Twenty-Five Years On: The 1994 Vintage
It has been a few years since I last looked back 25 years, previous reports on this theme having featured the 1990 and 1989 vintages. For reasons that are perhaps obvious, I skipped the 1991, 1992 and 1993 vintages, none of which are well represented in the cellar at Winedoctor Towers. There are more than a few bottles of 1993 Vouvray, and the occasional bottle of aged German Riesling and Vintage Port from the 1991 and 1992 vintages, but there would only be sufficient bottles for an interesting tasting if I were to combine all three vintages.
When we come to 1994, however, the situation is quite different. And thus here I present, in the final update of the year, a look at ten wines from this vintage, all of which celebrated their 25th birthday this year. We view the vintage primarily through the lens of Bordeaux, with appearances from a quartet of well-run properties, but there are guest appearances from other old friends, from Châteauneuf du Pape, Lebanon and a couple of well-known bodegas in Rioja.
The Wines
The 1994 vintage in Bordeaux might not offer the excitement found in 1996 on the left bank, or indeed in 1998 on the right bank, I have long been a fan of this vintage. The wines were always streets ahead of the dismal 1991 and 1992 vintages, and were superior to the weaker 1993 vintage. The style has always been savoury, restrained and medium-bodied, in a more classical vein than the rather more polished, slicker wines the region turns out today. What is more, they were always eminently affordable. The four wines tasted here showed consistently well, the 1994 Château Pontet-Canet being a particularly good effort, the best of three bottles opened this year. I would not refuse a glass of any of these wines, although if forced to choose only one it would have to be the 1994 Château Léoville-Las-Cases, which just pipped its peers to the post.
