Having arrived in Bordeaux on Sunday evening and had a quick dinner at Le Noailles, Alison (Buchanan), Paul (Marus) and myself set off early for Latour. The day was one of Châteaux visits as the big Union des Grands Crus (UGC) tasting did not start until the Tuesday. Wherever possible, we try to taste each wine three times – at the Château, at the UGC and at a Négociant tasting.  We were actually 40 minutes early for our 9am appointment and kindly Latour let us taste early. The tasting was very impressive; there is nothing like going straight in at the deep end. Pauillac de Latour, the third wine, is not released En Primeur but was impressive. Forts de Latour was the expected step up, getting 17.5 from me. Forts de Latour see only 50% new oak as opposed to 100% for the Grand Vin. Château Latour 2010 was very fine, as always, with a big structure; I wrote “stealth tannins” in my tasting book. A very impressive start.

It was one first growth to another as we headed off to Château Mouton Rothschild. As there are works underway at the moment, you get driven in a golf cart to the tasting room where the line-up was Le Petit Mouton, d’Armailhac, Clerc Milon and Mouton Rothschild itself.  The Mouton stable were all big in red fruit with impressive freshness.

From here it was off to Château Léoville Poyferré and their excellent tasting room . Poyferré itself was a wine that we were impressed with every time we tasted it, the Château has been “on the charge” for the last few years and this continues that good work. A pre-fermentation cold soak was a new initiative this vintage.

Ch. Rauzan Gassies sold well in  2009 that was our next stop. It is a massively undervalued 2nd growth property that is making good wine now. The 2010 tasted very well and whilst we were there, we sampled the 2010 Croizet-Bages that is under the same ownership.

Having not tasted a first growth for nearly two hours, we thought it best to get to Château Margaux where Paul Pontallier was in fine form (as ever.) I thought the balance at Margaux was very good, the Pavillon Rouge though was a  touch subdued on the nose. Pavillon Blanc was very graceful and a good indication of some encouraging dry white performances to come. In discussing the comparison between 2009/2010 and 1989/1990, it was commented that the amount of selection that goes on now is significantly higher. 

Having already started to get a picture of the vintage on the left bank, we went to a tasting at one of the Négociants (Photo of table with loads of bottles, left) where you can taste a wide range of wines in quick succession; a real help in gauging things. We rounded off this tasting with some lunch and a small glass of Rauzan Segla ’98; soft supple and lovely now, Canon 00; really textured but also starting to drink well and a thimble of Suduiraut 2002.  I expected very little and got a very pleasant surprise; I am starting to love “off” vintages of Sauternes.

So having been refreshed by some lunch, we went to Château Palmer for a very good tasting of Alter Ego and the Grand Vin. As impressive as I can ever remember, 50% of the crop made it into Palmer, 45% Alter Ego & 5% rejected.

The visits followed hard and fast after this with Kirwan (impressive 2009 as well as 2010) then Saint-Pierre and Gloria (both very good and the first time I got the feeling that St-Julien really could be one of “the” communes for 2010.)  We then moved onto the Pichons; Lalande slightly losing out to Baron but both were of high quality. In tasting at Baron, we also tasted the Petit Village and Suduiraut (same ownership). Petit Village is enjoying a lot of investment at the moment and with its great terroir, it could be a property to watch. It was then time for the last visit of the day at Lynch-Bages. Ormes de Pez, Echo de Lynch, Blanc de Lynch and The Grand Vin. It was a very precise line up of wines. Lynch is without doubt a very fine wine this year and I found the Blancs very refreshing.

And so the day was done…Bryce (Fraser) arrived in Bordeaux just in time for Dinner at Quaizaco…a lot of miles done on day 1 but excitement levels high…