Avenue Vine

They may be slightly New World in style for their opulent fruit and ripe character, but the best 2003 Bordeaux remain classic clarets, displaying a richness and structure reminiscent of past great hot-weather vintages. You are going to love the wines—red, white and sweet.

I have now reviewed more than 500 Bordeaux from 2003, in independent blind tastings in Bordeaux and in my office in Tuscany. Almost all were reds, along with a couple dozen Sauternes and a handful of top dry whites.

I have rarely tasted young clarets with such muscle and concentration. Yet at the same time, the wines maintain a freshness and length of flavor that only Bordeaux can deliver, even in hot years. For the red wines of the Left Bank (Medoc and Pessac-Léognan), I rate the vintage 95 points. The Right Bank wines (St.-Emilion and Pomerol) are rich and exotic but verge on jammy, and I rate the vintage 94 points.

The main drawback will be pricing, which in many cases has already reached the stratospheric levels of the 2000 vintage when its wines were released in 2003. And the 2003 vintage is not an across-the-board smash hit for reds or whites. The year is not like the 2000 vintage, nor most of the other modern classics for reds, particularly years such as 1995, 1990 and 1989.

The best 2003 reds are extremely concentrated and structured, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon-based reds from well-known estates on the Left Bank. Some of the year's top-scoring wines (17 rated 95 points or more) scored higher than in the 2000 vintage. It's very hard to generalize, though, about which appellations were best in 2003. It seems to be more of a question of which individual wine properties were better able to cope with the record-breaking heat and sunshine during the growing season.

The character of the vintage was determined by the growing conditions: Exceptional weather produced some exceptional wines. The growing season was more like that of the Barossa or Napa valleys than it was typical of the Médoc or St.-Emilion. Some wine producers in Bordeaux preferred to call the weather during the growing season "extreme," since the region had its hottest summer on record in 2003. Temperatures in August reached almost 120̊ F in the afternoon sun at some châteaus. It cooled down by late August and through September, but the boiling weather left its mark—ultrahigh sugar levels in the grapes, relatively low acidity and big, velvety tannins. This character has been a hallmark of many of the great vintages of Bordeaux, most recently 1990 (97 points), 1989 (98) and 1982 (95).

Bordeaux's sweet wines are equally impressive in 2003. Nearly all are richer, thicker, sweeter and more flamboyant than their 2001 counterparts, but they lack some of the complexity and subtlety of the best from that year. The 2003s are rock and roll compared with the classical music of 2001.

The dry whites, primarily blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, are big and luscious, resembling white Burgundies from a rich year more than the bright, racy whites typical of Bordeaux.

I plan to buy and drink many of the more affordable and less-structured reds in the near term, both at home and in restaurants. They are just too delicious to pass up. The fact that you can drink the wines so young may very well change the way many consumers look at Bordeaux.

A complete overview of Bordeaux 2003—including my exclusive buying recommendations, an in-depth analysis of the vintage and ratings for all the wines—is currently available to subscribers of Wine Spectator Online–See Below:

Sources: “Bordeaux's Brave New World,” James Suckling, Wine Spectator, February 22, 2006

*1.) “Bordeaux’s Brave New World,” James Suckling, Wine Spectator, Wednesday, February 22, 2006

*2.) “Tasting Notes-518 Ratings,” Wine Spectator

*3.) “Recommended 2003 Bordeaux,”James Suckling, Wine Spectator

And More:

Wine Spectator: Worth the Bucks!