2000 Bordeaux Wine Left Bank Reviews Tasting Notes Scores

2000 Left Bank Bordeaux wine… 

Branon with its jammy black fruit, oak and licorice filled nose is plush, rich, polished and intense. This is a very suave, stylish style of  Bordeaux wine. 94 Pts

Calon Segur showed a spice, mineral tobacco and earthy nose. But the pleasure stopped there. This full bodied wine was filled with mouth drying tannins along with a brawny, masculine, old school, Bordeaux wine personality. 86 Pts

Carmes Haut Brion with its leafy, black raspberry and fennel nose is an elegantly styled wine that’s already showing well. 90 Pts

d’Armailhac  offered secondary notes of tobacco, earth and truffle. This medium bodied wine did not seem fully ripe. The flavors in the finish edged to the red fruit side. 87 Pts

D’Issan expresses spice, black fruit, cedar and tobacco in the nose. This full bodied wine is already approachable. While not overly complex, this traditionally styled wine ends in a long, black fruit filled finish. 91 Pts

Ducru Beaucaillou started off with an interesting mix of orange, floral, spice, black fruit and licorice scents. Big, intense and concentrated, this deep wine offers a lot of finesse and texture in its long, intense, ripe, fruit filled finish. 95 Pts

Gruaud Larose offered an earthy nose with black fruit, spice and wood. This Bordeaux wine is big, intense and concentrated. But the finish was short. 91 Pts

Haut Bergey opens with black raspberry, oak and jammy blackberry and dark raspberry scents. Soft in texture, this ripe, fruit filled wine is already very expressive. 91 Pts

Haut Brion is filled with tobacco, tar, cassis, black fruit, herbs and caramel scents. Soft, round, elegant, harmonious, concentrated, fresh and refined define the wine. This Bordeaux wine is pure silk and velvet offering a lot of polish and finesse in the long, seamless finish. 97 Pts

Bahans Haut Brion opens with an earthy, smoke and tobacco nose. Already mature, this light wine ends with some drying sensations. 86 Pts

Kirwan has a black fruit and licorice filled perfume. The wine offers good texture and reasonable concentration, but lacks excitement. It’s ready to drink. 88 Pts

Lafite Rothschild offered an aromatic display of spice, cedar, graphite, blackberry and cassis. The wine is lush, rich and mouth filling with round tannins, freshness, purity and an intensity of flavors. Another decade or two will add a lot of character and complexity to this wine. 97 Pts

Latour is packed with cassis, minerals, toasty oak and ample layers of ripe black fruits. Rich, concentrated and filled with depth of flavor, this special wine offers beautiful purity. Everything is in balance. The wine truly coats your palate with flavor and sensations. The long finish is round and complex. With more bottle age, this could hit triple digits.  99 Pts

Forts Latour with its black fruit, cassis and leafy aromas was ready to drink as the tannins seemed resolved. 88 Pts

Leoville Barton is filled with black fruit, truffles and spice in the perfume. Normally, this is a big, brooding, old school wine that takes decades to shed its ample tannin. 2000 is a refined vintage for this Chateau. The wine is already showing well. 92 Pts

Leoville Las Cases kicks into high gear with a perfume of truffle, smoke, tobacco, cassis, spice and blackberry. This very concentrated, dense, full bodied wine is still tannic and demands another 10-15 years before opening up. It’s possible the wine will score higher as it develops. 95 Pts

Leoville Poyferre is stuffed with smoke, spice, black fruit, cassis and caramel in the perfume. The wine is rich and concentrated with ripe fruit and round tannins. This is a plush, opulent and stylish Leoville Poyferee. 95 Pts

Lynch Bages begins with cedar, herbs, cassis and ripe black fruits. Polished in style, with some tannin needing to be resolved, the wine ends with a black and red fruit filled finish. I’ve had better bottles of this wine on other occasions. 93 Pts

Malescot St. Exupery opens up with floral, cassis, orange blossom and spice aromatics. This fresh wine is mouth filling and elegant, ending with a ripe black fruit filled finish. This vintage marked the reemergence of this famed Chateau.  Successive vintages continue improving. It’s a property to watch. 93 Pts

Marojallia offers an intriguing perfume of truffle, earth, mocha, blackberry and black cherry scents. This is a very sexy style of Margaux that combines plush, opulent textures with ripe, round fruit. 94 Pts

Margaux is a rock star! There is no other way to say it. Intense aromatics start with a mélange of spices, floral notes, perfectly ripe cassis, blackberry and Cuban tobacco. On the palate is where the wine takes off! Perfectly polished layers of pure, ripe fruit fill every nook and cranny of your mouth. Everything is in balance with velvet like textures that conclude with an endless bath of ripe, black fruit and silky textures. The sublime finish is seamless. If this wine is already this stunning at 10, when fully mature, this will be off the charts. This is one of the finest young vintages of Margaux I recall tasting. Life is too short not to taste this wine and hopefully have at least a few bottles of it in your cellar. 100 Pts

Pavillon Rouge is a soft, approachable, medium bodied wine of finesse that is already mature. 88 Pts

La Mission Haut Brion blasts off with cassis, ripe black fruit, blackberry, spice, smoke and truffle aromatics. The texture is an incredible blend of opulence, concentration and depth. The wine is intense, fresh and pure. Everything is in balance from start to finish, ending with multiple layers of pure silk, and velvet power coupled with a complex array of perfectly ripe dark fruits. 99 Pts

La Chapelle de La Mission Haut Brion offers a spicy, tobacco, black fruit filled nose. The wine is already drinking well. 86 Pts

Mouton Rothschild starts off with smoke, herbs, cassis and Asian spice in the perfume. The texture is soft, plush and round. But the wine lacks the same level of power, intensity and purity found in the top wines of the vintage. 95 Pts

Montrose with its black fruit and cassis filled nose also expressed notes of earth, forest floor and oak tones. Big, dense and concentrated, this structured wine needs time. The wine ends with a blast of black fruit and freshness. 93 Pts

Pape Clement shows jammy black fruit, anise, tobacco and black cherry tones. This is big, fat, ripe and intense. 94 Pts

Palmer begins with an powerful display of dark fruit and black raspberry scents along with truffles, flowers, earth and exotic hints of citrus oil. The wine has great freshness and depth along with an intensity of flavor that keeps you interested. 96 Pts

Pichon Baron gets better every time I taste it! Cassis, cedar, ripe black fruit, tobacco and spice make up the intense perfume. This powerful, intense wine is filled with layers of plush, ripe black fruit. This wine has no hard edges and offers pleasure in every sip. As good as it is, it’s only going to get better. It pairs high quality, great style, complexity and the ability to age as well as improve. And it’s available for a fair price in today’s market. 96 Pts

Pichon Lalande with its red and black fruit filled nose is further complicated with earth, wood, spice, olive tapenade and tobacco notes. The wine has good concentration and depth, along with silky textures, but there was a minor hint of green in the finish. 93 Pts

Pontet Canet shows black fruit, tobacco, cherry and herbs in the nose. Full bodied and concentrated, with slightly rustic tannins, the wine ends with ample black fruit in the finish. This needs another 5 years. 90 Pts

Sociando Mallet introduced itself with pepper, black cherry and BBQ spice notes. Concentrated with fruit, there were some green flavors and drying tannins in the finish. 88 Pts

Smith Haut Lafitte kicks off with jammy, black fruit, oak and licorice notes. The wine is polished, round and clean, ending with soft, sweet black fruit flavors. 91 Pts