First Growths 1997

This was a special wine dinner organized by Peter's Wine Circle in 2004. We tasted this set of Bordeaux first growths that evening, so as to make a comparison between them. This was occasioned by the great fortune of being able to obtaining the above set at a reasonable price. After a thorough reading of various books so as to arrange the wines in ascending order of enjoyment, it was decided to taste the two Rothschilds first - Lafite, followed by Mouton, followed by Margaux. It was undecided whether we should have Latour or Haut-Brion next. After having a sniff at the corks and the bottles, the order became Latour with Haut-Brion bringing up the rearguard (ie right to left in the photo). Needless to say, that evening was immensely enjoyable. Dessert was accompanied by a Guiraud of the same vintage.

My limited experience of first growth clarets would also rank them fairly similarly. The Rothschilds are the most variable. Lafite can be sublime in certain years, but really disappointing in others. I had bad experiences with immense bottle variation within two cases of the same Mouton 1994. Margaux is generally quite nice. Latour and Haut-Brion are fairly consistent in their excellence, with one disappointment each in my limited experience. The 1997 Latour (ie this one) was not at good as I expected, but still 4 out of 5. The 1966 Haut-Brion (tasted at the Two Centuries Dinner, the subject of a future blog) was initially very fine and beat the Margaux 1966 hands down. However, it failed to develop much after this. The Margaux probably suffered from some bottle stink, which marred first impressions. It then blossomed in the glass and overtook Haut-Brion, turning into a most memorable wine.