Bordeaux’s Millennium Vintage: An Overview

The 2000 Bordeaux vintage has been broadly hailed as one of the best of the past several decades. It has been compared with legendary vintages such as the 1982 and the 1961. While it is too early to make that sort of comparison (the vintage hasn’t even been bottled yet, and only cask tastings have been conducted for the most part), still there is a uniform appreciation that the quality of the vintage is quite high. There is even some tentative agreement that the vintage is most successful in Pauillac and St. Julien, in the Medoc region north of Bordeaux. However, those willing to go out on a limb at this point say that Chateau Margaux may well turn out to be the wine of the vintage. That is not a terribly daring prediction: it is a bit like saying that a performance by the Three Tenors will play to a full house. Known, reliable quality tends to justify safe predictions. We are talking, of course, about Bordeaux red wines. The white wines are not generally said to be of the same order of excellence. As for the sweet wines, the Sauternes region with their later harvesting period experienced some untimely rainfall during those harvests, reducing the prospects there for the concentrated pourriture noble on which excellence depends. For the red wines, a hot summer and sufficient but not excessive rainfall produced fine results. It is worth noting that many estates have now upgraded their equipment, a process that really began decades ago at Chateau Haut Brion under the American ownership of the Dillon family. Although I have been critical of the trend towards corporate ownership of Bordeaux wine estates, a trend made necessary in part because of self-defeating and nearly confiscatory French estate taxes, still it must be said that for the time being, quality has been preserved and enhanced at a number of wine estates. We shall see if that salutary trend continues in less favored vintage years, when the bottom line becomes more important to corporate wine estate managers. For now, though, the news is good, and since 2000 is taken as the Millennial Vintage, it is a vintage that signifies an event. In years to come, you should have some bottles of 2000 Bordeaux on hand to serve for festive occasions. The oohs and aahs are virtually guaranteed. The best news is that like 1982, there seems to be a nearly universal excellence to the wine, in all of the famous Bordeaux regions, from the Medoc to the Graves, and also quite fine wines were made across the Garonne River, in St.Emilion and Pomerol. You can hardly go wrong with any of your favorite Bordeaux wines. Of course, you pay for what you get. Bearing in mind differences in quality that prices reflect, still, more reasonably priced Bordeaux wines are also going to be better than usual, more flavorful and well structured. That means that the very high-priced garagiste wines like Chateau Villandraud should find fewer customers. I hope so, for I prefer to see qualities of terroir and attention to blending and tradition rewarded. It will be interesting to see what happens now to these high priced wines, which lack this background, most of which have never been tasted in their maturity (because they haven’t produced any wines yet that have reached sufficient age to be considered mature wines), Futures offerings for the 2000 Bordeaux vintage abound. One is buying, of course, wines that do not yet exist. They will be bottled and shipped two years from now. Do we know enough to say whether there will be good value? If they are, shouldn’t the consumer wait until the wines are on the shelves before buying them? I have had the pleasure of participating in many barrel tastings in Bordeaux and Burgundy. Although one is tasting brand new blended wines (or sometimes, the components of such wines), still there is a period before the new wines close up and become tannic, when one can get a good approximation of what the wine will taste like, its balance, fruit and structure, when mature. And so yes, it does seem as though one may trust the 2000 vintage. It should be of very good quality, and that quality does seem to extend throughout the regions of Bordeaux. Should you buy now? I remember when I could have bought 1982 Petrus at $100 a bottle (in St. Emilion in 1983). Now you could expect to pay for a bottle of that vintage at auction what a full case sold for then. Whether you should wait a bit until the wines hit the shelves depends upon your own requirements, and how scarce the wines you prefer may be. The wines seem unlikely to decrease in value from their futures prices (as some recent vintages have done). I can’t say whether you should buy Cisco again now, but I think that Bordeaux 2000 is a good futures buy at present. If you are buying now, it is worth remembering that one of the factors you can choose is the size of the bottles. In addition to the usual 12 bottle case size, there are magnums (two bottles, or 6 to a case) and larger formats. Also, there are half-bottles, 24 to a case. Any variation from the usual size will set you back a minimal amount, say $18-$20 a case. There are advantages in getting these different sizes. For one thing, it takes Bordeaux wines time to mature. Purists would have you wait 8-10 years at least. However, bottle size affects that. Larger sizes take longer to mature (and many believe, evolve more flavorfully), and smaller sizes are ready to drink sooner. You could, therefore, order a case of half bottle through your retailer, and have wines from the 2000 vintage that can be enjoyed quite soon. For the grand dinner occasion, a magnum of a classified 2000 Bordeaux will help create a sense of occasion. You should have both in your cellar, in addition to regular bottles of wine. A companion column will suggest several dozen reasonably priced wines to buy from this vintage on a futures basis. Let me also say, however, that Bordeaux wines are getting more expensive. Gone are the days when I could (and did) buy a bottle of 1959 Lafite Rothschild at my retailer’s for under $10! A case of the 2000 Lafite on a futures contract basis will probably set you back $4000. Is this worth buying? To paraphrase a famous remark, if you have to ask, you shouldn’t buy it. However, it is also worth noting that those Bordeaux wines which rise most consistently in value are the most celebrated, and expensive ones. If you want to buy wine on a futures basis and hold it for eventual sale at auction for a profit, and can afford it, you are better off buying one of the finest Bordeaux wines, the great first growths or their equivalents. These are Chateau Haut Brion, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, Chteau Ausone, and Chateau Cheval Blanc. The so-called “super second” wines and their equivalents also do well over the long run, but usually do not appreciate as much as the top eight wines. One buying strategy, perhaps over time, would be to buy wines from each of the Bordeaux regions. Then, you will be able to compare how fine wines from these different areas compare in a single vintage year. I did this for the 1982 vintage, and ended up selling a number of cases at auction. The appreciation paid for every wine in my cellar! Another strategy, and one that I recommend, is to know your own tastes and what you prefer. If you do that, you may find yourself with a favorite Bordeaux, or at most, several favorites. I would concentrate on buying case wines for that or those wines, in quality years. You will have great pleasure in having vertical tastings of your favorite wine, comparing different vintage years. Whichever you decide, the 2000 Bordeaux vintage will reward your choice and, I am sure, delight you and your friends in years to come. Take a look at Bill’s biography! Copyright © 2001, Paris New Media, LLC