Tasting Report: 2008 Bordeaux
If you love drinking Bordeaux, you are going to love 2008. I just finished tasting a few hundred of the top names from France’s premium wine region, and I was impressed with the overall quality of the wines. Another good thing is most of them cost 30 to 50 percent less than current prices for the same wines in 2009.
I spent about a week in Bordeaux tasting bottled reds, dry whites and Sauternes, both in blind tastings at my hotel and in the cellars of chateaux. I found about 120 outstanding quality wines that I rated 90 points or more. Eight of the wines I score 95 points or more.
My two top wines were white Haut-Brion and Ausone. These are both legends in the own rights in just about every vintage – and 2008 was no different. The Haut-Brion is the standard bearer for dry whites in the region and is one of the best whites on earth. The 2008 is classy and ultra-refined, with wonderful intensity and power.
By comparison, Ausone’s 2008 is all about breeding and depth of fruit – particularly the Cabernet Franc in the blend – and shows an uncanny balance between power and finesse. I scored both 96 points.
The other top wines in my tasting included: Cheval Blanc, Lafite Rothschid, Latour, Léoville Las Cases, and Pavie. I scored all of them 95 points. Just after, at 94 points were: Ducru-Beaucaillou, Haut-Brion, L'Église Clinet, Montrose, Pavie-Decesse, Pétrus, Domaine de Chevalier (white), and Vieux-Château-Certan.
What I like about the wines is their wonderfully enticing aromas of flowers, dark fruits and minerals and earth. The top wines are a joy to smell. They entice you like a vase full of beautiful roses in your house.
The palates of the wines are equally attractive. They are not full throttle like 2009, but reserved and lively. They are dense wines, but not thick and muscular. Some people may find them two restrained and firm, especially if they prefer rich and high alcohol red. But if they like outstanding, typical Bordeaux reds from a cool (meaning less hot weather during the growing season) vintage, then 2008 is a vintage to seriously consider.
Most of the wines in this tasting report need about three to four years of bottle age to start to be considered approachable for drinking. But six to seven years in bottle would be better. Most of the Bordeaux winemakers I spoke to said that their wines would be great for another 10, 20 or even 30 years. The two vintages most often compared were 1988 and 2001. I am more comfortable comparing 2008 with 2001, which was particularly strong on the Right Bank. The wines in 2001 have always been balanced and fresh as well as good values
Indeed, the 2008 vintage offers many excellent values. The most obvious seems to be super second growths such as Ducru-Beaucaillou or Cos d’Estournel. These wines in 2008 may cost about $125 or so a bottle, while in 2009 they make be more than double that price.
Most of the wines in this report are still not delivered. So if you buy now, be sure to buy from a reputable wine merchant.
