So many posts for a day(!), but jumping in because, I mean, it’s DDC. And I love it. And so do most people I’ve met who really love Bordeaux and in particular traditional well-aged Bordeaux. (I’m sure there are naysayers out there, but there always are.)
DDC is to my mind tied with Pape Clement as the best terroir in Graves after Haut Brion and La Miss. The only other estate you can make an argument for at that level is Haut Bailly. Although DDC went badly astray starting in 2002, hopefully it’s back as of 2016 in a globally warmed form—only time will really tell. I’m a bit skeptical myself. But wines from the ‘20s to the ‘80s in particular are wonderful, complex classics. I’ve been a bit lucky to have had so many great DDC from friends from the ‘20s and ‘30s and up through the 80s at least. They are amazing. It was a period I think they were more consistently excellent than Pape Clement and Haut Bailly. Overall the estate was incredibly consistent, making many delicious and profound wines over decades. On countless wine nights among great wines, it has shown its chops.
With this history and record, for sure, it’s a top 20 Left Bank estate for people who have traditional Bordeaux love (and insist on rankings). But even that is a bit of a weird way to look at it — in terms of other Left Bank wines — given how unique Graves is. Graves/Pessac is its own category even as compared to the true Left Bank villages.
In sum, it seems ludicrous to discount the estate and its significance, as is done in some of the posts above to my view, especially by those who don’t know or appreciate Bordeaux at all.
But that said, if one doesn’t really know or appreciate Bordeaux (that’s your prerogative and taste), even as a Somm, I could see you not knowing or having an informed opinion about any of this. In NYC, for example, where so many restaurants feel compelled to have a wine program and Somms of different experience levels, there are many young Somms (in experience, not age) who don’t know a lot about a lot. It takes time. Like any job, I give the benefit of the doubt that they need experience, and if they stick with it and are good, they will get it. But why would I expect a Somm who doesn’t have the years of knowledge that I and many of us have to magically know everything about everything in an insanely large wine world? That’s true even with respect to historically famous Bordeaux, which for a long time now has not been the focus of most wine programs. If a young Somm’s experience and wine program veer elsewhere than Bordeaux, they aren’t going to know it. And I don’t think making arguments they are bad at their job from the starting point of — it’s Bordeaux, they should know it — makes sense the way it would have 30 years ago. That’s my view anyway. It’s a different world.
On the issue of Somm engagement when it’s clear they may not know everything about Bordeaux (or pick your favorite famous region)—if I can engage a young Somm in a friendly way and/or give them a taste, why wouldn’t I? It’s no different really than “paying it forward” to younger generations of wine geeks by opening the bottles they would otherwise never try. And I also engage with the Somms about what they do and should know, their own list, even if it’s often not that helpful to me to do so (per a different recent thread and poll on WB). Even if I don’t get help from the Somm, it’s still enjoyable just to talk to them about wine like I would talk to anyone else interested in it. Or any of you. Geeking out is what we do.
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. Our friend will always remember that and the “this is food?” moments from the highway gas station stops. She was astonished at the colors of everything 
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