1900

In 1900 the work on the New York subway begins on the first section from City Hall to the Bronx The Boxer Rebellion
25% of all cars that were sold in 1900 were electric. The Summer Olympic Games of the II Olympiad are held in Paris 

The legendary 1900 !

The 1900 vintage in Bordeaux holds a unique place in this history, marked by a combination of factors that contributed to the character of the wines produced.

Weather Conditions: The weather conditions in Bordeaux during the 1900 growing season played a significant role in shaping the vintage. The year began with a mild winter, followed by a warm and dry spring. However, summer brought challenges, with cooler and wetter conditions than usual. These conditions persisted throughout the growing season, resulting in a late and challenging harvest.

Bordeaux 1900 Reds: The red wines of Bordeaux from the 1900 vintage have achieved legendary status among collectors and wine enthusiasts. These wines are known for their exceptional aging potential and complexity.

Appearance: The 1900 Bordeaux reds typically exhibit a deep garnet-red color with brick-red or amber hints, reflecting their considerable age.

Nose: On the nose, the 1900 Bordeaux reds offer an array of captivating aromas, including dried fruits, tobacco, cedar, leather, and hints of earthy notes. The aromatic complexity is a hallmark of this vintage.

Palate: In the mouth, the 1900 Bordeaux reds are characterized by their remarkable depth, concentration, and structure. The tannins, while present, have softened over the years, providing a velvety and luxurious mouthfeel. The wines maintain a surprising level of acidity, which contributes to their longevity. Flavors of dried fruits, cassis, and subtle spice nuances intermingle, creating a harmonious and enduring finish.

Overall Impressions: The Bordeaux 1900 vintage is celebrated as one of the finest in the region's history. These wines have aged gracefully and continue to captivate wine enthusiasts with their complexity and character. They are a testament to the exceptional winemaking traditions of Bordeaux and offer a unique opportunity to experience a moment in history through wine.

For collectors and connoisseurs, the 1900 Bordeaux wines represent a pinnacle of excellence in the world of fine wine. While finding bottles from this vintage today can be a challenge due to their rarity, those fortunate enough to taste them are rewarded with a glimpse into the enduring appeal and timeless quality that Bordeaux wines can achieve.

The 1900 vintage in Burgundy stands as a historic chapter in the region's winemaking legacy. 

Weather Conditions: The weather conditions in Burgundy during the 1900 growing season were significant factors in shaping the character of the vintage. The year began with a mild winter, followed by a warm and dry spring, which allowed for an early budbreak and flowering. However, summer brought challenges, as it was cooler and wetter than usual, leading to some issues with ripening.

Burgundy 1900 Reds: The red wines of Burgundy from the 1900 vintage are legendary for their exceptional aging potential and complexity. These wines have achieved iconic status among collectors and connoisseurs.

Appearance: The 1900 Burgundy reds typically exhibit a deep garnet color with brick-red or amber hints, reflecting their considerable age.

Nose: On the nose, the 1900 Burgundy reds offer a beguiling bouquet of dried red fruits, forest floor, hints of earthiness, and subtle spice notes. The aromatic profile is a testament to the remarkable complexity of these wines.

Palate: In the mouth, the 1900 Burgundy reds are marked by their depth, concentration, and silky texture. The tannins, having aged gracefully, contribute to the wines' velvety mouthfeel. Surprisingly, the wines maintain a refreshing acidity, which is essential for their longevity. Flavors of dried cherries, blackcurrants, and nuances of truffle and spice intertwine harmoniously, creating a profound and enduring finish.

Overall Impressions: The Burgundy 1900 vintage is celebrated as one of the region's greatest years, producing wines of extraordinary quality and longevity. These wines have aged gracefully and continue to captivate wine enthusiasts with their complexity and character. They are a testament to the enduring excellence of Burgundy's Pinot Noir.

For collectors and connoisseurs, the 1900 Burgundy wines represent a pinnacle of excellence in the world of fine wine. While finding bottles from this vintage today can be a challenge due to their rarity and age, those fortunate enough to experience them are rewarded with a profound connection to Burgundy's rich winemaking heritage and the timeless quality that Burgundy wines can achieve.

Port Vintage Report: A great Vintage, in terms of quality and quantity. Delicate and harmonious wines though with less colour and body than the more famous Vintages. Almost all companies declared production. Late harvest, in late September and early October, with good weather after a few days of rain.

Declared by almost all producers, Ernest Cockburn said the wines showed “great delicacy with appreciable breed, and though lighter in colour and body than many previous vintages they appealed to the connoisseurs of Port Wine”. Tasted at over 100 years old, these Ports still have life and are delicate and fine.

Château Margaux 1900

"Chateau Margaux was another celebrated 1900, and said to be the finest Margaux of all" so wrote the noted British author, Edmund Penning Rowsell in describing the 1900 vintage in his book, "The Wines of Bordeaux", published in 1979--a book I religiously followed in my early days of collecting great wines.

