The wheels on the bus…sorry no need to break into song…got into action at 7am and by 7.35 we were outside Branaire Ducru to taste with Patrick Maroteaux. We had tasted at Branaire the day before as part of the UGC, but it is better to taste in isolation and with those that know the wine best. The 2010 Branaire Ducru does not include any wine from the new vineyard that the Estate has recently acquired and the yield for the wine was down from 47hl/ha in 2009 to 39hl/ha in 2010 (a relatively common theme). I was really pleased to see the positive impression from the previous day’s tasting was re-enforced and a tasting of the second wine – Duluc – from 2008, was good too. I asked Patrick which of the vintages of the last 10 years is starting to drink best and the answer was 2001 which was great news – it is my son’s vintage and he has a case of magnums squirrelled away. In the last 20 years the answer was 1996 then 1995. This Château definitely seems to be getting right back to where it should be.
Next up, Léoville Las Cases. (picture left.) Quite a few wines to taste here – Potensac, Chapelle de Potensac, Léoville Las Cases, Clos du Marquis (separate vineyard within Léoville Las Cases), Le Petit Lion (second wine of Léoville Las Cases, not offered until it is in bottle), Château Nenin (Pomerol) and the second wine Fugees de Nenin. I loved the Las Cases but though that Léoville Poyferre still just had the edge in the battle of the Léovilles.
Grand-Puy-Lacoste is always a nice place to taste; a mellow, airy room and a very, very impressive wine this year. I am not quite sure what Xavier Borie and Mr. Marus (picture right) are discussing here(!) but things seem to be going well. We were then due at one Ségur followed by the other. At Château Phélan Ségur – very much a personal favourite – we were able to taste the last 10 vintages – 2010 back to 2001. The rest of the team had tasted this recently and I will defer back to Guy Seddon’s write up http://www.candbscene.co.uk/bordeaux/phelan-segur for notes but I feel the last three 2008/9/10 are a very strong but individual trio and as long as the pricing remains good (one big reason why it is a favorite) then 2010 is another must buy. And so to Calon from Phélan – a real highlight. I have to admit to scoring the two wines here highly. The Calon Ségur is (sadly) down in production this year but was very good indeed ‘giving’ a little more at this early stage than it has in the past. The other wine – Capbern Gasqueton – has a chance to be one of our top value wines, despite not being of Calon’s ‘breeding.’ It is a little gem. Both these last two wines had the vin de presse included which is rare but more informative.
It was lunch time and something I had really been looking forward to. Lunch with Anthony Barton and his wife Eva. Sadly, Anthony’s chef had been injured skiing so we de-camped to the brilliant Cordeillan Bages restaurant where we had a wonderful lunch chosen by Anthony and Eva. The wines were stunning too, with Salon 1995 (really starting to blossom) to start and then the white wine of Lynch Bages from 2008, Blanc de Lynch Bages which had a stunning nose but possibly needs a little more time on the palate. The reds were, of course, Léoville Barton with a bottle each from 1995, 1996 and 1999. All showed very well the 99 the most ‘ready’ now but the 1996 being very classical (a good thing in my book) and the slightly softer subtler 1995 right there too; a wonderful trio but even those where not up to the superb stories and banter…a very memorable afternoon. At this stage, I will comment on the Léoville and Langoa in 2010; both are very good indeed. I sometimes struggle with the fruit character of Langoa but this classical vintage seems to have played to its strengths; wines to watch out for.
Next stop was Pontet-Canet to see Alfred “the Great” (Anthony Barton’s phrase!) Tesseron and his daughter Mélanie. 2010 is the first vintage in which Pontet-Canet is fully biodynamic; a quest they have been on for some time. The wine was muscular and masculine but impressively balanced too. Little needs to be said about this Château’s rise.. it is impressive indeed.
The heat was really up by now and as we made the longish drive back to base there was on stop of to make at the Moulis, Listrac and Haut-Médoc UGC tasting. May be it was the heat or possibly the lunch but this was a tasting at which there seemed to be a few OTT wines; over-extraction appeared to be a bit of a danger. We were delighted, however, to taste with Pierre-Gilles Grommand d’Evry (for more info see blog on the teams visit http://www.candbscene.co.uk/bordeaux/a-medieval-tasting-at-chateau-lamarque) of Lamarque whose wine plays to the vintages strengths and will offer classical, medoc style Claret with a good price tag, that you can age.
This being day three the banter levels were rising in the ‘van’ with particularly strong views, noisily put, coming from the back seat.
The evening was a mellow one for Alison, Bryce and I as we had a very good dinner at Gravelier; a decent wine list, short menu and simple, well done food. Adam and Paul both had a big dinner and Claire was of to an Yquem tasting (lucky thing).
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