After twenty some years of having passion for wines I finally feel that I have sufficient enough knowledge to properly assess the wines while still having good palate. Becoming a permanent member of GJE has enabled me to realize all my wine related dreams. This trip taught me a lot about the importance of vintage.
First my impression regarding the 2010s. Bob already posted his take and I don’t differ much. The fruit expression is very fresh and the wines show incredible concentration and noticeable tannins. Due to incredible level of glycelin, it is difficult to tell how ripe the tannins are. Incredibly concentrated sweet fruit and high clycelin level make these wines fun to taste yet hard to assess as most of the wines are very similar especially in the sub $50 categories. My two days worth of EP reports will follow later.
I ran into Cole Kendall at the dulles airport, I met Cole in my first OL in Feburary of 98, perhaps a good omen? He and I shared a lot of wines in the past. Cole was in his ways to Milan and since we were flying from the same terminal the time flew very quickly.
It was fun to catch up and share wine stories.
When I got to Bordeaux Wilfred Van Gorp arrived only ten minutes earlier and was waiting for me with our driver. We discussed our views on the current wine related events. We took a nice nap. We were the three American amigos as Kelly Walker was staying with us. Trying to soak up the experience, we decided to head to St Emillion.
There is a nice but unassuming wine bar where Mr. Vauthier hangs with his friends and we decided to stop by. As expected Mr. Vauthier showed and rank a glass of beer. Apparently Kelly and two Italian GJE members Orazio and Christian saw him again the next evening.
2006 Roumier clos de la bussière – initially not expressive but opened up with air. Dry cherry, mushroom, cinnamon, allspice, excellent balance and easy to gulp. 91 pts
We then headed to a bistro near the hotel and restaurant Plaisance. The bistro consistently serves excellent bistro fairs. I once again had a monster size juicy magret de canard.
2008 Dauvissat Le Clos
Exceptional bottle of grand crus Chablis, incredible minerality, lemon, bright acidity, perfect precision and balance, excellent concentration and long finish, complete wine.
98pts
2005 Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Les Poyeux
Scorched earth, crushed blueberries, no sign of green cab franc, excellent balance almost Barolo like texture, silky 93 pts
Our sessions of tasting 2007 Circle de Rive Droite wines were extremely hard.
The growing season was challenging and the chateaus were either trying to extract too much resulting in boring ripe wines with dry tannins or soft wines with very little fruit, some even showed no fruits yet displayed dry tannins. Most of the wines were not able to achieve phenolic maturity and the heavy oak treatment made the tannins even more abrasive. The good news for both the producers and consumers is that 2009 and 2010 from the majority of the producers are incredibly good with excellent concentration without loosing the fresh expression of fruit. The 2008 also are good, fresh fruit, excellent concentration. The only concern is the dry tannins.
The dinner on Friday night took all GJE members to Chateau Siaurac in Lalande de Pomerol. During the 09 EP I ended up staying over at the Chateau and got to know the proprietor Paul Goldschmidt and his lovely energetic wife. Since Chateau and Estate is no longer in EP business I have been trying to introducing him to some DC retailers as I enjoyed Paul’s wines during the 09 EP. Paul greeted me with a big smile and generously opened the 83 Comte de Champagne Rose en Magnum. There were other champagnes but I didn’t take the notes.
1983 Comte de Champagne Rose
It has some caramel component and showed complex nose but fruit has faded Not a great bottle. 90 pts.
Since I enjoyed his wines last year I requested to taste his 2010s.
2010 Chateau Siaurac - Lalande de Pomerol
Jammy blue fruit, cassis, very masculine wine, fresh fruit expression with good concentration, the fruit expression is not too complex at the moment 89-91
2010 Chateau Le Prieure - St Emillion
Blue fruit, excellent concentration, silky, showing nice acidity.91-93 pts
2010 Chateau Vray Croix de Gay – Pomerol
The property is located near Chateau Lafleur. Very silky wine, the fruit expression is very fresh, silky, nice long finish. The tannin is very well integrated. 93-95 pts.
2009 Chateau Vray Croix de Gay – Pomerol
This wine has developed nicely. Very silky, nicely balanced, very harmonius. 93 pts.
During a couple of lunch sessions at La Dauphine, we were able to taste a lot of Circle de River Droit wines. 2007s in general were pretty bad but there was a taste magnum of 2000 and a couple 2005s.
