so they’re marking up 15% on the EP pricing, and that’s presuming they didn’t get any better deals on EP allotments.
If I’m going to pay a markup, I’d rather pay it at my local store.
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I loved Beausejour Becot too. I think this wine is the best St. Emilion today from a QPR standpoint. It can compete with any other from the area to a rrather easonable price IMO.
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I’m not sure how tariffs might impact these, but “okay” prices EP were $145 for PLL and $105 for LCHB. Those are definitely not the best prices you could get, as I only buy from local places.
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Great to hear! Did you by any chance try lynch bages or Leoville las cases? Wondering how those were showing since you said the wines were softer and more classic
LLC was not present at this tasting.
Lynch Bages was also a standout I just tasted them towards the end so I didn’t get a full impression, but you could tell it was very high quality.
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I can’t recall a time they ever have been since I’ve been going to these to be honest.
felt like there was an overall good representation in SF. This year, Sauternes was the only area I really triaged. I thought the vintage was excellent across the board. A legendary vintage? Nope. But 2006 kept flashing in my head as a quality comparison. I have to look at my notes more deeply, but I thought St Julien and Margaux showed best, but it’s quibbling as there was fairly even quality across the board for me.
Since this was the vintage that was happening on my lone visit to Bordeaux, it just felt good that the wines were good and kept up with the happy memories I have from my few days there.
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My notes from UGC - Los Angeles. Will circle-back tomorrow with some additional thoughts.
UGC - LOS ANGELES - (1/21/2026)
This was a 3 hr tasting. Although I was spitting throughout, pours were small, and I was trying to taste through a good amount of wines, so my notes should be considered in that context.
2023 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Incredible and extremely expressive aromatics. Floral with moderate concentration of fruit on the palate, which doesn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations inspired by the Nose. Nonetheless, quite impressive, and one of my Top 5 wines of the tasting.
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2023 Domaine de Chevalier - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Bitter and green on the “meh” Nose. Juicy, earthy, and red-fruited on the palate, but also quite oaky and tannic. O.K.. DDC rouge a pass for me this vintage, and I typically love this wine.
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2023 Château Malartic-Lagravière Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Quite pleasant on the Nose, with some bright fruit and noticeable bell pepper pyrazine. Light gooseberry on the palate.
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2023 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Floral and bright on the Nose, and pleasant flavor profile, too.
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2023 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Cab. Franc presence is strong on the Nose, along with a hint of leather. Tannic, juicy, and oaky on the palate. Moderate stuffing. One of the more impressive wines I tried today.
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2023 Château Canon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Dark-fruited and a touch minty on the unique Nose. Pretty oaky, and also tannic, on the good-not-great palate. Promising, and seems to be a success for the vintage.
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2023 Château Valandraud - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Extremely oaky. Too big. 15% alc., and who the heck knows how they managed to do that in this vintage. Affirmatively disliked this.
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2023 Château Petit Village - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol
Quite tight, aromatically. Bitter and boring on the palate.
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2023 Château Coufran - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
Kind of an oddball property – a Left Bank Chateau with predominantly Merlot in the blend (85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon). Dark and savory, with a hint of saddle leather — I thought this was pretty good for its humble appellation.
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2023 Château Brane-Cantenac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Nose is purple-fruited with floral inclusions. Purple fruited with chocolatey oak on the palate. I like it.
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2023 Château Rauzan-Ségla - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Floral – pretty violets – with high-toned purple fruit on the Nose. Tannic, with good acidity on the purple-fruited palate. Pretty. Wrapped-back around to this a couple extra times throughout the tasting to confirm it was one of my favorites; one pour was moderately bretty.
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2023 Château du Tertre - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Dark; creosote; o.k..
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2023 Château Beychevelle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Nose expressive, with pretty florals and clean red fruits. Ripe, with medium concentration of fruit on the red-fruited palate; medium oak. Pretty good, and one of the better wines I tasted today.
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2023 Château Branaire-Ducru - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Unique and engaging Nose – reminded me of red berry - filled pastry. Easy and approachable on the palate – juicy and red-fruited. Leaning modern, but I liked it.
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2023 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Straightforward Nose, with a hint of leather; perhaps on the tight side. Woody and a bit alc. spiky on the palate. Meh.
