I think that’s the point, what are expectations of a top Château in a lesser year. Versus a lesser Château in a great year. I have a few of these in my cellar will see if I can try one in the next few weeks.
Don’t know if I would go as high as “wonderful” but a bottle a few months ago surprised me. Very solid for the vintage.
The 2000 and 2001 Lalande are both really good. Never had the 2000 straight up against the Baron, but I thought the 2001 PLL did edge out the 2001 PB.
They missed the boat on 2005, but other than that what is the complaint?
I’m cracking one of my two bottles tonight, with a 60-day aged NY Strip from Flannery, since our Grower Champagne event was canceled due to illness in the house (wife and FIL) - will report back
If you like more classically proportioned wines, and if you like cool-fruit Cabernet, 2002 is a sleeper vintage for the wines that did well, IMO. I’m not going to say it’s anything more than an ‘average’ vintage. But, where the Cabernet was nice, some really good wines were made. IMO, the better examples (e.g., Mouton, Latour, Pichons Lalande and Baron) are compact wines that still need some time. I always find the best examples have improved the next day.
All that said, the 2001 PLL is screaming good right now and I prefer it to the 2002 for current drinking. Which will be better in the end who knows. But, I do think that the 2002, from a cold cellar, is likely to improve over the next 5 or even 10 years or so. There’s a lot of stuffing to the wine and my bottles have shown rather primary each time I’ve had it.
Enjoy it tonight!
Well crap! Now I don’t want to open it! Many feel '03 Leoville Poyferre is singing right now, I feel it is too stuffed as well, and needs further integration. Otherwise, one would assume that would be a good wine for such a piece of meat, but I don’t want to ‘waste’ it by opening it early (‘waste’ another one, I mean). There’s something wonderful about hitting the perfect timing on a wine. I’ve still got my '05’s but never know if those are ready or not either.
Maybe I’ll crack the lone bottle of '01 L’Evangile I’ve got instead…
Tough choices… ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Back in the day Sams blew cases out at $29 per bottle. I dumped my 5 cases after multiple tastings of this thin and green Bordeaux.
I remember in the mid-1990s, I used to poke at a friend who bought a lot of the 1994 Grand Puy Lacoste. He started to bring it to tastings once a year or so and it got to a point that the brown bag didn’t hide what it was. Thin and weedy is how I remember describing it. By the time it was 20 years old or so, it was altogether different. The fruit got warmer and richer, the green weedy aspect of the wine went toward cigar box and currant bush. Once it came around, it was a very aromatic and classic Pauillac (something many on CT note).
The 2002 Pichon Lalande is better than the 1994 Grand Puy Lacoste ever was. I wish I was around to be on the receiving end of your dumping…
Interesting Jim. FWIW, we had a 1990 Pichon Lalande early this year (+/-). It was lovely, elegant claret. I think many of the '02s and '04s with green characters or under-ripe tannins will be pretty average now, but turn into very nice drinks with another ten years.
1990 PLL is another great example. I’ve had it blind in tastings many times and it always shows very well and it’s fresher than a lot of 1990s. It’s not one of the top wines of the vintage by any stretch – but, it’ll probably outlast a lot of the ones that were higher rated. Cellar tracker scores have been in the 92-94 range for the wine for years now.
Here’s Parker’s note:
A noteworthy failure in this vintage, the 1990 Pichon Lalande is slightly green, but that’s not its biggest defect. An absence of concentration, a hollow mid-palate, and shallow currant and plum-like fruit go nowhere on the palate. As I indicated from the very beginning - caveat emptor!
Sorry I couldn’t send some your way. Also in that same pallet there was ‘02 Pichon Baron. Side by side the Baron was clearly the better wine and might be a nice bottle now.