For the Saturday night, Laurent Vialette, a fellow GJE member and my drinking buddy, organized a memorable dinner at a restaurant that was located in outskirts of Bordeaux.
Three American Amigos and Christian Roger and Orazio Vagnozzi joined Laurent in this long and fun evening. Laurent generously opened some incredible bottles including the perfect 1936 Chateau D’Yquem. Michel Bettane was dining with a couple whom we later found out the owners of Chateau Gilette. As Kelly posted in his thread It was a classic when the owner of Ch. Gilette ran back to the Chateau and retrieved a bottle of the 1936 Gilette CdT from the cellar for us to compare with the D’Yquem. I am almost copying Kelly’s TN word for word with slight input my own and rating.
1979 Krug
Fully matured with a hint of oxidation, baked apple and bread, nice acidity 94 pts
1982 Krug
More youthful and powerful. Very pure and long finish. 97 pts
Although the 1992 Leflaive Batard and Chevalier Montrachet are my two all time favorite wines, most 92s lack the acidity which makes the wine cloying. I really worry about the faith of the 2006s especially in lieu of the premox issue.
1992 Domain Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Les Combettes
Very fresh, incredible minerality, perfect precision but tasting these non-blind I thought two chevaliers had more complex fruit expression. 95
1992 Domaine Comptes Lafon Meursault 1er Les Charmes
Darker and more advanced. The palate shows excellent concentration but no acidity to counterbalance which makes the wine cloying and without precision. With some air it got fresher but still a disappointment. This would have shown so well in the barrel as well as in the first ten years of the life but drink up. 90
1992 Domaine Bouchard Chevalier Montrachet
More complex fruit expression, not as fresh and not showing much mineral component as the Sauzet. Another drink up wine 91
1992 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet
Finesse and power, got fresh, excellent length, at its prime if you wish to keep longer put it in the coldest part of your cellar 97
Next up a flight of older Volnay and Pommard
1959 Jean Clerget Volnay 1er
Minty, I though perhaps doctored, simple fruit expression but sweet 88 pts
1949 Jean Clerget Volnay 1er Cailleret
VA, caramel, interesting 86 pts
1945 Volnay Champans (producer unknown)
Complex nose of very sweet fruit, dry cherry, grapy, mushroom, black truffles and balsamico. This is a very complete wine showing why we love old Burgundies. 96 pts
1953 Jean Clerget Pommard 1er Rugien
The wine threw a lot of sediments which made the wine hard to assess but it showed beautiful sweet fruit and excellent concentration. N/R
1962 Petrus magnum
In perfect shape, very ripe dark fruit, extremely sweet, dark milk chocolate, all kinds of crazy tertiary note, strong presence of truffle, exotic and kinky. The wine got sweeter and sweeter and the last drop was the best after 3+ hours. 99 pts.
1955 Chateau Gilette Creme de Tete Barsac Sauternes
I am not a big fan of Gilette and this didn’t real help change my mind. The fruit expression was simple for such a mature Sauternes. Still fresh though. 93 pts
1936 Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes
Recorked in 1991 still very youthful redish dark amber. Incredibly fresh fruit expression, strong presence of botrytis, incredible concentration but airy palate and endless finish. 100 pts
1936 Chateau Gilette Creme de Tete Barsac Sauternes
True a great wine in its own but almost cloying compare to the Y’quem, the fruit sweeter and unctuous palate. 96 pts
1949 Chateau d’Epire d’Anjou Grand Cru Savennieres
Corked.
1973 Armagnac Francis Darroze Domaine de Bidadus
Beautiful Armagnac but I was done drinking so a couple snips.
As mentioned above, incredibly concentrated sweet fruit, high level of glycerin and noticeable tannin made the wines hard to evaluate. Based on small sample of the classified growth I am not quite sure whether I would have rated the first clearly higher than the rest if I were to tasted the wines blind. In terms of the right bank wines, there were several that were very special, ie very complex fruit expression and seamless silky palate. If you plan to open the wines young and the top 40s in the next twenty years, I would go with the 09s for sure.
97-100 pointers were Beausejour Duffau Lagarrosse, La Violette and Mouton
The wines of Angelus were not showing well. Gerard Perse wines were big monsters with incredible amount tannins. To be continued…
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