Old School

Nothing like curling up to a good book and a glass of wine (or two...) on a wintery night (-24!!). Got to compare two smaller scale Bordeaux wines, both from the Haut Medoc. The Chateau Senejac, Cru Bourgeois Superiore, 2003 is from an OK vintage year, and is made from 35 year old vines with a real mix of Bordeaux grapes. Parker scored it in the hight 80's. It has a nice dark colour and, if allowed to breathe, a quite pleasant nose of ink and graphite. Medium-full bodied, it is somewhat lean and austere with dry tannins with the fruit hiding (if there at all). Lots of pencil lead, though. Perhaps a little too young, but it's nice to go old school again. "Good". Like most Bordeaux, it really struggles for value...was on sale for $29. If I thought it would bloom into something special, at that price I would buy a case because it's hard to get good Bordeaux cheap these days.
Now, I have a bone to pick with the Vintages consultant at the LCBO who reviewed the next wine. His tasting note for the Fort Medoc, Haut Medoc, 2000 is from left field. "good depth of fleshy fruit" "very long and persistant on the finish" This guy is a professional?? maybe a pro salesman, because he reeled me in with his description. This is a middling, OK at best wine, specifically without any real fruit (except for some ugly apple cider notes according to my drinking companion that I didn't manage to fathom) and with a decidedly POOR finish. It just disappears as it goes down. Oh well, what can you expect from Bordeaux for $18, I suppose. I just wish the sales guys were honest.

Cheers!!