Ha. When people ask me for a Bordeaux recommendation, I take it at face value that they want a real Bordeaux. Iām 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.
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 Iāll 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 ā89s right now.
A wonderful thing about Bordeaux is that older vintages back to the 70s are shockingly readily available.
Or maybe your friend doesnāt actually know how much she likes to age the bottles. Luckily itās 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.
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!
Iām 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.
I second (or more), DāIssan, Leoville Barton, and Rauzan-Segla.
I have only had 2016+ Rauzan-Seglas so I canāt 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.