by Dr. Bob Ouellette

 Worcester Winetasters                                               April 2001

 Comments-

            Back from sunny Florida, I was glad to resume my monthly tastings. What could be better than start off with Bordeaux reds and since we had some 96 vintages in the cellar, we opted to taste one of the better  vintages of the last century. True , this was not a stellar crop, but compared to the previous two years, this rated quite a notch above them.

             From our results, one can surmised that we were not enthralled with these wines. That’s probably due to the fact that these were not the primary growths, but then, who can afford a first or even a second growth…. Nevertheless, we were right on target for the most part since the pros rated these wines in the middle to upper 80s.

                        The wines showed good color in general with some a distinguishing bouquet. What seem to be the biggest drawback was the level of  fruit and the strong tannin that overshadowed what might be underlying fruit. In general though, we appreciated the last four wines and they gave promise to what the top names would offer. Considering the prices that ranged around $20 or less, I suppose that we should not fault our selections chosen for this tasting. The wines were obtained in many stores including some in  my travels while enjoying the warm sunny weather in Florida.

           drbob@oxfordwineroom.com