Complete 2000 Bordeaux from Château Camensac
This Friday, Cinnamon and I enjoyed our traditional steak and claret dinner with a bottle of the 2000 Château Camensac Haut Médoc—on Clyde’s recommendation. As usual, his advice was golden, and the wine was magnificent with the food. For the first time, we had a Denver Steak from Five Mary’s Farms, a cut from under the front shoulder blade of the cow, which Cinnamon cooked on our charcoal hibachi. This flat cut cooks up like a skirt steak but is tender like a New York and very flavorful. It was a good night!
Château Camensac’s vineyards have been recognized as a unique place for wine since 1701 and were classified as a 5th growth along with Lynch-Bages and Pontet-Canet back in 1855. They have a little over 212 acres under vine, planted to half each Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, much of it on the gravel banks that abut St. Julien to the north of their property. They age the wine for 14-16 months in barrique, with about 60% in new oak.
The 2000 vintage is legendary for Bordeaux and often called “the miracle vintage” as it looked like it was going to be a write off early on, but turned around with a golden autumn. At Camensac, they chose a composition for the grand vin that matched their vineyard holdings: half and half of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, starting the harvest on the 26th of September and finishing on 11th of October. After 22 years of age, the wine has arrived, and although the château says it will drink until 2025, I think it will go much longer, perhaps past even 2035.
The wine still has a dark purple color, and after 45 minutes in the decanter the bouquet was generous and full of the old school tobacco and earth that I love so much in aged Bordeaux. In the mouth, this 2000 still has plenty of dark cassis fruit and a great silky texture from resolved tannin. My wife said that this wine has an extra element that we don’t often get with our Friday night claret, and I agreed. This wine not only still has the cut for a rich steak, but it also has the poised terre graveleuse of a classified growth. The finish is still bright and fresh, as well as long and complex. It is a great value in great vintage classified growth Bordeaux at the price. Don’t miss it while it is still around!