Bordeaux Wines

Well, the consensus is in from all of the powerhouse wine critics/writers and industry insiders who were able to attend tastings of barrel samples from some of the best Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Cabernet Franc producers on the planet. I happened to miss out on the fun because the DamnGoodWine executives decided to spend my airfare on some recent excursions to Morton’s and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, but enough about us, lets get into some wine.


Everyone is raving about the Bordeaux 2000 vintage. I have heard “Stellar”, “Amazing”, “Vintage of the Century”, “Best since ‘61’”, “Best since ‘90’”, and the always popular “A Benchmark Year”. Here are some quotes from some guys who eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff and where able to taste up to 400 wines in a bustling week in Bordeaux.

Robert Parker Jr. of the Wine Advocate says, “The 2000 vintage has produced some of the most immense, black-colored, concentrated, powerful and tannic wines of the last thirty years. Moreover, the finest 2000s possess the most impressive length, structure, concentration and delineation that I have experienced in 23 years of tasting new Bordeaux vintages.”

James Suckling from the Wine Spectator has awarded his “classic potential” classification to 22 producers from the 2000 Bordeaux vintage compared to 1 last year, and says “…the 2000 vintage will certainly be remembered for its excellent quality. And it will always symbolize the new millennium. But this vintage could be more than a symbol. It could be a new beginning for Bordeaux, a global relaunching of what I believe is the greatest wine region in the world. This is Bordeaux’s big chance…”

Wilfred Wong, wine buyer for Beverages & More! says, “We quickly became captivated by this vintage of epic proportions. We could find little fault with the overall vintage. As we ink-stained our teeth, fingers, and clothes through 360-barrel samples from the new vintage, we secretly reminded ourselves that we could be witnessing history in the making by being here for the 2000 vintage.

These raves are echoed throughout the wine world and will lead to some very expensive wines that you and I may struggle get our hands on. I have been sifting through dozens of tasting reports and futures offerings on these wines and would like to let you damngoodwine readers in on some vintage 2000 Red Bordeaux wines I think will prove to out perform others on a price/value scale. Because it is nice to get what you pay for, and sometimes feel that you have got more for your money. But first, a little blurb or two about Bordeaux.

Bordeaux in a Nut-Shell
For any readers not oh-so-familiar with the region of Bordeaux, let me give you a brief overview. Bordeaux is located in the southwestern region of France and is the largest source of quality wine in the world.

There are over 7000 Chateaus and Domaines producing wine from more than 270,000 vineyard acres, resulting in more than 44 million cases of wine a year. Many wines are ordinary while others stand out as some of the greatest in the world.

Red wines are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc with sometimes small percentages of Malbec and Petit Verdot added. These (reds) are the wines that have given the Bordeaux region legendary status for some 2000 years. The white wines are blends of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle, and are produced and collected to a lesser extent, but are recognized worldwide as some of the best-of-the-best in their class.

The label of the Bordeaux wines usually features the name of the Chateau at which the grapes were grown and the wine was bottled, the vintage of the grape harvest, and the region or district within Bordeaux in which the particular Chateau is located.

The five main districts are Pomerol, Saint-Emilion, Graves/Pessac-Leognan, Sauternes, and the Medoc. You don’t have to memorize them, and there will be no quiz later.

Within the Medoc there are four important smaller appellations that produce spectacular wines, these are St.-Estephe, Paulliac, St.-Julien and Margaux.

The terms “Left Bank” and “Right Bank” refer to the banks of the Gironde Estuary that starts north of the city of Bordeaux where the Garonne and Dordogne rivers join. Left Bank wines are usually more Cabernet Sauvignon based and encompass the Medoc and Graves regions, while the Right Bank wines favor Merlot and are strongly represented by Pomerol and Saint-Emilion.

Most red Bordeaux wines require at least 3 to 4 years from harvest to become drinkable, about 10 to 20 years to peak, and some have lasted for more than 100 years.

There are of course different quality levels of Bordeaux wines and a few different classification systems are in place. There are basic low-end Bordeaux’s that specify the general region, other get more specific and specify the smaller appellations (ex. Paulliac, Margaux, etc.) generally increasing in quality, and then finally individual vineyards will recognize the Chateau. The Chateaus have major classifications that they use on a label to signify quality. The top 61 Chateaus of the Medoc are able to use the term “Grand Cru Classe” and 419 others are entitled to use “Cru Bourgeois” on the label. Graves has 16 Chateaus that are able to use “Grand Cru Classe” and over in St-Emillion the top 13 Chateaus use “Premier Grand Cru Classe”. O.k., all this is a little confusing and can take a while to get to know. Just needed to let you know that things are monitored rather closely in Bordeaux and wine quality is of major importance.

Bordeaux “Futures”
If you are looking to buy wines from the 2000 vintage then you will possibly be buying them through a retailers “Futures” program. This simply means that you are paying in advance to lock into a price and availability of a given wine. For example you may pre-pay $400 now for a bottle of Chateau Latour, and upon release in 2003, it may be fetching a price of $600 a bottle. Bingo, you have saved some cash (locking in your $400 price) and kept your stake on a very hard to find bottle of wine by purchasing it the “Futures” way. Almost without fail the price you pay for wines on a futures basis will be considerably lower than the general price of the wine upon it’s actual release.
You are paying for the wine before it is bottled and before the final blend has been finalized.

Definitely look to established wine retailers when proceeding to buy wine in this manner. I’m sure we don’t need to remind many consumers to choose the veteran retailers when putting up your money now and receiving your wine in 24 months.

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