Here are the average scores from the Goedhuis team from the pre-dinner tasting at last week’s 10th Wine Dinner. A particularly strong showing for Haut-Brion knocking the Petrus (which gets 100 points from Parker) off the top spot. Goedhuis scores are out of 20, Parker scores out of 100.
Goedhuis / Parker
Haut Brion 19.2 / 96
Petrus 18.8 / 100
Latour 18.3 / 90
Leoville Las Cases 18.1 / 93
Le Pin 17.9 / 93
Palmer 17.8 / 91
Cheval Blanc 17.8 / 93
Margaux 17.8 / 91
Lafite 17.6 / 98
Mouton Rothschild 17.4 / 96
Vieux Ch Certan 17.2 / 92
Lynch Bages 17.0 / 89
La Mission Haut Brion 16.9 / 93
Leoville Barton 16.7 / 91
Figeac 16.6 / 90
Cos d’Estournel 16.2 / 88
And here are some of wines which stood out on the night – although not necessarily their highest scored wines.
Ch Palmer: “One of the few wines with generosity and opulence of fruit combined with natural depth and structure that is so typical of the 1998 vintage. Great potential.” Tom Stopford-Sackville
Ch Haut-Brion: “Perfectly poised – pretty aromatics of cassis, hint of lead pencil, very appealing indeed.on the palate great presence, impeccably balanced and with a long refreshing aftertaste, definitely a wine where a bottle simply would not be enough, bravo HB.” Julian Chamberlen
Chateau Latour: “Delicious ripe red berried fruits, tannins are soft and refined, this isn’t a power house of a wine but more about elegance and finesse, which is contrary to many 1998s, the finish is pure long and well balanced.” Jamie Strutt
Chateau Leoville Lascases: ‘intense wine with an abundance of dark fruit aromas, blackcurrants, iron and pencil lead, the palate was superbly balanced, silky and concentrated, the telltale structive of Las cases is evident of course. A lovely wine. Very fine.’ James Low
“Chateau Leoville Lascases once again shows why it remains a 1st Growth in all but name and price. Full bodied, wonderful concentration with deep black fruit flavours and starting to reveal the complexity that it will no doubt deliver in 5+ years. This wine shows no signs of the austerity that this vintage can be associated with and is a tremendous 1998. A very attractive example of this famous chateau.” Mark Robertson