2000 Château Magdelaine- France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru (6/26/2020)
Consumed as part of our second zoom blind wine tasting. I didn’t take detailed notes.
Once someone else guessed right bank (my initial, in retrospect silly, guess was Graves) I quickly zeroed in on Magdelaine. But I was certain it was late 70s to mid 80s. This is an atypically early maturing Magdelaine, delicious to drink now but not one to hold for 20 years. Beautiful fruit to this medium bodied wine.
Weird that it would be early maturing as this has not been the experience with 2000s in general. Are you sure it’s not a matter or storage, or perhaps it has just attained its plateau and will stay there for a while?
I have found the 2000 Magdelaine a bit mercurial. I’ve had 3 bottles in the past year. One showed beautifully, then 2 from an OWC from the UK, was a baby, still sorta closed. I’m erring on the side of giving them more time at this point. Felt what way about a recent 1995 as well. The 1980s are glorious!
The friend who provided the 2000 said he had the same experience with an earlier bottle which is why he opened this one now. And given how well it’s drinking I’ll probably pull my two bottles this Autumn.
I have found the 2000 Magdelaine a bit mercurial. I’ve had 3 bottles in the past year. One showed beautifully, then 2 from an OWC from the UK, was a baby, still sorta closed. I’m erring on the side of giving them more time at this point. Felt what way about a recent 1995 as well. The 1980s are glorious!
“Mercurial” and “glorious” within five super-short sentences.
Who [else] uses these words?
Alfert, it seems, is every bit the dandy as in his avatar.
I’ve drunk 3 of these over the past 14 months, purchased 2 years ago from the same store. I found them all drinking well and showing some good aged complexity. I don’t doubt they could improve further and am holding on to a few, but felt no regret for opening them now.
Very interesting thank you Jay and others … I acquired a case of the 2000 not all that long ago and was not thinking of thinking about releasing it until say 2025…I just pulled my case of 1995, which is starting to emerge from a deep hibernation.
And just to be clear, I am in no way expressing the least amount of displeasure with the wine, just surprise at how forward it is. In a spectacular lineup that consisted of:
2012 Ollivier Clos des Briords
1995 Ridge Montebello
2000 Chateau Magdelaine
2005 Clos Rougeard Bourg
1982 Latour a Pomerol
it was the glass I finished first as I couldn’t stop drinking it.
I also opened a 2005 Poyeaux about a year and a half or so ago. Early on the Bourg was very good but from memory not nearly as good as the Poyeaux. But after over an hour in the glass the Bourg started exploding and was fantastic. Whether it surpassed the Poyeaux is difficult to say, at least as good, possibly better. Certainly on the more dramatic end of things.
I had the 2000 Magdelaine three times in 2019 and like some of you experienced, my bottles were variable in maturity. None were closed, but only one seemed really ready for prime time.
I do think the context is important as always, cause when paired with other claret from the 70’s and 80’s (when I drank the 3rd bottle) the Magdelaine seemed much more primary than on its own.
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