Bordeaux 2004: Tasting in 2007
Alongside my recent tasting of the 2006 Bordeaux vintage, I was fortunate to be able to taste and in some cases retaste many corresponding wines from the 2004 vintage. I have gathered these notes together here, as they constitute my first chance to reassess the vintage following my first extensive tasting of the wines at two years of age when they were shown at the Union des Grands Crus tasting in late 2006.
In many cases I was impressed by the wines, with some seeing a slight elevation in score already. Many showed a little more flesh and substance than they have done previously, and I found myself warming to the vintage yet again. These are in many cases attractive wines which have a firm, rather classic style. They do not have the opulent richness of some other recent vintages, but neither are they thin, weedy wines that should be ignored. They sit in the middle, and as such will drink very well in the future, and will make useful additions to many cellars.
Despite my positive opinion of the wines, I still feel they were over-priced on release, although at the time of writing the prices are starting to look more attractive thanks to the release of the 2006 vintage, where prices are even higher. On the basis of this tasting, however, I preferred the wines of the 2004 vintage, although they are admittedly at very different stages in their evolution. My opinion of the two vintages is at odds with that of some influential critics, so it will be interesting to return to these wines, and those of 2006, to see how the wines, and my opinion, develop. (30/5/07)
