If you love the wines of Bordeaux, but don’t yet have your arms around the 2004 vintage, I recommend a group hug. Sandwiched between the two very different but great vintages of '03 and '05, it offers quality and value like we may never see again from Bordeaux’s famous estates.

In Bordeaux, quality should be judged by the overall excellence of the classified growths and the hundreds of petite châteaux. And that’s what customers got a chance to do on a warm Saturday in July, when they turned out to taste wines from the likes of Cos, Lynch, Léoville, Pichon and Pontet. The wines showed fantastically and produced plenty of interesting comments, most along the lines of “how can 2005 be much better than these wines?” After 33 visits to Bordeaux, I’ve learned that the super-hyped “great” vintages are certainly very good, but that the quality and competition to make great wine is so intense in Bordeaux today, that vintages like 2004 can come very close to the quality and overall taste of a vintage with bigger scores slapped on.

2004 Reserve de la Comtesse ($33.99) The second wine of Pichon-Lalande is a model of consistency; mid-weight, the brisk ripe fruit is very fresh, extremely floral with hints of cedar.

2004 Domaine de Chevalier ($44.99) An elegant K&L favorite for decades but a wine that never entered the category of greatness. That changed beginning in 2002; still very elegant, but now a much deeper core of perfectly ripe, silky red fruit greet you on the palate. This is a long finishing wine that is very impressive. Dare I say Cheval Blanc-ish!

2004 d’Armailhac ($26.99) This Mouton wine is also changing. While its stablemate Clerc-Milon inches closer in quality to Mouton, d’Armailhac is approaching the quality of the finest Clerc-Milon. Strong and masculine cabernet fruit with good spice, not heavily extracted but classic claret. A great value!

2004 Lynch-Bages (Inquire) Revered worldwide for its attractive, forward fruit and flat out good taste, this is exactly what you have with the 2004. Round, plump red-black fruit with vanilla tinges, it will give good pleasure relatively early in life, much like the 2001.

2004 Cos d’Estournel ($81.99) A very serious Cos! Intensely focused wine with loads of dark fruit, power and purity along with old vine fruit. Great length and a great future ahead for this Cos—at an old school price.

2004 Pontet-Canet ($52.99) My favorite wine and choice for “wine of the vintage” considering price. Loads of dark, rich, viscous fruit from perfectly ripe grapes. Flavors of blueberries and blackberries bounce effusively out of the glass. This is great wine! Big but not over extracted; keeps perfect balance and retains elegance, which is, at the end of the day, the hallmark character of great Bordeaux wine.

2001 Castelnau de Suduiraut ($29.99) If you have ever wondered about just how good the 2001 vintage was in Sauternes, try this second wine from the great Suduiraut. Customers said all day long: “I can’t believe this is second wine!” Sweetness, acid and balance, it’s all there.

Please feel free to contact me anytime for advice or questions on the wines of Bordeaux at x2723 or Ralph@klwines.com. Cheers and Toujours Bordeaux.

—Ralph Sands