Pick My Next Bottle – 2003 Bordeaux

The September Installment of Pick My Next Bottle focuses on 2003 Bordeaux. The purpose of this series is to provide insight into specific wines or producers you may currently have in your cellar. The winning bottle will be opened this Sunday and a Bottle Note will be published early next week.

We all know the background on the historically hot 2003 vintage. The wines are incredibly polarizing. From my experience, the top wines of the vintage are fruit forward and aging well. I think it is wise, with a vintage like this, to check in on the wines periodically. At 21 years of age, the proof should be in the bottle.

The Contenders:

• 2003 Calon Segur – This beautiful 2003 exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, a vigorous youthfulness, and plenty of mulberry, black currant and cherry fruit intermixed with notions of cedarwood, baking spices and roasted herbs. Ripe, medium to full-bodied, fresh and precise, this wine is just hitting full maturity where it should remain for another 10-15 years. 93 points from the Wine Advocate.
• 2003 Grand-Puy-Lacoste – The 2003 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a lovely nose with scents of fireside hearth, black truffle and black pepper, plus plenty of open-knit black fruit underneath. The palate is medium-bodied and plush with supple tannins. Menthol notes render this a medicinal Pauillac, and in a sense, this trait occludes some of the terroir expression. Yet there is freshness, providing satisfying length on the finish. 91 points from Vinous.
• 2003 Smith Haut Lafitte  –  A beauty of cassis, plum, tobacco leaf and spice, this dark plum/purple-hued, medium to full-bodied 2003 reveals sweet, round, cassis flavors. It has reached full maturity, but shows no signs of decline, and should continue to hold at this plateau for another decade. Although the 2003 is not up to the perfect levels of the 2009 and 2010, it is unquestionably a noteworthy success in a vintage that did not favor Pessac-Leognan. 91 points from the Wine Advocate.

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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 October installment of Pick My Next Bottle.