This wine is the second wine of Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion in Pessac-Leognan, considered among wine experts as at the very least equal in quality to a Medoc Second Growth, and a very worthy neighbour (literally across the road) from the First Growth Chateau Haut-Brion. Both estates are owned by the Dillon family. The 2002 vintage has received very little favourable commentary (especially against 2000 and 2005, and even 2003) because it was a wet year - yet that estate, with its exceptional terroir and very fine gravelly soil, can handle wetter growing seasons better than most. It is I believe drought conditions, such as in 2003, that do not favour the Graves and Pessac-Leognan.
With a boneless rib eye steak for lunch - one of the many benefits of working at home - I decided to uncork a very good but cheap bottle of red wine to have with it. This second wine from an outstanding Bordeaux estate (arguably one of the top 10 of the whole region) from a poor vintage, costing just $17 US, a wine that was just starting to hit its modest peak, on a snowy afternoon, seemed like an ideal choice.
The bouquet is open and very generous, showing cigar box, wood, dark fruit, and a strong hint of spice - clove especially. It is very persistent in the glass. Frankly, it is one of those rare, aromatically captivating wines, that prompts you to close your eyes, moan a soft "ohh" as if you were experiencing erotic pleasure of some sort, and imagine yourself in a far away place with much warmer weather. Compared to the 2004 Ch. Leoville Las-Cases costing almost 7 times as much, the bouquets of both wines are a pretty even match. My wife said this smelled at least as good as a $60 bottle. I concur. The wine is a lovely purplish-red color with black cherry rim. Not opaque but pretty close. The flavour is quite dry, not too astringent, and shows excellent minerality and fruit. The finish is also long and generous.
Overall I would say this is an extremely satisfying wine for the very modest price, and a pleasure to drink something offered by a winemaker of unassailable reputation. It will easily keep another 2 or 3 years, but why bother waiting? I have one bottle left of this and one of the 2002 Grand Vin, and now regret selling some other bottles - I expect my friend enjoyed this as much as I did. If there is one lesson I may have learned here - and every day ought to be instructive in some way - it is that regardless of whatever comments the experts have to say about a vintage, one generally should try to trust the wine producer first. This was a similar experience to tasting a 2002 wine from the Southern Rhone, a vintage marred by flooding and completely dismissed by the wine press - yet even though the wine was lighter than normal (made by Chapoutier I believe), it was very flavourful - and inexpensive.
On a day when the economic news is overwhelmingly negative and the weather is inviting to go back to bed, a wine like this is a reminder that for all its troubles, the world remains a beautiful place. I intend to get some more of this if I can find it, and would encourage other members to do so. I am uncorking the Grand Vin on my 50th birthday, assuming the First Cause decides to keep me around that long. This Second Wine is most enthusiastically recommended.
Cheers,
Ray