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