Windows 2000

2016-02-02

No, we’re not referring to an ancient Microsoft operating system release, but to a potential purchasing window for Bordeaux 2000.

Word on the street is that there could be a bumper set of new reviews released this year of 2000 claret on erobertparker.com – 15 years on.

And why not, it’s one of the 4 greatest last vintages, alongside or after 2005, 2009 and 2010.

The wines show effortless balance, are precise and richly fruited, and in the case of top classified crus, are still at a very early stage of their evolution, with their peak years still ahead of them.

Those wines that are re-rated positively this year will increase in value, in a vintage where there are still plenty of values to be had. With so many wines within a few points of perfect 100 scores, there’s plenty to speculate about which could be worthy of a rerating.

Take relative values, for example a number of wines that were last rated at 98(+) points. This is a helpful starting point for seeing where short-term opportunities may exist.

We’re inclined to rule out big and bouncy productions such as Magrez Fombrauge as the world swings away from extracted winemaking in favour of definition and a degree of finesse. We can all have our biases after all, market commentators and critics alike!

Once value relative to peers is established, it’s then worth cross checking value of a selected with other comparable vintages.

Now let’s take L’Évangile as a case in point:

Based on this analysis would you buy into 2000 or 2010? We’ve ruled out 2009 on the basis that a) it’s already 100 points and b) it’s an über-fruity 15° number.

The following table shows the scores, predominantly from the 20 years-on retrospective published in 2010.