Just returned from spending 9 days in Bordeaux for the annual tasting of the new wines—2012 vintage. The vintage has proven to be quite interesting, especially if you buy en primeur and drink the wines at some point down the road, rather than as an investment. Pomerol…Merlot in general,  but Pomerol, St. Emilion and wines from Pessac-Leognan and Margaux, struck me as the most consistent, with ripe fruit, freshness and balance. Maybe not all for the long-haul, but as the wines are now becoming available en primeur, it is refreshing to see the prices coming down—some to sensible levels.

I heard many times while tasting in Bordeaux this year that these wines were not at the quality levels of 2009 or 2010. They are also not at the price levels of those vintages. I, personally, find it a breath of fresh air to have a vintage like this one every so often, so while the ‘classic’ wines are ageing, there are affordable wines to stock up on and drink earlier. Not that the better wines of 2012 won’t age, many will age well, in fact will require ageing…but my point is this: while we were in Bordeaux, we drank many, many older bottles from many top estates, some back to the 40s, and one of the vintages that I kept thinking “who would have thought” was, are you sitting down? 2002…a vintage which NOBODY bought on futures! We drank the 2002 Cos d’Estournel at lunch at the Chateau, and it was simply delicious! We also had the pleasure of the 2002 Domaine de Chevalier at lunch with Olivier Bernard at the Chateau.
The 2002 was mature, supple and sooo expressive! I know, the 2000’s and 1996’s and the like, many of which we also tried this year, are <<better>> wines, but if you like to wait a few years less and still drink nuance and balance, look again at some of the vintages you may have overlooked!

Shayne Hebert, Central Florida Wine Supervisor. Follow Shayne on Twitter: @ABCwineshayne