2006 Bordeaux tasting (15 wines)

WINE TALK
1

Today I attended an informal tasting of a handful of 2006 Bordeaux. Since I was my typical 30 to 40 minutes late, I raced through the line-up just to get a feel for the wines and warm up my palate, then returned and restated more seriously. It was then I noticed that the Giscours was slightly corked. Nobody else had noticed. Annoying. A second bottle was procured and proved sound. Here are the wines listed alphabetically with my shorthand notes:

Calon Segur 2006 St Estephe
A stony nose of dark, black fruit. Body has a soft texture and decent complexity.

Cos d’Estournel 2006 St Estephe
Coffee and black fruit aromas. Quite juicy and bright. Vivid acidity brings the red to black fruit to life. Very full, thick. balanced.

Ducru Beaucaillou 2006 St Julien
Toasted vanilla nose. Supple body with luscious dark fruit and a firm finish.

Giscours 2006 Margaux
Spicy aromas with walnut shell. Fullish, smooth fruit with more spice.

Gruaud Larose 2006 St Julien
Vanilla-soaked aromas. Little fruit. Lean.

Lafite Rothschild 2006 Pauillac
Coffee, black fruit aromas, delicate yet intense. Dense, full-bodied. Very, very classy and polished. Black and red fruit. Special.

Leoville Barton 2006 St Julien
Bright raspberry aroma. Well integrated fruit/tannins. Supple, serious, delicious now.

Leoville Las Cases 2006 St Julien
Coffee, black fruit aromas. Very, very tasty. Red into black fruit with soft, integrated tannins. Balanced and polished.

Leoville Poyferre 2006 St Julien
Black coffee and black fruit aromas. Very tight, almost lean.

Lynch Bages 2006 St Julien
Bright red fruit aromas. Very juicy and full with firm, solid tannins.

Montrose 2006 St Estephe
Reticent aromas, hard to discern. Very big body. Stern tannins, but tons of substance.

Pavie 2006 St Emilion
“Whammy wine” aromas of dark fruit and oak. Hint of mint leaf? Structured like a powerhouse. Very dry finish with tons of substance.

Pichon Baron 2006 Pauillac
Raspberry fruit and vanilla aromas. Decent fruit and soft tannins.

Pichon Lalande 2006 Pauillac
Floral and bright fruit aromas. Spicy body with very juicy fruit. Vivid, zippy acids. Worlds better than 2005.

Pontet Canet 2006 Pauillac
Vanilla nose with big purple fruit. Luscious body with tons of juicy fruit. Very dark with firm, solid tannins.

Fun, interesting tasting, but I needed to get back to the shop. No rest for the wicked! [berserker.gif]

2

Thanks. What would you buy for yourself?

3

I wonder that as well.

Do you think that they appear highly ‘engineered’ for the vintage?

4

Thanks for the notes Peter. Were you underwhelmed by the Calon? The PLLC is just what I was hoping for.

RT

5

What would I buy for myself?

First we must put aside the price sheet handed out for the tasting. On the whole I would need a 50% discount as a starting point for negotiation. Most of the wines are available on wine-searcher for those price ranges RETAIL!

Anyway, I found the Giscours and Leoville Barton to be the most immediately gratifying. For the Giscours, the spicy acid component really brought about a savory quality to the fruit. I dug it even though it wasn’t a very “serious” wine compared to the others. It certainly tasted like Margaux Appellation, for which I was glad. The Barton was a complete wine right away. Remarkably fresh, yet dense and supple in the mid-palate. I suspect this wine would begin to really show off in a decade, but for now it is quite tasty. If you’re into drinking young Bordeaux and Napa Cabs, rock on! This also tasted like Left Bank, but I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint St Julien or the winery if tasting it blind. Read into that what you wish hahaha

If money were no object whatsoever, I’d love to take home a 6 pack each of LLC and Lafite. Both wines were stupendously “endowed” to use a RMPjr word. The LLC was (by far) the more complete wine in its youth, pure enough for immediate consumption, but solid enough for who knows how many years in a cellar. The Lafite was a hint more blowsy aromatically, but incredible in the mouth. Check back in a decade for a progress report. If I had 6 of each, I would wait 5 years, then try a bottle every 3 or 4 years to see how they taste. Both would not be confused for Right Bank, which was nice.

Cos was very intriguing. My opinion swung from “love it” to “meh” about 10 times. I finally settled on “I love to say meh” and realized the wine had been sealed up in a structure oubliette. If I could release it from its prison in a decade and retry it, I would probably totally love it again.

Pavie, no thanks today, but I’d be interested, in the name of science of course hahaha, to try it again. Just don’t ask me to taste it blind and guess which bank it comes from. It has no terroir to speak of IMO. This was a bomber bottle, hitting the palate with a whallop.

Same for Pontet Canet. Sorry fanboys. Didn’t like it from a purist’s point of view. Sure, it was delicious, but not very site specific. Or bank specific. Or French for that matter.

I shouldn’t forget to mention the 06 Pichon Lalande: things are looking good under the new regime.

6

Price is everything now. If the price is reasonable (i.e not 25% less than 05, more like 25% above 02), then I might nibble; otherwise I am out and drinking down my cellar.

7

Haha

8

Thanks Peter. I’m not buying any more young bordeaux in quantity but always interested in a few bottles here and there. The Giscours sounds like one I want to try.

9

If you’re lonely and don’t want to do this alone…you know where to find me! flirtysmile

10

I was checking on CT which wines I bought in that vintage to see if you had tried any I owned… silly me, I didn’t buy anything in 2006! :slight_smile:

11

Yes, Zach, this is the theme of the next off-line: Drinking Down Bob’s Bordeaux Stash. It is sort of the sub-theme of every tasting I’ve been to with Bob (e.g. '83 Pichon Lalande, '85 Margaux, '82 Cos), but let’s just put it right out front! [thankyou.gif]

-Michael

P.S. All I’ve bought has been a small mixed case of 06 Bordeaux: Brane Cantenac, Duhart, Poyferre, Lynch Bages, Pichon Baron–just stuff that was really reasonably priced. I may pick up Pontet Canet, Leoville Barton and a few others, but am otherwise trying to take it slow with the vintage. Sounds like Giscours ought to be on the radar, though…

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Peter, thanks for your thoughts on 06’.

Unfortunately there have not been a lot of notes posted about the 06’ vintage and I suspect it’s because a lot of people just passed on it upon hearing some of the ridiculous prices being asked by some. Michael and I were able to get it on sale in NH at some overall pretty dent prices compared to what I’ve heard everyone paying. Pricing I’ve found is similar to 02’ and 04’. I would have liked to have bought the Giscours but did find NH’s pricing on that really out of line along with the Pontet Canet.

The Pontet Canet I just found locally for $60 that I may pick up a couple.

13

Bring a straw…oh and some bread.

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Hah, you missed the 83 Lafite…you snooze you loose neener (Gerry was there and it was not as good as he 83 PLL anyway) oh also the 85 Haut Brion (stellar stuff).

I am pretty much done with the 80’s…on to the 90’s. More 96s than anything and they need time, then there are the 98-03s. We must be patient though.

I did bring that port-like 94 Monty sourced from the Wood-man. From now on I will show up with Napa plonk just to keep you all guessing [rofl.gif]

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[rofl.gif]

I figured you would stock up for Herb Lyceum…

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Yeah, they need to get on the bread wagon at HL…seriously. deadhorse

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Apparently 50% off is not out of the question. The distributor sales manager is coming to the shop for a visit Monday. I might have some decent deals on my faves!