the palate which has now become highly astringent, bitter and unpleasant. The only thing you can say it was marginally the least awful wine in this desperately dismal flight 79
Fortunately things improved dramatically in the St. Estephe flight. Montrose 2003 is a bit of a legend, it is revered. Some bottles I have tried have been surprisingly evolved, while this one was rather backward and unyielding. Clearly Montrose was helped in 2003 by being right up close to the Gironde. It has a lot of ripeness, bordering on over ripeness, with walnut notes. It is recognisably claret but there is nothing particularly enjoyable about this wine. I think this is because it is starting to dry out. Not sure where this is going. Probably on a slow boat to China. It was better a decade ago 89
Cos D’Estournel I found a bit weird and I would not immediately recognise this as claret. It is characterised by dark chocolatey Bourneville notes. Like the Montrose very ripe, and I am not sure where this is going. Others rated this quite highly and clearly one of the better wines last night, but I would struggle to drink more than 2-3 glasses in one sitting 89
Lafon-Rochet showed well. It is ripe, intense and also has dark chocolate notes, allied to some exotic spices like cardamom which made it a little more interesting than its two flight mates. Like its flight mates it was not marred by roasted notes and had an inky intensity which I quite liked 89
Rieussec has lost some of its youthful exuberance and vigour, but it was still a pleasure after most of what preceded it 90
