Bordeaux 2002 for cellaring not speculation: Parker
October 30, 2003
By Adam Lechmere
Robert Parker has published his long-awaited notes on the 2002 Bordeaux vintage, which he sums up as one for 'patient connoisseurs'.
The highly-influential American critic believes 'time will be kind to the finest wines of the vintage. If they lack charm and up-front appeal, the best of them will prove very ageworthy.'
Parker feels 2002 is in danger of being forgotten, 'lost in the shadows of its successor as well as the two vintages that preceded – the very good to excellent 2001s and the profound 2000s.'
But this is an advantage to those who intend to buy to keep and drink, rather than speculate. Prices are the lowest since the early to mid-90s – due to a saturated market, the weakness of the dollar, Franco-American relations, and other reasons - and Parker predicts they will remain stable. 'It is a buyer's market,' he concludes.
As for the wines, which he tasted in the first week of September (having missed the en primeur tastings in the Spring for personal reasons), they 'are not charming or opulent' and have little 'near-term appeal.' He goes on, 'it is a tannic, backward vintage that will handsomely repay extended cellaring'.
The Cabernet Sauvignon in the Medoc is the strong point of the vintage; the Merlot on the right bank 'had problems', according to Parker.
There are seven candidates for wine of the vintage. Ausone (a 'pure, precise… tour de force' that could last 60 years), Lafite ('impeccable harmony'), Latour ('a potential legend in the making'), Leoville-Las-Cases ('a finish that lasts for 45 seconds'), Mouton ('full-bodied, monster-sized'), Palmer ('brilliant effort'), and Pavie ('remarkably elegant and delineated').
The two first-growths that didn't make it into the wine of the vintage stakes are Margaux and Haut-Brion. The former is a 'lustrous effort', but it doesn't possess the 'surreal quality level' found in the truly great vintages. Haut-Brion is 'beautifully classic' with aromas of 'crushed stones, plums, black cherries, currants, figs and earth'.
Of the other well-known wines, Petrus is 'one of the bigggest 2002s made in Pomerol' – Parker says he is surprised by its performance, given the problems faced by the right bank in 2002. Angelus is 'one of St Emilion's most complete, concentrated, and provocative wines of 2002', Domaine de Chevalier in the Graves is 'reassuring as well as encouraging,' Figeac is 'endearing', Cos d'Estournel is 'brilliant' but 'not a blockbuster', Sociando Mallet is 'stern, broodingly backward yet promisingly concentrated'. Pichon Lalande is 'exceptionally pure and layered,' while Pichon Baron is 'a very fine effort but fails behind…2001 and 2000.'
Barrel-chested actor-turned-proprietor Gerard Depardieu, who is in partnership with Pape-Clement owner Bertrand Magrez, is singled out for praise. His Ma Verite de Gerard Depardieu in the Haut Medoc is 'terrific', and the Confiance de Gerard Depardieu in Cotes de Blaye may be 'the finest…I have ever tasted' from that region.
Parker did not taste Rauzan-Segla, Vieux-Chateau-Certan and Le Pin. He explains, somewhat acidly, the first 'did not want to show their wine in the company of others,' and his request for an appointment at Le Pin 'got lost'.
Barsac and Sauternes are not covered in detail, but the critic notes, '2002 is a very fine year for this region, possibly superior to any of the vintages between 2000 and 1991.'
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