2000 Château Potensac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc (12/3/2011)
Even after being open for 24 hours this is coiled up like a snake, but with no intent to strike.It’s tight, unyiedling, and showing virtually no development at 10 years of age.
Hmmm. Thanks for the report, David. I have some of that and would have expected it to be drinking well at this stage.
In fact, it’s a little worrying. I haven’t drunk a lot of Potensac in recent years, but I’ve felt a couple of times that it was getting a little spoofified. Is it possible they pushed it to make it appealing up front and produced something that is charmless with age?
I had a different experience recently with it, which may be hopeful (you have the glacial cellar by reputation, no?)…
This 2000 is ready for prime drinking. Fairly big, chewy and meaty to taste, it lacks much breeding or refinement, but it makes up for it with it’s zesty, masculine display of fruit, tannin and extract. Eschewing the musty/funkiness that some vintages display, this provides a satisfyingly robust glass of straightforward Bordeaux. Drink now or over the next 2-3 years. 88-89 pts.
I just find it completely unready. Bear in mid that my cellar is well below 55 most of the time, so thing age slowly (but well).
Surprises me. I have 01 in the cellar which is drinking well now, a product of it’s vintage. 00 should be a bit more backward, but not shutdown completly, there should be the classic blackcurrant and graphite profile.
01 has another 10 to 15 years in it Pat, so I would say that 00 at least another 20. But I suppose that’s the British palate viz a viz the American palate.
Hello Sean, my experience is similar to yours and David’s.
I have 2 cases of the 2000 and started on the first one a couple of years ago with the same experience as David B. Two subsequent bottles in following years were hardly more enjoyable.
As a result of the first 00 bottles I started on my single case of 2001 which is much easier to drink but still not one of the best Potensacs I have had i.e. not like the 96 which I have had good bottles from 3 cases of over the past 7 years and still have most of the last case left.
To be honest I very much doubt that the 2000 is a 30 year wine although that’s hardly relevant at my age. I do wonder though if the fruit, of which there isn’t yet much evidence, will outlast the tannins since it has been a pretty dry old experience thus far.
I will open a 2000 in the next few weeks to see if there has been any change in the last 9 months.
I agree, in a way. The bottle I tasted didn’t seem to have enough fruit to be at peak drinking much longer vis-a-vis the tannins, but I have no doubt that the 2000 Potensac will last for a long time still. I’m just not sure it will improve, but once in a while after the tannins have melted away, there’s still some nice fruit there…