TN: 1998 Chateau Bourgneuf, Pomerol

My wife and I came home a bit early last after a party, say around 10:30, and I was jonesing for some mature red wine. Was drinking gin and tonics that evening, needed something with more soul. Grabbed this 1998 Pomerol, thinking a glass tonight, cork it up for enjoyment tomorrow. Well, I am enjoying it very much this tomorrow.

Don’t see many notes here on this old Chateau. I wonder how many folks would like it, Leve certainly does not. It’s pretty old school, rustic. But it has excellent terroir. Bourgneuf is right smack on the Pomerol plateau, contiguous to Trotanoy! The cepage is about 90% Merlot and 10% Franc. To my liking, less than 1/3 of the barrels for each vintage are new.

Dark cassis with some sweaty sour cherry on the nose, with tobacco and moist, worn leather. Mid-weight on the palate, good crisp structure from the red fruits and some leanish dark and plum fruits framed within, not really rounding the wine out but adding complexity. Shows some forrest floor, dry plank wood and truffle. This is not a deep, polished Pomerol, but has some lovely rustic notes and flavors to keep it appealing. There is some dryness here, and drying tannins, suggesting that this wine is not going to improve further and should really be consumed within the next 3-5 years. I have some 1982, wonder where it is in its life-cycle, and it will be advanced in the queue now, while my 2004 and 2005 rest. Leve rated the 2005 an 82.

(90 pts.)

I always find Bourgneuf (aka Bourgneuf-Vayron, same wine, they used to have different labels for different markets) to be a good value. In 2008 our NYC Bdx group did 1998 horizontal, next morning 3 of us split the 14 bottles Chicago Wine Company had (this was before I could buy wine on my phone from table). It wasn’t best wine of night (tied for 3rd in voting, out of 13 wines) but it was ready (but no worries re fading), good, and cheapest wine on the table.

I remember Rick Mavricos pouring the 1990 Bourgneuf for us, and it was excellent. That was probably the best vintage I can recall of theirs. I like the estate and buy it some years.

2005 bloomed after a few years, but they’ve always had a bit of grip, and its not to everyone’s taste. Sort of like Batailley I’d say.

It’s heartening to see a comment on this OG Pomerol.

Rick Mavricos, RIP.

Back to the subject, I remember the 1982 Bourgneuf during a “non-classified” 1982 horizontal in 2012 that showed well.

Very interesting notes on a wine that is completely off my radar - the last I tried was the 2001, back in 2014, which was very good. Arv’s comparison to Batailley is spot-on, including the price.

I find the 2016 to be very good. Bought it after reading this: Some Pomerol picks from 2016 in bottle - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers

Back in the 90s, this wine sold fairly widely in NYC for not much money. It was quite good, though it never blew my socks off. But that was back when you could still buy Montrose and Pichon Lalande for the mid 20s on futures and the big names hadn’t gone all spoofy. I haven’t tasted Bourgneuf in years, but if it is still the kind of wine it was and still a good price, I’d probably be higher on it.

I’ve had that '98 Bourgneuf 3 times – the last about 4 years ago from Magnum. All 3 times that wine had a distinctive off-putting green streak to me that never integrated, and I think too that it will not improve. Never made it to 90 pts for me.

Look at my signature.

The 2016 is very fruity
Not as good as La Croix or Vielle Eglise. But very good to swim in

Thanks for the TOFT, Claus.