130 Bordeaux samples in less than 48 hours and here's what I noticed:
A diverse group of tasters, mostly French, Asian and Brittish crowded the Chateaux in anticipation of an apparently super-hyped vintage. It doesn't take long sampling these wines to realize that dream of terrior is starting to fade away. Chateaux poured very proudly these wines of excellent concentration, almost boasting their oppulence. Even James Suckling from Wine Spectator is already making excuses about the extraction of Oak amd Skin Tannin (yes, after I completed tasting I checked to see what others thought of this vintage.)
Beyond being a trade professional, I am also a huge wine fan. Not like so many of my counterparts that want to drink what's free, I enjoy the search for that great bottle of wine to purchase for my wife and I to share. So when I see the evolution of what I considered some of the greatest wines on Earth, it can be disturbing. When I see Hype and not substance pushing the prices sky high, I have to call a spade a spade.
Is 2009 a great vintage? It appears to be Very Good to Great
Is 2009 in parallel with 1982 as one of the greatest vintages? Only time will tell, people knew 1982 was a great vintage but it wasn't until later that it started to deserve it's reputation as one of the best ever.
The last truely proven great vintages in my opinion - 2005 (?Maybe still too tannic to tell), 2000, 1995, 1989. To me, a great vintage is one when you open a bottle it just makes you melt with anticipation for another taste. It's layered, complex, balanced and focused.
Vintages that I found issue with -
2003 - the wines were overly ripe and many display cooked fruit nuances and lack freshness.
2005 - Some of the petite Chateaux and Cru Bourgeois were excellent. Some of the 5th growths that I tried were amazing. Some of the 1st growths and 2nd growths were so extracted and tannic, they need 10 years just to hope that they come into balance.
I don't remember which wine maker told me this, but I swear by it. A wine doesn't grow into balance. If the wine is not balanced with fruit, acidity and structure than it can't just appear. As simple as it sounds, I think some critics have forgotten that simple rule of thumb.
-On to what I thought of St Emilion, Pomerol & Sauternes
On intial impression, it just seems if Merlot got over-ripe, super-ripe, too ridiculously ripe. SOme of the alcohols were a touch hot, only exaggerated by the huge tannins. There were those that did manage to make fantastic wines and overall you can still tell it was a good ripe vintage. It's a lot easier to make good wines from ripe grapes than green and plump (rain) grapes. It seemed as if some wineries saw the wines taking on an overipe quality and used stems to extract structure. You could really see some of what most have been extreme heat in the Sauternes. They boderline cloying. They seem to as a majority lack the zipline of acidity that makes them truely special.
On my top performers:
Pomerol
Chateau Gazin and Chateau La Conseillante - Both deserve a good mid to low 90's score.
St Emilion
Chateau Pavie Macquin & Chateau Troplong Mondot - These deserve mid to high 90's, they were really superb and really did a lovely job managing some of the prune and raisin quality I found in some of the other St Emilions. By the way, you must come to St Emilion at some point in your future and just see how gorgeous of a region it is. I am always amazed at how pretty it is. Since I was lost twice today as my GPS kept trying to send me down roads that no longer exist, I saw some picturesque countryside.
Sauterenes
Chateau Guiraud & Chateau Suduiraut - These will proabably score very high by critics but I think they should be in the more mid 90's. Nowhere near the freshness that I found in the 2001, which are still just absolutely amazing.
Tomorrow I head back to St Emilion this time to taste with some small estates that can't afford to be a part of the Union des Grand Crus. I hope to get a video or two of what they think candidly of the 2009 vintage. By the way, Wine, Hail, Rain, punishing winds, these are the lengths I go to bring you these reports. Just think of me as the guy from CNN, who stands near the Hurricane, only I have Purple teeth and I get to taste wines the whole time. Ahh the sacrifice!
Cheers,
Amier
P.S. It seems as if spell check in France, only checks for spelling in French - so sorry for all my grammatical errors. I plan to do a spell check when I get back to the States and just see how bad I am at spelling. I think I am in the aweful range.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Union des Grand Crus 2009 Primeurs
It's 1am local time and many of my fellow trade professionals are undoubtedly exhausted from such a fantastic day of tasting. As I go through the next few days tasting what appears to an endless supply of hearty Bordeaux, I will keep you posted daily on my findings.
Today: Sampled 85 Wines
Where: Pauillac, St Estephe, St Julien, Margaux, Pessac-Leognan, Graves
Thank you to Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite, Chateau Batailley & Chateau Desmirail for graciosuly hosting hundreds of trade professionals.
Background:
I purposely did not read about what other critics were stating about the 2009 vintage. A) I did not want to be influenced by other opinions. B) I like to taste as blind as possible. C) Let what's in the glass tell me it's story.
When tasting wines that have only been in barrel for less than 6 months, one must keep an open mind on the core components. Fruit, Acidity, tannin, weight and most importantly flavor. Over time one becomes accustomed to tasting wines from a particular region and they have classic flavor profiles that when done right give you a classic reference to search. What makes Bordeaux have a bit of a twist is that they are all blends. Besides the fact it needs to be a blend of some combination from the 5 varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot & Malbec: it's really all about microclimate and soil.
