2003 Wine

The single-vineyard offering from Thorevilos is usually a blend of 80-85% Cabernet Sauvignon with a good dosage of Cabernet Franc added to finish out the wine, and occasionally a touch of Petit Verdot. This pure, steep hillside... Read More

An improvement over the debut 2002, this blend of 97% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc is a limited production (400 cases) wine expensively packaged in a heavy bottle with a designer label. It exhibits a deep ruby/purple color along... Read More

I had this wine from my cellar, as well as at a tasting in Zurich in February of 2015. It is one of the handful of 2003s I bought from the Right Bank of Bordeaux in this vintage. Angelus really nailed the vintage, and has produced... Read More

The 2003 Solengo, a blend of equal parts Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah, opens with a huge, brooding nose followed by masses of super-ripe dark fruit, cassis, licorice, earth and black pepper nuances that coat the palate with notable... Read More

The 2003 Ausone is off the charts in terms of richness. While I gave a 3-digit score to the 2000, I think this profoundly concentrated wine may be even more sublime and exotic. Its inky/blue/purple color is followed by an extraordinary... Read More

The 2003 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper,... Read More

The 2003 Beaucastel Chateauneuf du Pape turned out as well as I could have hoped and is certainly an outstanding wine, deep ruby/purple with a tight but promising nose of black fruits, loamy, earthy notes intermixed with pepper,... Read More

Unfortunately, the 2003 Châteauneuf du Pape Hommage À Jacques Perrin was subtly corked. You could still see its potential (and I recommended the table drink it quickly before the TCA became even more apparent), but this is the... Read More

Even in a vintage such as 2003 there are wines that are youthful, unevolved and still in need of bottle age. The 2003 Bellevue Mondotte is one of those wines. From a tiny (5 acres) estate owned by Gerard Perse, this blend of 90%... Read More

(no tasting note available)

This beautiful 2003 exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, a vigorous youthfulness, and plenty of mulberry, black currant and cherry fruit intermixed with notions of cedarwood, baking spices and roasted herbs. Ripe, medium to full-bodied,... Read More

This beautiful 2003 exhibits a dense ruby/purple color, a vigorous youthfulness, and plenty of mulberry, black currant and cherry fruit intermixed with notions of cedarwood, baking spices and roasted herbs. Ripe, medium to full-bodied,... Read More

A blend of 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc cropped at a low 28 hectoliters per hectare, this chunky, narrowly constructed St.-Emilion reveals elevated tannins, fig pudding-like fruit, medium body and an awkward finish. Drink... Read More

This was the finest performance by this wine that I have seen since it was released. I did not expect the 2003 Chateau Margaux to show this well in a vintage where the southern part of the Medoc was clearly less impressive than... Read More

This was the finest performance by this wine that I have seen since it was released. I did not expect the 2003 Chateau Margaux to show this well in a vintage where the southern part of the Medoc was clearly less impressive than... Read More

The 2003 Cheval Blanc, a blend of 56% Cabernet Franc and 44% Merlot, reveals an exquisite bouquet of mulberries, forest floor, new saddle leather, spice box and spring flowers. The first-growth quality aromatics are followed by... Read More

The dense ruby/purple-colored 2003 is surprisingly fresh and crisp, displaying no signs of the vintage's extreme heat. This full-bodied, powerful, rich, backward, dense, tannic effort reveals notes of Chinese black tea, creme... Read More

Ex-chateau bottle tasted blind in Sauternes. The Climens '03 has always been a capricious Barsac: brilliant out of barrel but found wanting under vertical conditions. Here, amidst a blind horizontal, it fell somewhere between... Read More

This vintage is not as promising as hoped based on previous vintages. Licorice, herb, and stewed vegetable-like characteristics make an appearance in this dark plum/garnet-colored effort. Although well-made, medium-bodied, and... Read More