So this just happened. My husband Eddie told me that we have at least six bottles of 2000 Bordeaux that he was pulling from our cellar to drink. Oh boy, one more reason I made the best choice ever in marrying this guy. Anyway, being the anal compulsive that I am I logged into my Wine Spectator account to see if these wines were ready to drink, in their opinion.
Photo: WineBuyers.com
To me, anything over ten years old is plenty of age on a Bordeaux, and it’s hard to wait longer anyway! I looked up all six and each had not only maintained a 90+ score, five had doubled in price when sold at auction. All were noted to drink from 2010 to 2023. Now sounded good to me. These are the six:
CHÂTEAU DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU
CHÂTEAU PICHON LONGUEVILLE LALANDE
CHÂTEAU RAUZAN-GASSIES
CHÂTEAU MARGAUX
CHÂTEAU MONTROSE
CHÂTEAU PONTET-CANET
Now this could be a six-part series of one-bottle posts, if I can drink them with a notepad, pen and little distraction. Chances are some will be served at dinner parties when I’ll only be able to simply enjoy. You just have to check back to see…
And now to start, we opened our first:
2000 CHÂTEAU DUCRU BEAUCAILLOU
Tasting Notes
Color: Beautiful garnet color stretching out to show a bit of brown (due to age) on the edge.
Bouquet: Right off the bat we found the wine more “multi-dimensional” and “complex” than a younger Bordeaux, stateside or import. I noted aromas of plum, blackberry, blueberry, toasted French bread, dried leaves, dark chocolate, green peppercorn and chocolate-covered biscuit.
Flavor: A perfect balance of fruit and spice. Starting with a fresh bowl of red, blue and black fruit, smoke, char and medium tannins that provided a lengthy finish. My husband remarked that there were no bitter qualities and that the mouthfeel was velvety. We lingered over the bottle and noted that after 15 minutes in the glass the bouquet and flavor had developed even further with darker deeper notes, more earth and that same tannin backing off a bit quicker – still doing the job – but allowing for a even longer finish.
96 Eve pts.
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From Wine Spectator (online)
St.-Julien 2000
Score: 94
Release Price $105
Current Auction Price $204
Country France
Region Bordeaux
Issue Web Only – 2016
Tasting Note: This has mature hints, but there’s great focus as the cedar, bay and leather notes race along with, rather than pull away from, the core of fig and blackberry fruit flavors. The long, bittersweet cocoa—dusted finish provides a solid bass line.–Blind 2000 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2015). Drink now through 2023. –JM
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits. You can also seek her marketing advice via Eve@EveBushmanConsulting.com
The roster of events will include a VIP preview hour, the Grand Walkabout Tasting, and exclusive rare wine Master Classes. A progression of exceptional wine dinners will take place throughout San Francisco the week of October 30, 2017, including a very special “Vérité Winery Retrospective & Dinner” on November 3, 2017, hosted by Lisa Perroti-Brown MW and Vérité Winery’s Hélène Seillan at Spruce restaurant. The “La Paulée” Grande Finale Dinner, The Ultimate Hedonist’s BYOB Dinner, November 4, 2017, will conclude this extraordinary week, with guests invited to bring up to three bottles of their favorite “90 RP points or above” wines to share with fellow subscribers and members of the Robert Parker Wine Advocate review team. Set in the 12th floor Penthouse of the City Club San Francisco, a sumptuous sit-down, four course haute-cuisine menu will make this an extravagant feast not to miss. Seats are limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. This is a rare chance to participate in a true Hedonist’s Gazette dinner with incredible vintner hosts and reviewers Neal Martin, Monica Larner, and Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW.
Winesong 2017 kicked off on Friday, September 8th with a sold-out insider’s view of spectacular Pinot Noirs at ‘A Pinot Noir Celebration’ hosted by the Little River Inn. Guests enjoyed Pinot Noir tastings and delicious passed hors d’oeuvres, along with a chance to “talk shop” with the winemakers from Mendocino County, Napa and Sonoma Counties. On Saturday, September 9th, attendees to the Grand Tasting strolled the enchanting Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens while enjoying vintages poured by world-class wineries from Mendocino, Napa, Sonoma and beyond, and bites from nearly 50 fine food purveyors. The celebration continued in the Auction Tents with the always-entertaining main attraction, the Live and Silent Auctions, where nearly 150 lots were on offer – including spectacular wines from a selection of prestigious wine producers, rare and hard-to-find vintages, special vertical and horizontal collections, original paintings and art from highly acclaimed artists, and domestic and international vacation packages.
There is a little more magic to mention: the invisible cellar, the shuttered chateau. But I do not want to emphasize this. Xavier does not play any of this up: like the vineyards, all of this disappears. There is no show: only wine. He does not even make a show of his methods; he never mentions his own devotion; he never draws distinctions between his way of working and his neighbors’. He does not celebrate or elevate what he does; he is utterly matter of fact. He never mentions “purity” or any other value. His only point of pride, if I read him right, is his wine’s relation to time. His only theory, insofar as I could grasp, is related to what he calls “matière”– “matter.” His labels have alchemical references (see photo); I think that he means something old-fashioned and metaphysical by this. He does not just mean “matter” or even something like information. He talks about his farming being devoted to translating matter from the field (not just the soil) to the grapes, and his pressing being devoted to translating the matter from the grapes to the juice. The density of this wine is due to this attention to matter– and also the complexity, I think. But this means that “matière” is not just some concentration of molecules, but some kind of system, with architecture, proportion, interrelation. For what else is complexity? His matter, I think, is something more like spirit or soul– not necessarily in the Christian sense, but in a way that Aristotle would understand.
A Wine and Food Tour with a difference
What I Learned 