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2023 Château Léoville Barton - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Tight, with dark red fruits and a touch of cumin on the Nose. Dark cherry with good acidity on the palate. This strikes me as being an approachable Leoville Barton.
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2023 Château Talbot - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Tight Nose tempered expectations, but this was a bit surprising on the palate, showing medium concentration of juicy fruit and some chalky mineral. Good.
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2023 Château Batailley - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Nose if fairly open, and has an inky and loganberry character. A bit hollow on the palate, with high acid and oaky tannins on the finish. 13.5%. Meh.
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2023 Château Clerc Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Very attractive deep aromas of crystalline fruit. Showing more substance on the palate than many others in the room today. Solid.
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2023 Château d’Armailhac - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tight on the Nose, and not as showy as the Clerc-Milon, which I had immediately prior to this one. Very oaky on the palate. Meh.
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2023 Château Duhart-Milon - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Deeper, fuller array of aromas than many other wines presented today. Medium-light bodied; seems closed; hard to assess. Great Nose, closed Palate; would like to revisit, as I can’t escape the feeling there is potential here.
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2023 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Good-not-great vintage for GPL. Good acidity. A bit thin.
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2023 Château Haut-Batailley - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Nose is tight, and there’s a faint hint of funk that suggests reduction. Red-fruited and foursquare on the palate.
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2023 Château Lynch-Bages - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Seemed to be pretty good, but I’m honestly not sure. Pour was tiny, and insufficient to get even a cursory read on the wine.
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2023 Château Lynch-Moussas - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tight Nose. Tight, light oak, and a bit spicy on the palate. 13.5% alc.. Meh.
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2023 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Gentle oak on the Nose, which is also a bit spicier than the PLL. Dark, and more brooding the PLL; some oaky tannin; decent acidity. PLL better this vintage.
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2023 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Nose is juicy, red-fruited, and savory. Well-balanced on the palate; purple berry flavor with a hint of tar; medium concentration of fruit; fine tannin; not super-structured, but I’m impressed with the balance. In my Top 5 for the day, and possibly my favorite of the event.
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2023 Château Ormes de Pez - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe
Nose is fruity – red fruits – in a Fruit-by-the-Foot kind of way. Juicy on the palate, with medium-light oak and medium-light concentration of fruit. Better than I was expecting. Good.
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There were certainly some nice wines tasted today, and there’s a good handful I’d be interested in buying, depending on price. That said, there were some disappointments here, too, and the vintage as a whole does seem weak. A vintage to buy selectively.
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I’m surprised nobody has pointed this out about the Lynch Bages: It’s a really really tannic wine this year. It’s got a lot of density, an unusual amount of density for the year even, but it’s going to take so long to come round
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a few more thoughts …
First, we’ll dispense with the whites … I thought they were generally in the very good to low-level excellent range, with the DDC Blanc rising well above that. It’s not the most structured DDC Blanc ever, but it’s a solidly-excellent wine. By memory, I also had the Carbonnieux, and thought it was solid. The Malartic was better than the SHL.
Moving on to the reds … again, my notes should read in the context of what they are: very small snapshots at a cattle call tasting. That said, there were clearly some standouts, and the vintage character revealed itself pretty clearly. I primarily focused on the Left Bank and Pessac, as that is what I tend to buy, but I tried a few on the Right Bank, too. On the whole, the vintage strikes me as juicy, red-fruited, and generally lacking serious structure. The best seem to be well-balanced. None of the wines seemed particularly serious within the context of the given producer, but – again – just a single small pour at a large tasting, so … yeah. The standout reds for me were the PLL and the Rauzan Segla. A step behind those include Beau-Sejour Becot, Canon, Beychevelle, and Clerc-Milon. The Duhart has me curious to try again, as well. Some relatively disappointing showings from some of my favorites, which is not to say they’re bad, but rather they are not as good as what we usually get from these properties; GPL; Barton; DDC rouge; PB. And then there were others that, tbh, just aren’t impressive at all — leading the way for that group was the Valandraud, which I found {fill in a polite word for “disgusting” here}. While entering my TNs into CT, I saw a few folks apparently have a much rosier outlook on this vintage than I do — and many of those voices are from folks whose palates I generally respect and trust. To be frank, I am confused to see the enthusiasm put forth by others; this a weak vintage. It’s not as good as '20, '19, or '16, obviously. And it doesn’t hold a candle to '14, either.
