The King's Fundamentals
For fifteen vintages this classic bottling was the only Barbaresco DOCG Gaja made — the single-vineyard wines had been voluntarily demoted to Langhe. At twenty years, the 2001 showed why the house never needed more than this.
Vintage 2001
4 notes
The Vosne End of Nuits
Les Vignerondes sits at the northern edge of Nuits-Saint-Georges, where the commune runs into Vosne-Romanée and the wines start to smell of it. Domaine Leroy's parcel is under half a hectare, and the 2001, at twenty years, was the estate's concentration wrapped around a cru that is usually described as elegant.
A Brand That Did Not Last, a Bottle That Did
Atalon was Jess Jackson's attempt at a serious Napa label — mountain-fruit Merlot and Cabernet, launched in 1997, quietly folded years later. The 2001 outlived the brand by a wide margin.
The Château Inside the City
The oldest name among the first growths, and the only one the city of Bordeaux swallowed whole. The 2001 — forever in the shadow of 2000 — was at twenty years exactly what the vintage's defenders promised: smoke, stone, and silk.