The Finest Margaux

The finest Margaux of all? Thus started my odyssey of almost twenty years of acquiring, drinking and tasting this wine. It has been like the movie Forrest Gump -- it seems I was present, at least in the early years, whenever the 1900 Margaux was drunk. At times I even helped initiate the drinking! I met some remarkable people and made life long friends along the way in a journey which, even after two decades, shows no signs of ending.

It was in the late seventies when I was just starting to collect wines that I got hold of a bottle. My friend Edward Lazarus and his friends had acquired a large quantity of 1900 Chateau Margaux at a Christie's auction held in England to help raise money to save Venice, Italy, from being submerged under flood of water. One of his friends, Richard Webber, was willing to exchange a bottle of his 1900 with six bottles of Chateau Petrus 1975. I had a full case of Petrus so without hesitation I agreed to the exchange.

That was my first occasion to taste this remarkable wine.

Several months later I had another bottle, this time with Ed Lazarus and two others at a lunch when both Chateau Margaux and Chateau Haut Brion, each from the greatest twin vintages of Bordeaux, 1899 and 1900 -- a total of four wines--were drunk side by side. To this day I remember how spectacular the 1900 Margaux and 1899 Haut Brion were.

Describing the taste of 1900 Ch. Margaux

How do you describe 1900 Margaux? The word that almost always comes to my mind is, other worldly. It has that scent which is loaded with violets, a hallmark of this chateau (I use the word scent rather than the traditional "nose" because that is what it is). Velvety texture, elegance and finesse are all there that symbolize a great Margaux but it is also very sweet and jammy with just the perfect balance, no sharp edges, no excessive sweetness or dryness even after many decades. A wine of incredibly many layers.

Years went by, interrupted, with occasional drinking of this wine with my friends. Then in 1987 as Chateau Margaux, after many years of lackluster performance, was making a dramatic comeback under the leadership of the Mentzelopoulos family that I began thinking about doing a giant vertical tasting. The time was ripe to show the wine world how great this property really was. Corinne Mentzelopoulos who was then at the helm of the Chateau wholeheartedly agreed. We worked out the logistics for the tasting when we got together for dinner at TAILLEVENT, one of my most favorite restaurants in Paris, with my wife, Blaire, along with my friend Wolfgang Grunewald. What was served? 1900 Margaux, of course, as well as the other two great Margaux, 1928 and 1961, all from Wolfgang's and my collection.

It so happened that just about that time there was a big sale at Christie's in London of older vintages of Chateau Margaux from a cellar belonging to a British family. It had vintages back to 1860's. I was successful in getting most of them which were then served at the tasting. The Chateau also supplied a large array of their wines, young and old.

The L.A. event and The Wine of the Century

The tasting was finally held in 1987 at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Los Angeles over three sessions covering an entire weekend. It was one of those memorable tastings where almost every single bottle turned out to be in impeccable condition, including the 1900, 1899, all the way back. At the tasting, I remember looking over my shoulder asking Ed Lazarus down the table, with whom I had shared great memories of these wines, how the bottles were. "Perfect" he reassured me. Many notable wine personalities, including Michael Broadbent, attended. Also present was the motion picture director Francis Ford Coppola, a friend of the Mentzelopoulos family. In welcoming him to the tasting I told the audience, borrowing the famous line from his movie, The Godfather," Here is Mr. Coppola. He came because Corinne made an offer he could not refuse".

Along with the sensational 1900 there were other vintages at least as good if not better like 1865 and 1864 -- considered one of the greatest twin vintages in Bordeaux. I will be writing about this tasting in one of the later issues describing fully all the vintages we tasted (yes, including 1771 and 1791). The tasting was written up in many renowned wine magazines around the world including in the Wine Spectator by Harvey Steiman as well as in Decanter by Michael Broadbent. Last year the Wine Spectator named 1900 Ch. Margaux as one of the wines of the century.

Contacting Robert Parker

As it almost always happens, not everyone who was invited to the tasting was able to attend. There were a number of writers from abroad who could not make it.

Among Americans two who we particularly wanted to attend were, unfortunately, unable to do so, Frank Prial of New York Times, one of the most respected wine writers in this country, and Robert Parker. Parker had been writing gloriously at that time about Chateau Margaux based on his tastings of the Mentzelopoulos vintages of 1978 through the '80s. It was only natural, I thought, that he also taste the great old vintages.

It occurred to me that another tasting was in order, but on a much smaller scale highlighting only the greatest wines, particularly the very old vintages, and invite those who, for one reason or another, could not make it to Los Angeles.

