In my view, Dujac nailed 2008 more than anyone else (or at least anyone else I’ve tried). Every bottle I’ve had has been special, particularly at the upper echelons.
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Dujac is certainly good but I think DRC made the wines of the vintage (although Leroy is arguably better but I typically don’t really include them because of price/rarity).
Various recent observations
1995 is open for business (finally!)
Several 2008 drouhins were showing beautifully after 2 hours in the decanter. More time wouldn’t hurt but I’m loving them now
A 2013 barthod charmes was great , also with a generous decantng time
I’m very surprised to hear people saying 2001s are fading but I haven’t had one that I recall since pre Covid so I have no counter data points
While I am mostly holding my 2005s a Drouhin NSG Proces was starting to show quite well thus last weekend. An hours decant and it kept improving with more air
My experience with 2004 Rousseau was they showed great on release, showed horribly green after about a year, and then about 5 years? Ago I was blinded with one which I guessed was a nice Bordeaux from the 70s. So while I didn’t notice any green and I enjoyed it it certainly was pn’t what I would have expected. The only 2 producers I’ve had that seem to have avoided the greenies entirely were Truchot (one bottle sample) and Jadot
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It was terrible from the very beginning, unfortunately, and made me wish that Faiveley had held on to it.
Surely that’s always true?
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La Tache 08 was a bitter disappointment recently.
Bookmarked, though most of the wines mentioned above are well above my pay grade, still helpful guide/discussion on vintages, in general
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Exactly. The argument that a “bad vintage” means all wines must be bad, is kind of bizarre. The equivalent to arguing the weather is actually just fine, thank you, while standing in the eye of the hurricane.
I quite like Hudelot Noellat 2008s, across the range. I think they did very well.
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That’s surprising; I’ve had the entire range of 08s recently including RC and found them all spectacular; the RSV especially outperforms.
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Don’t you think Mugnier has done pretty well with Marechale since ‘04? Admittedly nothing like old school Faiveley, but then again, no current Faiveley resembles the OG.
We went though them all back in Jan 2023. Sort of a mixed bag.
'85 Faiveley for the win!
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Not for me. We did a vertical with every vintage from Mugnier and my opinion was they ranged from mostly disappointing to extremely disappointing, with a couple of outliers that performed pretty well.
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Certainly one can’t draw conclusions from single bottles.
Hi Brady-I haven’t been thrilled but 04 is definitely an outlier!
Yeah I’ve had a decent amount of experience with it lately and almost all the bottles have shown well; Richebourg and GE would likely benefit from more time but I generally thought LT and RSV were drinking the best.
This remains a very interesting thread, but for me, way, way, way too much talk about 2004, a vintage that I bet half of us didn’t even buy. If folks want to discuss “controversial” vintages, I’d much rather hear about 96, 05, or 08 (all “controversial” for different reasons), or other vintages that more of us might have bought where there might be some cause for discussion.
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96s - I am still holding Grivot, Faiveley, Groffier, but these aree in the main wines from producers whose wines demand extended cellaring. I haven’t tried any for a while, but the acidity marked the vintage.
08s - I have found the wines to be pretty and again maked by the acid profile. I like them, but do come across the odd one that’s a bit slight.
05s - am finding village and premiers to be drinking pretty well. Wines with lots of stuffing.
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Personally, I think that 96 and 05 have been unfairly maligned. If I was still buying wine, I would have been buying up 96’s that folks were dumping over the last several years. People just need to be far more patient. Reminds me of 1986 in Bordeaux, where folks were claiming that the fruit would die and we would be left with tannic charmless wines. Bullshit. Yes, some winemakers blew it somewhat in 05 by trying too hard when they didn’t need to try at all, but for the most part with 05, I think it’s just going to take time.
I like acid, so 96 and 08 are not a problem for me in that sense. 08 is a more variable vintage, but I think it has turned out far better than many expected.
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I generally think 96 will turn out well, but it is fair to think that wines should be at least somewhat accessible nearly 30 years from vintage date. Some wines weren’t even close in the last year or two.
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