Bordeaux 2009 at Four Years
Anticipation is, I think, a very human experience. Not the anticipation that can be trained into animals, akin to the work of Ivan Pavlov; that is something more basic, a conditioned expectation. I am thinking of the more emotional side of anticipation, the longing, desire even, that we feel as a forthcoming experience or event approaches. It is a very important part of the human condition; when Gloria Swanson opined that “life is 95% anticipation“, she might not have been too wide of the mark.
An extensive tasting of wines from Bordeaux, more specifically a selection from the 2009 vintage now at four years of age, is just the sort of event to promote such feelings of excited anticipation, among those of us that care about Bordeaux at least. After all, this is – I’m pointing this out just in case you have recently been released from a mock Mission to Mars practice capsule and as a consequence have missed the last five years of Earth news – one of the greatest Bordeaux vintages in recent times. It has been widely acclaimed, lauded as our modern-day 1990 or 1982, and my own experience of it before now has been mostly (although not wholly, it has to be said) very positive. What is more, this will probably be my last significant encounter with the vintage for a while, as it is unlikely I will be tasting these wines again in any number before they hit ten years of age.
