TN: 2012 UGC Bordeaux Tasting, San Francisco

2012 UGC BORDEAUX TASTING - Palace Hotel, SF (1/31/2015)

White Bordeaux
Interesting wines, and would be worth buying a few at $30-40, but these wines have gotten crazy at $80-100. Pass.

• 2012 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  Grassy, cat urine, nice balance; palate is medium bodied, intense flavors, a little bitter and unbalanced. 91 nose, 87 palate. 89 (89 pts.)
• 2012 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  More balanced citrus nose, waxy; palate is medium bodied, rich, waxy, nice freshness. 89-90 (89 pts.)
• 2012 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
  Minerally, salinity; light bodied, salinity throughout. Nice with seafood. 90 (90 pts.)

Sauternes
Although I usually love at least a few of the sauternes even in poor vintages, this vintage is a disaster. None of these were very good, and only the Coutet and Doisy Daene were even approaching decent to good. Some, like the Climens and Lafaurie Peyraguey, were poor.

• 2012 Château Doisy-Daëne - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Tropical fruit, intense nose, complex; palate is a bit disjointed but has great acidity and great fruit, hasn’t come together yet. Hard to evaluate. 90 (90 pts.)
• 2012 Château Coutet - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
  Flowery nose but very subtle, not the usual blockbuster on the nose; full bodied, great fruit, slight bitter grapefruit, medium persistence; finish fades a bit too abruptly. Pleasant, but no greatness yet. 90 (90 pts.)
• 2012 Château Climens - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac
  Lacks intensity on the nose, some paint thinner; palate is full bodied, unbalanced, high alcohol, lacks complexity. Poor showing. 83 (83 pts.)
• 2012 Château Guiraud - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Lightly aromatic nose with slight sugar and fruit?; palate is full bodied, disjointed, excellent acidity though. 85 (85 pts.)
• 2012 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Mild nose; palate has good balance, simple, sweet, but good acidity, not much complexity to the flavors. 86-87 (86 pts.)
• 2012 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Completely flat nose; palate is full bodied, some salinity, fruits fade by midpalate. 83 (83 pts.)
• 2012 Château de Rayne-Vigneau - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Slightly floral; alcoholic, not enough concentration to the fruit. 84 (84 pts.)
• 2012 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  A little subtle nose with some minor fruit; palate is rich, dense, full bodied, comes across alcoholic because there is little fruit. 85 (85 pts.)

St. Julien
My favorite region, and these stalwart chateaux were decent wines and decent values, but not worth picking up over other recent vintages. Still, enjoyable wines and I would be interested in trying them again in a few decades.

• 2012 Château Léoville Poyferré - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  Nose is surprisingly reticent, slight minerality, slight black fruit; full bodied, structured tannin, dense fruit; medium finish. Very respectable. 90 (90 pts.)
• 2012 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  Slight smoky minerality, black fruit, subtle to moderate intensity; palate is full bodied, nice structured tannins, fresh black fruit; medium finish. 91-92 (91 pts.)
• 2012 Château Langoa Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
  Nice balanced nose with a bit of red fruit, black fruit; palate is full bodied, fruit thins though. 89 (89 pts.)

Pauillac
Grand-Puy-Lacoste is generally my choice for good value, and it lives up to that here. Pichon Lalande and Baron were both decent as well.

• 2012 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Nice nose with good aromatics, cherry, cedar; palate is full bodied, tannic, ripe fruits, a bit of heat, good fruit; medium finish. Nice nose, palate falls a little short. 90 (90 pts.)
• 2012 Château Clerc Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  No nose; some black fruit but not approachable, lacks density and complexity. 86 (86 pts.)
• 2012 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Dense youthful black fruits, slight spice, nice complexity; palate is full bodied, plush black fruits, elegant; med finish. 90-91+ (90 pts.)
• 2012 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Blackcurrant, a little pomegranate, a little graphite; palate is full bodied but fresh acidity throughout, thins out a bit by the finish. 89 (89 pts.)
• 2012 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
  Actually a nice nose with good density to the black fruits, a little burly, some minerality; palate is rich, full bodied, nice black fruits; medium finish. More elegant than its usual style. Very nice. 90-91 (90 pts.)

Pomerol
Clinet was a modern mess, as usual. Gazin was nearly a surprise as wine of the night after smelling the nose, but the palate brought it back down to earth. Too bad.

• 2012 Château Clinet - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  Purple blueberry fruits, vanilla; plush mouthfeel, but thins out by the midpalate. Lacks density. 86 (86 pts.)
• 2012 Château Gazin Pomerol - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
  Smoky, spicy, very nice nose, minerality, black fruits, very complex; palate is full bodied, unfortunately unbalanced with a bit too much alcohol. Nose was so promising. 95 nose, 87 palate. 90 (90 pts.)

St. Emilion
Actually very interesting, and Troplong Mondot was one of my wines of the tasting.

• 2012 Château Troplong Mondot - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
  A lot of spice on the nose, soy sauce, mushroom; palate is medium-full bodied, good fruit but a bit thin towards the end. This is a very unique wine and a great effort. 91-92 (91 pts.)

Margaux
Nothing special here.

• 2012 Château Malescot St. Exupéry - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  Aromatic black fruit, blackberry; palate is full bodied, ripe fruit, low fruit density though. 88-89 (88 pts.)
• 2012 Château Kirwan - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
  Vanilla, modern, ripe black fruit; palate is unbalanced. 83 (83 pts.)

Overall, I see little reason to purchase 2012. The sauternes are among the worst that I’ve tasted in recent years. Some of the reds are decent, and maybe worth a flyer if the prices are low enough, but none of them are must-have wines. It’s worth spending your money elsewhere.
Posted from CellarTracker

Thank you for the notes. We usually attend the UGC but were unable to last night. I appreciate the data points!

