Changing Bordeaun't to Bordieu

[Kirk.Grant]

Dennis, if you want to avoid smelling pencil shavings then I’d avoid Pauillac. To me it’s one of the most common notes I get from Pauillac.

[Dennis_Kanagie]

@Kirk.Grant

Dennis, if you want to avoid smelling pencil shavings then I’d avoid Pauillac. To me it’s one of the most common notes I get from Pauillac.

Yeah, it’ll take a strange turn of events for me to drink Left Bank on any kind of regular basis. I’ve already taken a little ribbing over that from various members here and in my wine club about my association with elementary school detention and Lynch Bages.

[Jud_Reis]

Dennis - I think you will really love that 90 Talbot - the past couple bottles I have had have been in a very good place, with plenty of life left. If you like funky burgundies, I think you might dig the Cordier funk from that era as well.

[Soren_R_Nielsen]

[Howard_Cooper]

@Dennis Kanagie

@Kirk.Grant

Dennis, if you want to avoid smelling pencil shavings then I’d avoid Pauillac. To me it’s one of the most common notes I get from Pauillac.

Yeah, it’ll take a strange turn of events for me to drink Left Bank on any kind of regular basis. I’ve already taken a little ribbing over that from various members here and in my wine club about my association with elementary school detention and Lynch Bages.

Lynch Bages is a Paullac, which many here have suggested that you skip. But, try other left bank wines before you condemn them all. Try St. Julien (tend to be lusher with more fruit), Margaux (commune, not just estate) and Graves before you give up on left bank.

Also, making blanket statements about wine generally makes one sound silly in a year or two, even to yourself.

[Arv_R]

That’s actually a generous price altitude, and will open up doors to great examples. Although Bordeaux has the perception of being costly, enthusiasts can find estates, vintages, and sales/deals where maximum stupidity is mildly thwarted.

And Dennis, I think we have a similar palate given our mutual fondness for Arrowood, Chappellet etc. (I’m assuming you didn’t care for my QPR suggestion of Charmail many threads ago, but I’ll proffer up more names in cheery chauvinism)

86 Talbot - I think its the best Talbot they’ve ever made, and within your price range. Some snobs might sneer, since Talbot is a large production wine, and not ‘rare’. But Cordier as a house was really hitting it out of the park in the 80’s. It is more ‘funky’ than pencil leady, at least in my recollection, but it’s an amazing Bordeaux.

90 Canon-la-Gaffelière - This is/was an expensive wine on release, but 1990 never went up in price later as much as comparable quality wines, nor recent releases. It’s a candied, rich example of a right bank wine, in a modern style rather than the old school Talbot above.

96 Pichon Lalande - this has tripled in price over recent years and may have exited your price ceilings. Despite that unhappy fact, it’s been a great wine every time I’ve had it. I really don’t think there is much difference between it and the 82 nor 86. They are all extraordinary, but hopefully less fraud risks with this year.

Those are all ready to be drunk now, and (hopefully) do not have that much fraud risk if acquiring bottles from unknown sources, today. They are also reasonably consensus choices (I think) in that they are not extreme points from any style/vintage camps, as well as being great benchmark/best examples of the estates involved.

Obviously there are tons more potential ideas – I’m eager to see what other names people offer up here – but I’d be remiss if I didn’t reiterate that there is tons of great BDX, at lower price points (and prestige levels) than what you’ve allocated. Bordeaux is the main feedstock for our household drinking machine, and its not at the exalted 1e, 2e, 3e levels.

PS: there is actually a Medoc with the name le Bourdieu. I’ve got an (untasted) 2009 sitting nervously on my ‘to drink’ shelf.

I’m drinking the above mentioned 2009 le Bourdieu [Medoc] now. It’s 13.5% abv, and shows some incense, iodine notes. Medium bodied, good balanced cranberry/cherry fruit, with some slight tannin on day 1. Day 2 those have slunk off, but just a bit of freshness/depth has also retreated. I would consider this to be a point. It reminds me of Greysac’s of my youth - another merlot heavy left bank. For those who might consider the vintage characteristics of 2009 to be OTT, I don’t think that consultant driven style leeched into the more modest estates like these. I picked this up some years ago from K&L and they always have a huge spectrum of midweek BDX for those willing to try them.