When your wine enthusiasm turns to minor obsession and you’ve started using the word “cellar” as a verb, it’s not enough to simply purchase in quantity anymore. If high quality has become your focus, you’ll want to seek out the world’s finest wines in the very best vintages. Get your wish list ready for this tour of top vintages from France, Italy and California.
2000 Bordeaux: As Good As It Gets
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“The 2000 vintage is today the region's magnum opus — the pinnacle of quality.” - Robert Parker, “Bordeaux 2000: The Pinnacle of a Qualitative Revolution”
The millennium vintage in Bordeaux brought with it the most massive, powerful and concentrated wines of the previous thirty years. Add extraordinary consistency, record breaking levels of tannin and extract and exceptional potential longevity and it’s safe to say the 2000 vintage in Bordeaux is one of the greatest ever produced.
In spite of concerns about inconsistent weather at the beginning of the 2000 growing season, the tides turned in August and September was flawless. This was not the first exceptional harvest in Bordeaux, but the wines will go down in history as some of the best ever due to the quality of winemaking in 2000. Improved viticulture, better-equipped cellars and more precise selection elevated all wines - top to bottom - and across all appellations to heights previously unreached.
The reaction to this qualitative revolution came in the form of dizzying, record-breaking prices and boundless critical acclaim. Robert Parker re-iterated, “Re-tasting the 2000 vintage three to four months before bottling provided overwhelming evidence that this is the greatest vintage Bordeaux has ever produced.”
2005 Burgundy: The Year the Wines “Made Themselves”
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“2005 is quite simply the best top to bottom vintage that I have ever seen, period, full stop… Moreover, in terms of regional and villages wines, 2005 is so good that it blows the next closest recent contender, 1999, right out of the water.” -Allen Meadows, Burghound
Unpredictable weather and fussy Pinot are terms typically used to describe Burgundy. But in 2005, its growing season became – “easy” and “leisurely,” signs that it would be a different kind of vintage. Flowering came right on time at the end of May, with dry, warm weather carrying through the summer months. Very little rain in September and during harvest time meant that winegrowers could pick at their leisure. The fruit reached uncommon levels of ripeness; no sorting or chaptalization (adding sugar to the fermenting must) was necessary.
As some producers commented, the wine very nearly made itself. The 2005 Pinots boast fresh tannins, with rich fruit and mineral components; the Chardonnays are balanced with fleshy fruit and fine acidity. Burgundy of this caliber—possessing the “complex balance” noted by Allen Meadows—has the requisite characteristics to age
2001 California Cabernet, Merlot and Blends: Superlative Across the Board
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“A superlative vintage across the board, 2001 appears to be the finest year for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot since 1994 and 1991.” - Robert Parker, “California Dreamin’ – Deja Vu”
With eight consecutive vintages from 1990 to 1997, California made history, producing outstanding quality year after year and solidifying its place among the powerhouse wine producing regions of the world. After a few challenging growing seasons from 1998 and 2000, California roared back to the forefront with its most stunning vintage to date in 2001.
An extended, cool growing season was followed by gorgeous warm weather in September and October, which allowed producers to harvest at their convenience. The resulting wines were exceptionally ripe, balanced and consistent with tremendous aging potential. Upon first experiencing the new 2001 vintage, Robert Parker wrote “my tastings revealed the finest young California Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot I have ever tasted.” Years later in a retrospective piece, he echoes his earlier enthusiasm: “As brilliant as I thought the 2001s were eight years ago, today they have exceeded even my highest expectations.”
2004 Italy: Made for the Cellar
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“Quite frankly, I have never tasted young Barolos with this level of sweet, perfumed fruit and silky, ripe tannins. These are wines of extraordinary elegance, balance and finesse . . . A number of producers have made their finest wines yet.” - Antonio Galloni, “A First Look at the 2004 Barolos”
“Simply put, 2004 is a superb vintage in Central Tuscany…Not to be left behind, 2004 is also a superb vintage for the Super-Tuscan blends of indigenous and international varietals…the best 2004s are reference-point wines for the region and are not to be missed.” – Antonio Galloni, “Central Tuscany 2003 and 2004: A Tale of Two Vintages”
Compared to Bordeaux, Italian Barbaresco, Barolo and Brunello are relative bargains considering their quality and age-worthiness. This is especially true in the best vintages—2004 being the most recent. On the heels of a scorching 2003, the “weather [in 2004] was much more balanced throughout the growing season, which caused plants to unleash the large amounts of energy they had held in reserve from the previous year [and]… the long growing season and relaxed harvest presented growers with the conditions to make great wines.” Again, the balance in the vineyard has led to balance in the bottle.
The results? Structured Brunellos with fine tannins, captivatingly nuanced Barbarescos, and highly aromatic, balanced, age-worthy Barolos. The overall structure and balance of these Piedmont and Tuscan beauties promise years of future enjoyment. Italy’s 2004 wines truly are made for the cellar.