I knew Parker well so I called him in early 1988 to tell him how great the event in Los Angeles had turned out. I told him he had missed many sensational old vintages, particularly the 1900. He confessed he was not aware of anything special about the 1900 Margaux. I described to him how extraordinary this wine was and sent him all the details he requested. I also had something I knew would almost certainly clinch the issue.

At the Los Angeles tasting Paul Pontallier, the great wine maker at Margaux, had told me an astonishing fact: the two vintages 1900 and 1982 were almost identical for Chateau Margaux. Same weather conditions, same quantity of production, similar characteristics of the grapes etc.. Knowing Parker's fanaticism for the 1982 vintage I relayed this fact to him. It worked.

Paris Event and (two)bottles of 1900 Ch. Margaux

A dozen of us gathered at TAILLEVENT in Paris on November 17, 1988 for a tasting over two sessions. The group included, besides Parker and Prial, Jancis Robinson from England, Fumiko Arisaka from Japan, Hanns Janssen from Germany, along with my friends from Los Angeles, Manny and Willette Klausner and Wolfgang Grunewald. Corinne came with her fiancé, Hubert Leven.

For the event Blaire had prepared the books for the tasting notes that were themselves pieces of art. The cover paper, the text papers, and the end paper each had a special historical origin and the printing was done individually for each book on a special press. Each page was reserved for a specific vintage with the description of the harvest conditions supplied by the chateau. For the 1900 it read as follows:

"Very warm summer, hotter than 1899, and baking heat during the harvest. The grapes were very ripe. A superabundant crop. Picking began on September 24. Production: 29,000 cases."

The first session covered 1961, 1945, 1928, 1945(magnum), 1949(magnum), 1900, 1899, 1893, 1870. The second session was essentially a vertical of the vintages from 1978 to 1986. There were some incredible dishes accompanying the different flights.

And then came the flight which included one of the bottles of 1900 -- the chateau had contributed two bottles of it. It was superb. But with all the bonhommie and conviviality going on I said " what the heck, we might as well have the second bottle". Soon we started discussing the relative merits of the two bottles though it seemed a bit ridiculous to compare the two as both were so extraordinary. Then we realized that while we were all there on our vacations Hubert had to go back to work that day. We asked how he would explain to his colleagues such a long lunch break which was long even under French standards. " I'll tell them I was having lunch drinking many old bottles of Chateau Margaux, including the1900" he said. And what will he tell them about the 1900, we asked. He said " I'll tell them there were these two fantastic bottles---but the second one was better !".

Receiving 100 points

The event was written up in New York Times and in other journals and books.

As for Parker he sent me a gracious note thanking me for the Paris tasting, telling me that the taste of that remarkable 1900 was still there in his mouth and that he was going to anxiously monitor the 1982 to see if it will ever rise to that level.

He then wrote about the 1900 in the Wine Advocate awarding it a perfect score of 100.

Generosity of Friends

I have had the wine a number of times since then including once an Imperiale from the only person who can do it in large formats, the German collector Hardy Rodenstock.

There were a few other times which have particularly stayed in my memory because of the sheer generosity of my hosts. Once with Danny Oliveros and Jeff Sokolin from New York at Danny's apartment in one of the most casual surroundings for serving some of the world's greatest wines-around a coffee table with just some snacks. No fancy clothes, no fancy restaurants, but a single minded attention to a whole array of Margaux which were served blind: 1983, 82, 61, 53, 45 and then 1900. The other times were with Frank Komorowski, and his wife, Mary Wall at their lavish birthday celebrations, when bottles and magnums of 1900 Margaux were served along with many of the world's greatest rarities. An overwhelming number of participants at their events never had this wine previously and may never have it again. But the memory of this wine will linger on with everyone for a very long time.

The Greatest Wine ?

Is this the greatest wine in the world today? I would say it is certainly one of the 10 greatest red Bordeaux of that era. In this group I can think of other contenders which I have tasted like 1870 Ch. Lafite from the cellars of Glamis Castle in Scotland, 1864/1865 Ch.Lafite, 1864/1865 Ch.Margaux, 1870 Ch.Latour, several vintages of Ch. Ausone of last century, 1899 Ch. Haut Brion I already mentioned earlier.

But the 1900 Ch. Margaux has by far the greatest mystique, not only because of the wine but also because it happens to be a Margaux which has always had a certain special aura of romance and fascination associated with it.

Margaux and the Modern Style

How does it compare with the "modern" style of wines that is being aggressively touted today?... Is it a big wine with a huge amount of alcohol ? No, it has only 12 percent alcohol, if that. Like any great wine from Bordeaux, it never needed a huge dose of it. What you see in it is what comes from the greatness of the soil, the grape and the wine-making......Does it, or did it, have an inky-black-purple-knock-out color ? No and no. It is medium to dark-medium in color..... Is it now, or was it ever, a heavily extracted "fruit bomb"? Never.

And yet, it is still going strong after a hundred years, picking up many little nuances along the way as it ages gracefully.