Thanks,
Ed

I’m assuming you tasted many more wines, and didn’t find them noteworthy, or for the west coast UGCs do they not send out the entire entourage that the East Coast sees?

Optimistic I’ll agree with your opinion on Troplong Mondot…the last vintage I liked was '08, some real fruit bombs in '09 and '10 I thought.

I was there, too, and I agree that 2012 is mostly a pass. Also agree that the Bartons and the white Smith Haut Lafitte were standouts among a field of “meh”.

@Arv R: Yeah, there were a lot more wines.

Thanks Ashish, I thought about going, but amazingly it sold out pretty quickly. Guess I was lucky

There were many more wines, but I can’t taste more than 30 wines reliably. I get to all the Sauternes and some of my favorites from each other region.

Gosh, if these were some of your favourites then this is certainly not a good ad for the vintage. Roll on 2015?

Anyone tried the 2012 Rauzan-Segla?

Some thoughts from UGC Chicago:
-Phelan Segur and Cantemerle were excellent. Those who ran with the lighter vintage and accepted it made much better wines than those who tried to make the same wine year over year.
-The Pichons were a mess. Again.
-Graves/Pessac is apparently overrun by oak trees because where else would they get all the oak for their wines. I guess they’re in a war on terroir.
-Basically no botrytis in the Sauternes this year.
-The reds would be good early-drinking bistro wines… if the prices match.

Had a chance to taste through in LA yesterday. Came away underwhelmed but there were a few things to like.

Domaine de Chevalier Blanc - Was the most interesting and enjoyable wine for me yesterday. It was tightly wound, mineral, but also showing some good extract and very good balance and complexity. Poured out of a decanter, very thoughtful of them. On the value side, I also enjoyed the Latour Martillac Blanc, in a riper, forward, tropical fruit style, this will drink well early but isn’t flabby by any stretch (that honor went to the Pape Clement Blanc IMO).

Chateau Climens - Unlike the OP, I really enjoyed this as it had good freshness to it, (where other sweet wines came up a bit short), bringing out the apricot and pear fruit. Talked to a friend of mine who collects these and calls it an average vintage for Climens.

Not a ton to say about the reds…I’m not sure there were many wines that match or beat their pricing, but the d’Armailhac stood out in this regard, besting many higher priced wines on the day. It was hard to tell what wines were significantly better, but here are a few that might end up as such.

The Pichon Baron stood out for its structure, the most tannic wine of the day of what I tasted, also had the most resounding finish, though that is not saying a lot considering the competition. A wine with good potential I’d say.

Lynch Bages - Nice florals on the nose, medium light in body with good freshness, though lacking toward the back in tannin and drive. A recurring theme.

Grand Puy Lacoste - Surprisingly forward, seemed much too easy for Pauillac, bet here it was in a forward, accessible way.

Leoville Barton - Continuing in the new, riper style but not without structure and balance, this unsurprisingly, came off as solidly good. Bested the Gruaud and Poyferre today, though I did find the Gruad charming. Ditto for Talbot, which had a nice, intense nose of cedar and eucalyptus.

Margaux - Nothing really stood out much, thought the reasonably priced Du Tertre stood up pretty well against more expensive wines.

In getting there late, I missed the chance to try the St. Emilion’s and Pomerols, too bad.

Thanks for the notes. It’s actually a relief to not have another vintage of the century to buy. It’s also really refreshing to see some scores in the 80s.

I bought a mixed case on futures. I couldn’t help myself, even though my brain has been telling me since the 2010 vintage that futures just don’t make much sense anymore.

2013 sounds like a turd too. I’m planning on skipping it, but I’ll be ready for 2014.

I went to the Chicago tasting as well, and it certainly wasn’t inspiring. My favorites were:
Latour-Martillac (white)
Smith Haut Lafitte (white)
Canon La Gaffeliere
Troplong Mondot
La Cabanne
Coufran
Beychevelle
Branaire Ducru
Leoville Poyferre
Pichon Baron

I enjoyed the few Sauternes I had as well, but I think the Doisy Daene was my favorite. It’s my daughter’s birth year, so I’m buying a case or two now of the ones I like (already got some Canon la Gaffeliere) and then will get some more as deals hopefully arrive.

I thought Pomerol were suppose to be good. Any feelings bout them ?

Great notes, tough vintage.

'12 is a pass to most, but just wait until the retailers try to sell it - see how AWESOME the vintage is!

If they price Cantemerle and Phelan Segur right (~$25/bt), I will definitely be in for a case or two. They have the makings of fantastic bistro wine.

Went to the trade tasting in SF. Sampled a pretty large fraction of the wines. Suspect on release, there will be many bargains. Did not take notes, but personal standouts included:

2012 Chateau Bouscaut Blanc
2012 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
2012 Chateau Tropong Mondot
2012 Chateau Villemaurine
2012 Chateau Clinet
2012 Chateau Gazin
2012 Chateau Poujeaux
2012 Chateau Malescot
2012 Chateau DuTertre
2012 Chateau Beychevelle
2012 Chateau Gruaud Larose
2012 Chateau Lagrange
2012 Chateau Leoville Barton
2012 Chateau Leoville Poyferre
2012 Chateau Saint Pierre
2012 Chateau Croizet Bages
2012 Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste
2012 Chateau Pichon Lalande
2012 Chateau Doisy Daene

I agree with all who point out Doisy Daene as the standout sauternes. In most years it outperforms, but in this year it’s truly better than even its more expensive competition.

Ashish and others, thanks for the tip about the Doisy Daene. Otherwise, to me, 2012 looks like a train wreak. I’m glad I didn’t get any on EP.

And it sounds like 2013 will be even worse (all of the importers here cancelled their 2013 Bordeaux EP programmes).