2000 Château La Fleur de Gay

I have always thought this was the best Fleur de Gay since the 1989 and 1990, and it showed extremely well in the 2000 horizontal tastings. Dense ruby/purple, with notes of melted caramel and mocha, along with raspberry and blueberry, the wine has that endearing combination of elegance and power. Layered and multi-dimensional, with silky, sweet tannins, the wine seems to have hit full maturity, where it should last for another 20 or more years. This is a beautiful wine.

Rich, ripe, opulent, brûlée, almost overripe nose, then impressively ripe fruit – black/purple fruit – mulberries. On the palate, surprisingly, not at all hot. Quite a light finish, with a little bit of inkiness and rusty nails. Masses of quite rough tannins. Not a whole. Dry (as opposed to sweet) finish. Still very young. Relatively cool. (JR)

The 2000 La Fleur de Gay has very fine definition on the tightly coiled nose with blackberry, thyme, limestone and fresh fig aromas. The palate is supple, fleshy and generous on the entry, but that belies the firm tannic structure underneath. There's great purity here and a gorgeous, plump finish. You can really feel the terroir coming through, but it needs another ten years. This is excellent. Tasted June 2011. Tasting note taken from the Pomerol book by Neal Martin.