Pick My Next Bottle – Wines from 2001

The October installment of Pick My Next Bottle focuses on great producers and the 2001 vintage. As I mentioned in the first installment, the purpose of this series is to provide insight into specific wines or producers you may currently have in your cellar.

The contenders in this version of Pick My Next Bottle are from world class producers who are known for making exceptionally age worthy wines. All of these wines should be drinking well now and the question is whether they will benefit from additional time in the cellar.

Voting will go on through Saturday afternoon here on the blog and Instagram and Twitter as well. The winning bottle will be opened this weekend and a Bottle Note published early next week.

The Contenders

• 2001 Dunn Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley –  Deep, extracted and loaded with fruit, this substantial and very well-constructed Cabernet mixes the sweet, creamy notes of rich oak with the slightly jammy yet lively scents of black currants in its young and fairly generous aromas. In the mouth it boasts the same exciting mix of fruit and oak as well as hints of cola, pencil lead and black walnuts. Superbly balanced and nowhere near a ‘ready’ wine despite its obvious fruit, this one will easily reward a half decade and more of aging.  91 points from Connoisseurs Guide
• 2001 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou – Tasted at Farr’s Ducru-Beaucaillou dinner at the Ledbury. The 2001 Ducru is showing very well, better than I expected given its performances a few years ago. Here, it has a warm, rounded, almost sensual bouquet with black fruits, bay leaf and cedar – certainly more generous and expressive than the 2000 but without the same level of complexity or delineation. The palate is just entertaining the notion of secondary flavours with some intriguing gamey notes infusing the dark black fruit with the finish seasoned by the Cabernet Franc. This should drink well over the next decade. Tasted October 2010. 92 points from the Wine Advocate.
• 2001 Clerico Barolo Pajana – Good dark red. Super ripe, slightly reduced aromas of raspberry and mocha (this usually shows blacker fruits on the nose at this stage). Suave on entry, then musky, mellow and rich; less directly fruity than the Ginestra but simultaneously opulent and stylish. Finishes with big, rich, chewy tannins that coat the front teeth. Both this and the Ginestra seem much more than a year younger than the same two bottlings from the 2000 vintage. 92 points from Stephen Tanzer.

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Thanks for voting! I’d love to see a comment below on why you picked one bottle over another. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions for the November installment of Pick My Next Bottle. Something to drink on Thanksgiving perhaps?