James Suckling has published his revised Bordeaux 2009 tasting notes. His generous in-bottle scores reflect his enthusiasm for the vintage, which he calls "the best modern vintage ever".
Having initially judged 14 wines to be potentially perfect, Suckling has awarded nine wines 100 points. The First Growths are among his 100-pointers, with the exception of Mouton Rothschild. Although Mouton was seemingly en route to perfection in 2010, it has not quite kept pace with its siblings and comes in a touch lower at 98 points. Ausone, Lafleur and Vieux Chateau Certan, however, make the vintage's perfect inner circle, as do Super Seconds Montrose and Cos d'Estournel (which is widely believed to be a Parker favourite).
In all, 22 wines receive 98 points and above. Among his top scorers is Malescot St Exupery, which the critic singles out as "one of the best values in high-scoring wines in my tasting". You can view Suckling's tasting notes in full on Jamessuckling.com.
Parker is expected to publish his in-bottle scores for 2009 in the next issue of The Wine Advocate. If he too ranks the vintage more highly than its predecessors (which is not unlikely given his ebullience at WineFuture), will we see stronger interest in 2009, and in Bordeaux in general?
