Recs Needed: Age Worthy Bordeaux for the Best Friend

Excellent point - quite a broad variety of options in Bordeaux

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She, he, they, will be better served buying wines they will enjoy. Price points are another consideration as well.

So what do you do, recommend a style of wine someone else likes, a list of all wines ever made?

One could go to school very quickly and rather affordably, by trying a couple of his suggestions, vintages, and go from there!

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Youā€™re ok, I have it on good knowledge that he was dropped from the peloton recently!

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Yes, what a concept.

Hahahaha, New critics have been telling us what to drink for years! We are in rebellion. Alfert is a man of the people, a palate for all!

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Uh huh ā€¦ I think a yak for yā€™all is more like it :rofl:

Actually I was shocked by your selections. They were all good wines, even if you didnā€™t list Right Bankers. Though they were on the pricey side.

Regardless of me liking the wines, itā€™s about the people drinking them, and their taste matters. Else, yoo could just list only wines I like :grin:

Ha. When people ask me for a Bordeaux recommendation, I take it at face value that they want a real Bordeaux. Iā€™m not gonna recommend some Rollandized Napa-like right banker!

The funny thing is, I bet if someone checked, those wines I listed have been reviewed quite nicely by you as well. Why, because class and classicism never go out of style. All else is a trend.

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Brane-Cantenac and Durfort-Vivens

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Thatā€™s cold, just cold.

Love B-C so much. 1989 is a highlight!

Plenty of good thoughtful ideas here. No doubt you can find good wines at any price point, so nail that before jumping in.

Nobody has talked about timing and older vintages, so Iā€™ll jump off that cliff. How much does your friend like aged Bordeaux, and how long does she want to store/age them? Some folks like their Bdx 5 years from vintage, others think that after 35 years the wine become magically good. Eg. I adore a lot of ā€˜89s right now.

A wonderful thing about Bordeaux is that older vintages back to the 70s are shockingly readily available.

Or maybe your friend doesnā€™t actually know how much she likes to age the bottles. Luckily itā€™s easy to buy a handful of bottles from different vintages from places like Winebid and K&L. So it might be fun to buy a sampler, drink them together, then buy bottles that she can either enjoy now, or she herself can age/store them as long as she wants.

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She likes aged Brunello and Napa cabs. Sheā€™s not crazy about super old Barolo. We would drink through them as they age.

There are a lot of good recommendations here, especially by @Robert.A.Jr . I have some of the same wines from the 2016, 2019 and 2020 vintages that he does. Two that I have not seen mentioned, that are amongst my favorites, are Leoville Barton and Rauzan Segla. Have fun hunting!

Drinking them as they age is fun. Still could be fun to try something like Grand Puy Lacoste from
1989, 1990, or 1996 to see where these go.

Iā€™m a huge fan of LB and buy it often, I think I screwed up on Rauzan, how would you describe the current style and what vintages are worth grabbing to try? I think 2010 was too large-scaled for me but you could say that about a lot of 2010s.

I think you would enjoy the 2016, 2019 and 2020 Rauzan, Robert. Of the three vintages, the 2019 was my favorite, but they are all enjoyable. The style is a bit in the middle to me. Not as traditional as LB but not close to being modern like a Malescot. Maybe more similar to Brane Cantenac in style.

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I second (or more), Dā€™Issan, Leoville Barton, and Rauzan-Segla.

I have only had 2016+ Rauzan-Seglas so I canā€™t speak to older vintages, but I have found all of the 2016-2020 vintages to be impeccably balanced and I have even enjoyed the 2017 from a maligned season. I think the 2016 or 2020 from your favorite vintages are great ones to try.

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Missed this thread when it happened but +1 on @Robert.A.Jr recs

2005 Montrose, Dā€™Issan and Brane Cantenac.

2016 Brane Cantenac, Lafon Rochet and esp. Pichon Lalande. 2016 Pichon Lalande seems to be a great wine in the making.

Of more recent vintages, I think 2016 is the safest bet

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