I will soon start recapping my regular Friday night tastings at Bin 75 again, but first I wanted to write about several wines we've had over the past two months which may have finally convinced me of the greatness of Bordeaux. The thing is, this isn't about some first-growths, or great modern vintages like 1982 or 1990 or even 2000. Instead, I have been wowed by multiple wines from 1993, a vintage generally overlooked and considered below average and early-maturing. However, over the past few months, our group has now had four different wines from 1993, and most of them have been fabulous examples of classic aged Bordeaux.
The least impressive of the group was actually the most recent, this past Friday's Gruaud-Larose. While not a bad wine, this wine was one that did seem to be fading a bit. After a fantastic classic Bordeaux nose, when tasting the wine it left a little to be desired. There was still some good earthiness, and not any soy characteristics creeping in, but the fruit was fading and the finish was short. Still, for a wine that was rated 86 points by Parker, it has held up remarkably well for an 18 year old wine.
Now onto the wines that really inspired this post. First was the 1993 Angelus, which was considered one of the better wines of the vintage. When we had this wine, it was showing off all the great characteristics of classic Bordeaux. There was a great nose, great balance on the palate, hints of earthiness, and a fairly long finish. Tasting blind (as we always do on Fridays) we all thought it could be a top wine (such as Angelus) but from a top vintage like 1990. When we saw it was 1993, we were all quite impressed at how well the wine had aged.
Perhaps inspired by this wine, others began showing up with wines from the vintage. Out next experience was the Pichon-Longueville-Baron, a wine that wasn't considered among the best of the vintage, nor anywhere near the best wines from this producer. However, this wine was just as impressive as the 1995 and 2000 Pichon Barons we've had recently. I'd probably even rate it above the 1995 (my notes on the 2000 are skewed, as the night we had it, the wine came several sports after the 1990 Montrose, which blew it and all others that night away). Once agin though, I was really wowed how a wine from such a sub-par vintage had turned into a classic after 18 years.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago we had the 1993 Tertre Roteboeuf. Perhaps showing (along with the Angelus) that the Left Bank was more successful in '93, this wine was again firing on all cylinders. It didn't quite have the depth and complexity of the Angelus, but it was still a really good wine. I don't know that it has that much life left in it, but right now this wine is still showing its stuff.
Overall, these 1993s may have finally convinced me of why so many feel that Bordeaux is the king of wine regions. While I still feel that other places can make great wines, it is rare for an off vintage anywhere else to produce such classic wines that can age for up to 20 years. I've sampled some great Hermitage from lesser vintages, but with only a handful of prodcuers to begin with, even they can't compete. As someone who has very little Bordeaux in my cellar, I feel a bit dismayed by prices for the new "classic" vintages, knowing I really can't afford much. But judging by these wines, I now have faith that if I search out some great producers in lesser vintages, there could be some great deals in age-worthy wines, and to me that is something I thought was gone for Bordeaux.
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