Depending on speed of uploads, I will try to upload some videos of the vineyards.
i.e.: I have some great shots at Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite in Graves - Has soils that showcase why Graves has such a chalky, dusty & mineral personality. It's the Gravel. It's everywhere.
Brief Synopsis of the Day:
So many great wines on what appears to be a stellar vintage. The wines are screaming with tannin, which is to be expected at such an early stage, however I wonder if some will ever come to balance. Some of the St Julien's I tasted seemed to be completely masked in Tannin.
St Julien
Chateau Leoville Barton & Chateau Brenaire-Ducru were very well made and should score well into the 90's. I will post all my tasting notes and reviews at the conclusion of all the tastings in Bordeaux.
St Estephe
These wines were ripe and round. Very lush and suprisingly drinkable. My favorite at this tsting was Chateau Lafon-Rochet.
Pauillac
It showed its dominate personality and possibly the reason it contains majority of the first growths. When these wines are on, it's very hard to beat. On a vintage that seems all about robust Cabernet weight, these wines stole the show for the day. Expect many mid 90's and above from this region. Of what we sampled today, Chateau Clerc Milon was a show stopper.
Margaux
This was a hard one to judge, there was such a dominate nose of fresh French oak and someone decided to drench themselves in Cologne that was in the room. However, I did find these wines to be very fine, yet not spectacular. I quite honestly expected a little more from what I expect will end up being considered a classic vintage. Don't get me wrong, plenty of the wines will score in the low 90's. My pick from the tasting was the Chateau Malescot Saint-Expurey & Chateau du Tertre.
Graves & Pessac-Leognan
Some of the whites tasted were out of this world. Pape-Clement Blanc is outstanding and I expect that it will be rewarded quite handsomly with a review in the near future. Chateau Picque Caillou, I thought showed very well also. The reds were kind of all over the board. Definitely not quite as rich and concentrated as some of the other wines tasted today. But the winner's really were superb, Chateau Pape Clement Rouge was singing in the glass, Domaine de Chavelier also was quite well made.
That's all for today as 2am approaches here and tomorrow begins at 8am to head back out to the vineyards. Pomerol, St Emilion and Sauternes are on the agenda for the day.
Avoir,
Amier
Today: Sampled 85 Wines
Where: Pauillac, St Estephe, St Julien, Margaux, Pessac-Leognan, Graves
Thank you to Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite, Chateau Batailley & Chateau Desmirail for graciosuly hosting hundreds of trade professionals.
Background:
I purposely did not read about what other critics were stating about the 2009 vintage. A) I did not want to be influenced by other opinions. B) I like to taste as blind as possible. C) Let what's in the glass tell me it's story.
When tasting wines that have only been in barrel for less than 6 months, one must keep an open mind on the core components. Fruit, Acidity, tannin, weight and most importantly flavor. Over time one becomes accustomed to tasting wines from a particular region and they have classic flavor profiles that when done right give you a classic reference to search. What makes Bordeaux have a bit of a twist is that they are all blends. Besides the fact it needs to be a blend of some combination from the 5 varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot & Malbec: it's really all about microclimate and soil.
Depending on speed of uploads, I will try to upload some videos of the vineyards.
i.e.: I have some great shots at Chateau Smith Haut-Lafite in Graves - Has soils that showcase why Graves has such a chalky, dusty & mineral personality. It's the Gravel. It's everywhere.
Brief Synopsis of the Day:
So many great wines on what appears to be a stellar vintage. The wines are screaming with tannin, which is to be expected at such an early stage, however I wonder if some will ever come to balance. Some of the St Julien's I tasted seemed to be completely masked in Tannin.
St Julien
Chateau Leoville Barton & Chateau Brenaire-Ducru were very well made and should score well into the 90's. I will post all my tasting notes and reviews at the conclusion of all the tastings in Bordeaux.
St Estephe
These wines were ripe and round. Very lush and suprisingly drinkable. My favorite at this tsting was Chateau Lafon-Rochet.
Pauillac
It showed its dominate personality and possibly the reason it contains majority of the first growths. When these wines are on, it's very hard to beat. On a vintage that seems all about robust Cabernet weight, these wines stole the show for the day. Expect many mid 90's and above from this region. Of what we sampled today, Chateau Clerc Milon was a show stopper.
Margaux
This was a hard one to judge, there was such a dominate nose of fresh French oak and someone decided to drench themselves in Cologne that was in the room. However, I did find these wines to be very fine, yet not spectacular. I quite honestly expected a little more from what I expect will end up being considered a classic vintage. Don't get me wrong, plenty of the wines will score in the low 90's. My pick from the tasting was the Chateau Malescot Saint-Expurey & Chateau du Tertre.
Graves & Pessac-Leognan
Some of the whites tasted were out of this world. Pape-Clement Blanc is outstanding and I expect that it will be rewarded quite handsomly with a review in the near future. Chateau Picque Caillou, I thought showed very well also. The reds were kind of all over the board. Definitely not quite as rich and concentrated as some of the other wines tasted today. But the winner's really were superb, Chateau Pape Clement Rouge was singing in the glass, Domaine de Chavelier also was quite well made.
That's all for today as 2am approaches here and tomorrow begins at 8am to head back out to the vineyards. Pomerol, St Emilion and Sauternes are on the agenda for the day.
Avoir,
Amier
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
