Santiago > wrote:

>> Btw: My best 2001, tasted in April 2002 from cask, not taking
>> into account premiers and garagistes: La Tour Carnet (94/100).

> La Tour Carnet 2001
>
> However, I do not think that it is the best 2001 that I have
> tasted. Leoville Barton 2001 (I suppose this fits into the
> "premiers" category you mention) has more structure and
> substance and, while a bit tight now, I think it is going to be
> a better wine, which is not surprising considering it costs 50
> euros retail in Spain.

Caution: I was talking about that specific cask tasting week in
April 2002. I had bought some LTC en primeur (at 16.09 euros, VAT
and delivery included), but haven't tasted it yet.

It's highly probable that there are better wines, but then they
simply did not show as good as LTC on that specific occasion. I
just looked up my TNs, Léoville Barton scored 84: "Cardboardy,
although good structure", very much looks like a sub-par cask
sample, so your comment makes very much sense.

> Another however, and, probably, my only doubt about La Tour
> Carnet 2001. I felt that somehow it lacked Bordeaux character.
> It tasted a bit like an internationalized wine (Bernard Magrez
> touch?). What do you think about this?

In my experience, even if clarets taste "international",
"parkerized", "Michel Rolland vinified" (which happens to be the
case with post-2000 LTC) in their youth, these oak influenced
aromas tend to disappear with due bottle age.

I had a beautiful experience two years ago, at a lunch in Paris
with May-Éliane de Lencquesaing from Pichon-Lalande. Amongst other
wines we had the 1982. She commented that at vinification time she
had called it "mon petit californien". 21 years later there was
nothing Californian with this wine, it was pure and unmistakeable
Pauillac. "Il se reclassifie", "it's getting classic again", was
Gildas d'Olonne's (Mme de Lencquesaing's nephew's) comment.

All this supports my theory that after 20 years in bottle it's
more or less irrelevant whether the wine had been vinified in new
oak, old oak, stainless steel or concrete vats. While being very
important in its youth, the differences totally edge out with
time, imho.

M.