2006 Bordeaux tasting from Costco

WINE TALK
1

I attended the wine tasting last night put on by Costco thinking there would be some higher rated growths but alas there were not. Most of the wines are frankly not worth mentioning. They did have the 2005 Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac Leognon which I already bought last year and it’s a good wine that needs more time but the one wine that really stood out that I can recommend is the 2006 Chateau Fonplegade, a St. Emilion Grand Cru. I had never heard of this wine. 90% merlot, 7% cab franc, 2% cab sauv. This wine’s nose was just amazing notes with huge leather, earth,rubber (think walking into a Goodyear tire store) and dark fruit. For a 2006 it was very accessible with great fruit/acid and balance. Costco will be selling it for $55.00/bottle and it was every bit as good as the 2005 Smith Haut Lafitte for $30 less. This is one wine I would look for at Costco if you’re into bordeaux.

Some of the other 06’s I tried were Beychevelle, St. Julian, Chateau Talbot,St. Julien, and Chateau L’Enclos, Pomerol and while they were ok, they did not stand out like the Chateau Fonplegade!!

2

Wine that smells like a tire store? Does not sound too yummy for me.

3

Plus 1% of it is not wine . . .

[neener.gif]

4

Wine tasting put on by Costco…do tell!

Very interesting to see them do a formal tasting. I would be curious to hear more.

5

I can tell you that rubber on the nose is a GREAT thing in bordeaux. It seems to come from more right bank wines that left bank though the last Margaux I had also had "tire/rubber on the nose.

6

Lance, Costco had an Italian wine tasting in April with many many more high end wines than this tasting. In fact, Tim Mondavi was there pouring wine. Costco had a 2005 bordeaux tasting last year which unfortunately I did not attend. I was told that people were intimidated by the prices…LOL!!! I think this 06’ tasting in part was not to intimidate those invited but they went too far the other way. There were about 30 wines for this tasting with the highest price being the Smith Haut Lafitte at $79/bottle and many of the others wines were under $20.00

At the Italian tasting they had both the 05’ Sassicaia and Ornellaia(which was my favorite of the tasting) as well as many others that were $50/bottle or higher.

The tasting was not at the store but at a hotel (very nice I might add) and included great appetizers. Many of the men pouring the wine were from France and had their stories about each wine were good but the most of the wines while inexpensive just didn’t match the quality of the lesser expensive wines of the 05’ vintage. Costco has been doing this for several years and I am betting that with the economy they were afraid to bring the 06’ big boys to the tasting. I really expected at least one first growth and more 2nd-5th growths but it was not to be. As I said, the Chateau Fonplegade was the one wine I would recommend. Not a point guy but the nose was 95 points and the palate and finish 92 points and a serious wine for under $60.00.

The tasting was by invitation only and mostly included people like me who know the wine steward from one of the Costco’s in the Seattle area.

7

Apparently I need to have a larger then $500 rebate check each year to get that invite! headbang

Good to see your local Costco guys organizing this event. I would presume being near headquarters helps a bit. Thanks for the notes - good to know that Costco does more then just push lower prices.

8

Thanks for the write-up. I grabbed a couple bottles of the 2005 Chateau Fonplegade last fall when I saw it online at Costo for 38.99. That’s quite a bump in price for the '06 (maybe the '05 was being closed out) I will have to look for the '06 as well. Thanks

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I went as well… not sure if i met you Anthony… were you one of the two guys chatting with Lori?

But yah… not as high end as I thought it was be given the Italian tasting, and some truly impressive stuff there.

I thought the SHL was alright, but $80? not sure it’s worth the money… Fonplegade was definitely good, and well priced for $55. There was a $12 bottle that several us thought were good for the money… Nothing extraordinary, but well worth 12 bucks. Forgot the name now though, need to look at the paper at home. I think it was Haut Cantaloup or something…

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1% WD 40?

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Too bad we did not meet…or perhaps we did!!! Yes, I was one of the two guys chatting with Lori.

I’ve had the SHL before and it was decanted for about 6 hrs and showed better than the pop and pour method of the tasting. Having said that the bargain of the 05’ bordeaux that Costco sold (in the store; not at this tasting) was the Pontet Canet which given ten years IMO will turn out to be one of the wines of the vintage given the price. BTW, it does not show well now, not even with hours of decanting but 2 days later is was simply amazing.

I was told about the Cantaloup but not sure if I tried it; the other less expensive wines there seemed to be fruity and thin tastings.

Hopefully one day we (all of us here in the Seattle area) can get together for a wine dinner.

12

There is more than one “Haut Canteloup” so it’s not possible to comment with certainty. But there is a northern Médoc estate called Haut-Canteloup the wines of which have been available in the UK for years, although I haven’t tasted any since the 2000 vintage. They were generally pretty good though, for the money, for daily-drinking Bordeaux. In recent vintages there was also a superior cuvée, called Collection. There is also an estate of the same name in Côtes de Blaye, I don’t know their wines at all.

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Anthony,
I was the Mark, she kept calling “Paul”.
:slight_smile:

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Can I take the fifth Paul and say I don’t remember [rofl.gif] KIDDING!!! Good to have met you Mark.