Those of you who are interested in/have stocks of 2009 Bordeaux may appreciate this. I pulled several bottles from stocks to see how they were doing. I have been drinking them individually since March, but I thought it would be interesting to see all the notes together.
Château Brillette 2009 (apparently cost €18.35 in 2012)
Deep side of medium red, brick red at the rim.
Earth and red fruit nose at first.
In the mouth rather sweet, ripe and rich. After 2 hours figgy and over ripe. **1/2.
So, tonight we had the 2009 Batailley and Haut Batailley along side each other.
375 of Batailley decanted. Half the Haut Batailley put to oneside for another day.
To look at the Batailley is slightly more mature.
On the nose the Batailley is richer with tobacco, cedar and blackcurrant fruit. The HB far simpler with cedar and dark fruit.
In the mouth the Batailley is richer and riper, but not over the top. The HB is a little lighter and simpler, but still a lovely wine. B ****+, HB ****. Ruth just loved the Batailley, “reminds me of old Sunday afternoons."
Pedesclaux 2009. Purchased in France for under €30 following a Decanter tasting that rated it at 95 points in 2014. Still a good depth of colour, maturing at the rim. Strange funky nose, red fruit, cherries, plums, cedar, tobacco, a touch of prune (but not too much)and a hint of VA. Comes across as almost Musar like. In the mouth tannins are soft acidity is juicy, the finish runs for nearly a minute. A good solid ****1/2, but 95 points might just be pushing it. Depends if you like the style.
Potensac 2009. Bought years ago from Tesco, back when their wine range had some interest.
Anyway the colour is still deep just reddening on the rim.
At first fairly tannic, a violet note and dark fruit. An hour in, and after food, softer and fruit driven, just a hint of prunes. For a Medoc of 14 years old the quality and guts of this is fairly remarkable. ****, no hurry.
Lagrange 2009. Deep garnet, cool nose on opening, dark fruit and coconut. In the mouth it’s clean, not over ripe. After an hour hints of cedar emerge. Fairly long finish. This is a pleasant reasonably mature Bordeaux, but it lacks any complexity or excitement; none of the recent class of Batailley or funkiness of Pedesclaux. A bit disappointing, perhaps 91 points or ****-. Perhaps it still needs keeping.
Phelan Ségur 2009. Bought in 2013 for £30. This is one of several 2009s recently dug out of my collection and the final one I wanted to try. The colour is still deep, just a hint of a rim. The aromas leap out of the glass cedar, violet, cherries, tobacco. In the mouth it’s rich and complex. This is really good and can easily be left for a while for even more complexity. ****1/2.
My key takeaway is that I am happy to still have modest stocks of 2009s, especially the Batailley, Phélan Ségur, and Pedesclaux.
