2000 Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Grand Cru Classe, Red Bordeaux, France.
Checking in on 2000 Bordeaux is always revealing, but ultimately disappointing, especially the wines you want to be fantastic, when are these hard core wines ever going to be ready, or pleasing? It mystifies me, over the years and with all the hype surrounding the vintage, I’ve found very few that turn my head, the exceptions so far have been Angelus, Pontet-Canet (still hard and tight) and Haut-Bailly, the rest have been less than stellar let’s say, if fact I completely hate the 2000 Mouton, I’ve had it many times, from regular 750ml to Magnums (twice) and it is in my opinion no where as good as it should be and I feel it will never be, I found it animal/murky and very unpleasant without fail, but the Pichon Comtesse is starting to show some promise and it was certainly better than Mouton! The example of 2000 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande came from a perfect cellar and was still amazingly youthful and tight, even after decanting and with almost 18 hours of air! I should think another 10 to 15 years are needed for these top 2000 Bordeaux to begin to come together, in the meantime find and drink the 2001 vintage, vastly underrated and a true bargain, the 2001 wines are much more pleasing, beautiful and rewarding at this point. All that ranting aside, there is potential here, and while not joyously hitting the right notes, the 2000 Pichon has lots to admire hiding behind it’s tough frame, there is soft floral notes, smoke, blackberry, black cherry, dark currants, plum and graphite up front, while slowly evolving, it has fine mineral, licorice, blackberry, cedar and lifting acidity making the fruit at least shine through the tannins. The structure is firm, but not bitterly harsh, it is just holding back the body and texture from giving much still. Fine and elegant detail pop in and out of view, with tobacco leaf, herbs and spice in the background of this Cabernet Sauvignon led wine, sadly drinking this wine now is like watching paint dry, it is frustrating and gives a sense of hopelessness, be very, very patient if you have this one in the cellar, I almost would tell us mature folks to sell the 2000’s and invest the proceeds in a more opulent and friendly vintage! Drink from 2020-2035.
($200-300 Est.) 92+ Points, grapelive
