Jeannie Cho Lee

Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Conti Grand Cru 2016 /
An expressive Romanee-Conti with great exuberance, intensity and complexity. This is a brilliant vintage for DRC and the Romanee-Conti in this vintage is suprisingly open at this stage. The wine combines everything one would want in a great Burgundy wine – delicacy, purity, depth, complexity, length and seductive flavors. 99 points

Château Lafleur 1952 - 100 points / A gorgeous wine with layers of tobacco, leather, dried plums and hint of cacao. The palate is seductively silky with an explosion of additional spicy and dried berry flavours. Wonderful lingering finish. This wine is utter perfection.

1945 Mommessin – Clos de Tart Grand Cru / Medium garnet hue with a fading rim. This wine is amazingly young and an unconvincing ’45. Sweet potpourri on the nose with hints of dried red berries. This wine is still fresh, possesses good density, firm tannins and a grippy, tannic finish. Discussions evolved around what other wine (from Africa, southern France) this bottle might contain besides Clos de Tart.(93)

Overall, Burgundy 2018 will be remembered as a warm vintage with heat spikes that didn’t last as long as during 2003. Thus the red wines tend toward fruits such as figs and prunes with elevated, dense tannins that could be plush and supple or chunky and dry. The biggest challenge was getting sufficient freshness in the wines, with the dense tannins, ripe fruit and/or high alcohol trying to take center stage. In capable hands, the red wines have great power and capacity to age and the quality is very high. The high quality is not across the board, and in my experience, around 70% of the estates and wines I tasted took full advantage of this vintage and made fabulous wines, and the rest were disappointing.

2005 Château Palmer, Margaux, Bordeaux, France / This is a sweet opulent Palmer that doesn’t have the delicate floral notes; rather, the flavours are dominated more by primary fruit right now. The palate is explosive and shows great promise for a fantastic wine with great ageing potential. A real beauty that tastes balanced when young but with the potential to age for decades. A concentrated, very impressive wine. (98)

Chateau Musar 1998 / This is a beautifully mature wine that is delicious to enjoy now. The wine has elegance, persistence and ethereal flavours of dried autumn leaves, black truffles and pu'er tea. Lovely, silky texture, supple palate and a long finish. An impressive wine that rivals the best of Bordeaux

2004 Charles Heidsieck Blanc de Millenaires / Toasty and layered with wonderful depth and a long finish. This prestige cuvee offers wonderful concentration and is often under-valued in the market compared to its peers. Since 1983, the Blanc de Millenaires is only sourced from 5 villages of Cote de Blanc. 30,000 bottles made per year. Aged for 13 years on its lees and made only every 5-7 years.

1982 is an iconic vintage for Bordeaux, and for many wine lovers, it’s a reference point as a modern, ripe year that was delicious from the onset. The top wines are still holding up well and show no signs of fading. However, some of the lesser wines are starting to show its age. This ripe vintage has given us a wide drinking window, regardless of the specific appellation and terroir. For those that still have some top 1982 Bordeaux in your cellar, there is no rush to pull the cork. A long life ahead awaits these beauties.

My overall impression after tasting over 300 wines from across all appellations of Bordeaux is that it is generally an excellent vintage for red wines. The 2020 red wines have as much depth and concentration as the previous two vintages, 2018 and 2019, but tastes lighter, less denser on the palate. For example, the four first growths I tasted – Mouton, Lafite, Margaux and Haut-Brion were outstanding in their sculpted expression of their own individual terroirs. Anyone who really wants to understand the character and terroir of Lafite for example, should really seek out the 2020 vintage. What I loved about Margaux in this vintage is the sculpted, precise, detailed expression despite the immense concentration of flavors. Haut-Brion was incredibly layered and complex while Mouton was expressive and deep with amazing freshness.

Château Mouton Rothschild 2016 / Gorgeous, subtle, layered Mouton with delicate and detailed flavors that linger on the palate for a long time. The density of the tannins combine with wonderful freshness and layers of flavors that range from dark berries, savory spices to cedar and earth. A glorious Mouton that has stature and concentration without any heaviness. The blend is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 1% Cab Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The latter two varieties were co-fermented.

99 points