2000 Chateau Cambon La Pelouse Haut-Medoc 750 ml

The Vintage of the Century, 17 Years On

In the spring of 2001, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate published a vintage report that would rock the wine world. As Parker wrote, Bordeaux’s spring of 2000 couldn’t have been less auspicious. One of the worst outbreaks of mildew in memory caused château owners to double up efforts in the vines. We were traveling in France throughout June of 2000, and understand why Parker called the month “schizophrenic.” Some days were cold and wet, others hot and dry.

With heavy cloud cover and frequent showers, July provided little relief. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a high-pressure system settled over Bordeaux on July 29th, not budging before the call to harvest. While the early part of the growing season was wet, August and September were exceedingly dry. Those drought-like conditions made for grapes with thick skins and a touch of desiccation.

Parker’s vintage report quotes the old winemaker’s adage: “June makes the quantity, August makes the style, and September makes the quality. That was never more true than 2000, when August left its stylistic imprint on the wines’ enormous tannic content and richness, and the nearly flawless month of September (the finest since 1990) produced many wines of exhilarating quality.” August was indeed glorious. September featured day after day of turquoise skies, and a couple intense heat spikes. Typically, Septembers in Bordeaux bring 3 inches of rain; in September of 2000, less than 2 inches fell.

Seventeen years after the monumental harvest of 2000, the greatest wines of the vintage continue to put on weight, showing off the intense concentration and age-worthy structure of The Wine Advocate’s 96-point vintage. One in particular — the 2000 Château Cambon La Pelouse from one of the last bastions of Left Bank value, the Haut-Médoc — has been one of our most surprising discoveries.

The Haut-Médoc continues to be one of the last great bargains in the prime real estate of the Left Bank. Château Cambon La Pelouse is set on the same gravel soils one finds in Margaux, just 10 minutes from the flagship Château Margaux. With the release of this powerhouse 2000, from the Left Bank’s vintage of the century, it’s not hard to understand why many are calling this wine “baby Margaux.”

The 2000 Château Cambon La Pelouse is one of the best Left Bank values we’ve tasted this year. Saturated ruby. Super ripe aromas of cassis, blackberry, minerals, smoke, and black licorice. Very ripe but precise and penetrating. At once lush and powerful. Black fruit, flint, spice, and dark chocolate flavors offer considerable density and verve. Gorgeously drinking right now and will continue for another 15 years.

We were given the opportunity to buy as much 2000 Château Cambon La Pelouse as we wanted, and we took every last bottle in the cellar. We scored 360 bottles of Parker’s 96-point vintage, from one of the greatest values in all of Bordeaux.

A total of 30 wooden cases are up for grabs, all drawn DIRECTLY from the château’s frigid cellars in the Haut-Médoc. $49. Absolutely, positively, NOT to be missed by lovers of perfectly mature Bordeaux.