Over the past few days I’ve looked into some Pre-Arrival pricing for some of the wines I figured I may be interested in buying, and – for the most part – I’m finding the pricing absurd. I feel like prices need to drop a good 15% - 25% – off the best prices I quickly found – for most to enter the realm of reasonable. I will likely sit on the sidelines, happily drink-down my bulging cellar, and wait for these '23s to go on sale a few years down the road.
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how would you characterize the vintage compared to another, similar to 21?
The pricing I saw at Total Wine for their new drop of 23 from UGC was 15-20% on EP release pricing. Nothing really seemed a good value.
Thanks for your impressions Brian. I find these kind of honest assessments so much more useful than what you get from your average critic. I participated in a large speed date tasting of the 23 Bdx in London in Nov and while I was not as down on the vintage as you - I thought overall pretty good (i.e., like 2004 or 2012) but not great albeit with some classy wines - I was somewhat underwhelmed and it is clearly not in the same league as 16, 19, 20 and 22. I somehow got into a slanging match on another board with a critic who argues that this really is a great vintage and in some ways and instances even better than 2022. I agree about Valandruad, a horror show, with St Emilion all over the map and Pomerol much more consistent. There are some good wines on the left bank but little to write home about. I suspect this vintage will quickly be forgotten once the 2025s are released at lower prices…
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I ignored 2021, although a bottle of Branaire-Ducru I tasted a few weeks ago has me strongly rethinking that plan of action. So, my answer to your question is, “I don’t know.” Sorry.
I agree with you about 2023 pre-arrival pricing: I’m not seeing anything that I would deem “a good value,” and I’m seeing only a little that I would deem “acceptable.”
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For the most part, I struggle to imagine any more than a very small few of these '23s I tasted won’t be at, or past, their peaks by the time they reach the age of 20. The '04 comparison seems apt to me, so good call on that; I’ve always had the impression that I’m significantly less impressed with the '04 Left Banks than most others are — they’ve consistently struck me as being a touch watery and listless. For recent-ish “off vintages,” I prefer 2001 and 2014; as I taste more of them, 2008 may join that group.
I tried two bottles of Pichon Baron; the first was seriously flawed. The second bottle was ok, but far from great.
It’s a much better vintage than 2021; that being said, from what I tasted, it is a B plus vintage at best. There will be some very nice wines for short term drinking, but few great ones for long term cellaring. I did buy a six pack of Pichon Lalande; I toyed with Beychevelle but ultimately did not go for it.
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big fan of 2014 as well.
Ah the great battle with a certain small-country critic. thought you handled that with class for what it’s worth
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You’re nicer than me. I’m inclined to give it a “C”, and I think modern winemaking is likely saving it from being in the “D” range.
Nonetheless, at the right price, there are certainly some very nice wines to be had. The first one I looked for was PLL – first price I saw was $185, and that’s a quick and easy “No way.” I then found it for $149, and that’s far more reasonable, but I still think I can do a lot better for my money elsewhere. Ormes de Pez at $30 is intriguing. Rauzan Segla at $83 has me thinking. Beychevelle at $110 is laughable. Coufran at $25 is intriguing. Clerc at $74 has me thinking. I wish I was seeing Duhart closer to $60-$65 than the $75 I’m seeing. As interesting as I felt Canon was, $124 is an easy pass. Beau-Sejour Becot at $75 is reasonable in a vacuum, but becomes crazy in the context of being able to get the '14, '16, and '20 for the same price up to $15 more. Leoville Barton at $110 is stupid, particularly when I can get the 2020 for $100. 2023 pricing simply does not make sense from a consumer’s perspective.
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The thing I really liked of the wines I tasted was how balanced they were. There were varying amounts of intensity, but there were very few wines that did not seem fairly seamless.
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I would agree with that. Many would be very nice drinkers if they were priced right. But, for the most part, they’re not.
Looking forward to tasting many of these little puppies when I arrive in late March.