For a long time, the three Léoville estates, all deuxième crus, had a hierarchy that was almost set in stone. At the top was Léoville Las Cases, which for years and decades has been considered close to the premier crus. Then Barton gradually moved up to second place and Poyfferré remained the "taillight" for a long time, if one may put it that way. In the 80s and early 90s this was still largely true, but then Poyferré made an incredible spurt and since 2000 has at least reached the level of Barton, if not often more. Even the comparison with Las Cases is flattering from Robert Parker's point of view in the best years: 2009: Las Cases = 98+ points, Poyfferé = 100 points!!.. 2010: Las Cases 96+, Poyfferé = 98+. So Léoville Poyfferé has taken off, at least from Parker's point of view. René Gabriel sees it similarly - even if there are differences in the ranking to Parker. One thing is certain: the three wineries fight - year after year again - for the first place, so to speak. Parker, Gabriel and other points, that is one thing. But the other is the drinking pleasure. All three wines need - to really reach their zenith - long bottle ageing and also a lot of patience on the part of the consumers. Perhaps the most patience is needed for Las Cases, which often even fails when young - for sheer power, pressure and density.
Because I have followed the competition of the three Deuxièmes for years - and also like to wait fifteen or more years for them - I left this Poyfferé in the cellar, although the 1997 vintage was rather modest and the wine could only achieve 87 Parker points (Gabriel 15/20). The wait was worth it. I now have a wine in my glass that has obviously developed and found a harmony that I have hardly ever encountered in a 97 to date. To put it casually: great cinema, not quite great, certainly not, but something that was otherwise difficult to achieve in this difficult vintage. Did the coming development - which only began eight or ten years later - already become apparent? I don't know. In any case, the price differential was still large at that time: Poyfferé about 40 CHF, Barton 60 CHF and Las Cases around 90 CHF. It was the year of the first big price spike for Bordeaux, a price spike steeply upwards. Only a few years later, it became sobering to realise: the vintage was generally priced far too high. That's why I drank almost all of the 97s long ago. I have only kept a few very high-priced wines, including wines from which I had expected a lot - as older wines - despite the low rating. At least this Léoville Poyfferré did the trick: round, harmonious, full of spice and warmth. Gabriel wrote after a 97 sample 8 years ago: "...again completely contaminated, smelled among other things of plaster threads...". It may be that his Poyfferré was like that, but my "cleaning threads" were more like gold threads.