2004 bordeaux – return to classicism

To a wine lover the Bordeaux market seems truly extraordinary. But to a financial trader its ups and downs are probably perfectly familiar, with buying decisions apparently made en masse, the herd deciding which vintage to buy and which to ignore. Hence the market’s wholesale enthusiasm for 2000, 2003 and 2005 and its relative scorn for the other 21^st century vintages. No matter how many times a right bank producer might reiterate how much better they felt 2001 was than 2000 for them, nor how inexpensive the 2002s were, nor the doubt expressed by so many producers about the effects of the 2003 heatwave summer – the market has decided that 2000, 2003 and 2005 are the vintages to buy.

 

A tasting of 90 leading 2004s last month now that they are in bottle had me scratching my head over this phenomenon. The best 2004s are just so delicious, even if they may not have the intensity of the 2005s, and offer refreshment rather than opulence. This, along with the unfavourable dollar/euro exchange rate when they were released, presumably explains a marked lack of American enthusiasm for the vintage. The 2004 vintage is also much,, much more uneven than 2005. Only those who could afford to thin the threatened bumper crop and really work hard in the vineyard throughout the 2004 summer managed to make characterful wine. Among the petits châteaux which, already in a parlous state, could hardly afford the luxury of such intensive vineyard work, there are many uninspiring examples. But the good wines are very good – and they still look excellent value compared with the 2003s and 2005s.

 

After the unexpectedly rapacious price hikes for the 2005s last spring some merchants thought that 2004 prices would follow in the slipstream so there was a certain amount of speculative buying of the first growths in particular. But the market maker, American wine critic Robert Parker, was decidedly lukewarm about the 2004s and so prices have stagnated.

 

This was a cool, late vintage in which the Cabernet grapes in particular flourished. They were relatively high in tannins but the tannins were ripe and easy to extract, making some very fine, sappy, utterly digestible wines. The berries were notably big and it was common for producers to bleed off the least concentrated juice, the so-called saignée process. When these very backward wines were shown en primeur in April 2005 it was the tannin that was their most obvious characteristic. The tannins are now gently receding leaving well balanced wines with clearly defined fruit flavours and refreshing acidity. These are not for lovers of the black cherry spectrum of flavours. They are lively wines showing more red fruit characters – redcurrants perhaps – and are very definitely best drunk with food.

 

The wines I tasted in London last month were bottled samples of virtually all the most significant wines of the Médoc, Graves and Sauternes with the exception of the first growths and a few super seconds who perhaps feel they have no need to present their wines (a shame) together with most right bank members of the UGC, which in practice means the most established St-Emilions and a handful of Pomerols.  Although here again, the likes of Angélus and Pavie did not participate in London. Perhaps they will be shown at the UGC’s future showings of these wines scheduled over the coming months for the US (four cities) and Asia (five cities, including three in China). 

 

The most consistent high quality was evident in the northern Médoc. I gave all four St Estèphes at least 17 points out of 20 and, if the Pauillacs were more varied, from Lynch Moussas with 15 to Pichon Baron with 18, it was probably because there were so many more of them, 11. St-Juliens, as so often, were simply classic, well balanced claret. Unfortunately, supplies of Léoville Barton had run out by the time I got to them but I was entranced by the quality of its stablemate Langoa Barton (as I had been by the 2005 Langoa tasted on several occasions earlier this year).

 

Margaux in the southern Médoc and the Graves were very much more varied and overall rather less successful, although there were some very pretty wines. The investments made by the new, Dutch team in charge of du Tertre and Giscours in Margaux for instance were certainly paying off by the time the 2004 vintage came along. I could say the same thing about Smith Haut Lafitte of Pessac Léognan in Graves. Here the winemaking team, which includes consultant Michel Rolland, seemed in 2004 to manage the great achievement of making a wine that should appeal to both those who like traditionally styled, elegant wines and those who prefer something more obviously ripe and powerful.

 

Of the varied St-Emilions (which did not include any of the new, so-called ‘garage wines’ that are made sparingly and priced daringly) Canon was my favourite but there were several pretty impressive wines. Several Pomerols seemed quite marked by astringent tannins, perhaps the result of over-extraction, but La Conseillante shone out. Vieux Château Certan, exceptionally good en primeur, was not shown.

 

On the basis of this tasting, most of these 2004 red bordeaux should be at their best from about 2011 or 2012 for 10 years or more, although some of the Margaux, Graves and Pomerol could be broached sooner.  

 

I had neither time nor stamina to taste the dry white Graves, which was unfortunate as 2004 was a very successful vintage for them. I did however end this Bordeaux binge with those great products of the Gironde department that are so often and so unfortunately overlooked, the sweet white Sauternes and Barsacs. Some of these were looking very impressive indeed – more so than when they were first shown in April last year. (The 2004 harvest was exceptionally late, which meant that the primeurs tastings of the 2004s were even more approximate than usual.) The rich, unctuous Climens, tingling with botrytis nerviness, was the single most exciting 2004 I tasted all day, although these sweet white bordeaux may not have the sheer weight of the more fashionable, and expensive, vintages either side of them.

 

 

Ch Climens, Sauternes

Ch Pichon Baron, Pauillac

Ch Langoa Barton, St-Julien

Ch Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac Léognan

 

Ch Lafon Rochet, St-Estèphe 

Ch Phélan Ségur, St Estèphe

Ch Pichon Lalande, Pauillac

Ch Lynch Bages, Pauillac

Ch Léoville Poyferré, St-Julien

Ch Lagrange, St-Julien

Ch Talbot, St-Julien

Ch Canon, St-Emilion

Ch La Conseillante, Pomerol

Ch de Fargues, Sauternes

Ch Doisy Daëne, Barsac

 

For detailed tasting notes, scores and suggested drinking dates for 90 of these wines, see tasting notes.