The November installment of Pick My Next Bottle focuses on Cabernet and Bordeaux Blends from the 2003 vintage. 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 with Thanksgiving dinner.
The contenders in this version of Pick My Next Bottle should be drinking beautifully at a little over twenty years of age. In none of these regions was 2003 a particularly great vintage but these are stellar producers and the wines are always age worthy.
The Contenders
- 2003 Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon – The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon shares similarities in the glass with the 2005 and 2007 bottlings, as all three vintages have the same robust nose with dried cherries and cranberry essence and a soft prune character, which all showed better when the wines were young. The generosity of this wine seems to have caught up to it. Full-bodied, the palate is lively with firm, juicy tannins that should last five more years. Flavors of ripe, black and dark red fruits remain in the mouth, and there’s an alcoholic lift on the finish, concluding with firm tannins. 100 points from the Wine Advocate.
- 2003 Pahlmeyer – This is a gorgeously opulent, complex, profound blend of 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec (15.1% alcohol) from Jayson Pahlmeyer and his brilliant winemaking sidekick, Erin Green. Pahlmeyer-s wines, first made by Helen Turley, continue to go from strength to strength. This nearly fully mature 2003 possesses deep, rich black currant fruit notes intermixed with hints of white chocolate, spice box, flowers and subtle background oak. 94 points from the Wine Advocate.
- 2003 Sociando-Mallet – The 2003 Sociando-Mallet is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc picked between September 10 and 24. It was aged in new oak barrels for 11 months. Coming from the north Médoc, it would have enjoyed onshore breezes that mitigated the summer heat. The bouquet shows no signs of that warmth, offering notes of pressed flowers, pomegranate, smoke and tobacco that open up nicely with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine definition, a delicate touch of white pepper and sage, good depth and a very cohesive, tobacco and spice finish that lingers long in the mouth. This is a great wine for the vintage and continues to give a lot of pleasure. 93 points from Vinous.
Loading ...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 December installment of Pick My Next Bottle.