Yuk!! 2010 was the vintage that taught me the need to check the ABV before buying. But the Giscours 2009 I suffered last week was only 13%, so I suppose 09 and 10 are just crapshoot vintages.
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Every note that reads like this:
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Well Iâm a complete idiot - no surprise there - I donât even follow my own advice : just popped down to the cellar, picked out something Iâd never tried - Pontac Monplaisir - Pessac-LĂ©ognan 2015âŠ15% ABVâŠduh!! One for the next auction methinks.
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I loved the 2009 Giscours thought it was a fantastic wine. Classic Bordeaux figure with lush fruity curves almost an ideal wine for me.
You should have been drinking the 2016 Tour Saint Christophe!
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I have been avoiding drinking this bottle for over a year. The previous bottle was over ripe with a touch of prune and was not my cup of tea.
This is deep garnet, some signs of maturity at the rim.
The nose is big but not subtle, some blackcurrant and mulberry with hints of flowers and tobacco.
This is still solid in the mouth framed by tannin and acidity, there are some fruit and aromatics, but in the background.
No over ripeness, such a relief, but if it holds together it would be better in perhaps 5 years.
Maybe 92 or ***1/2.
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Had a taste of 2009 Duhart yesterday. It was on the modern side, but next to several California Cabs, tasted pretty good!
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While not specific to any one chateau, I do remember reading a few years back from a right bank producer, that producers/winemakers were learning which individual varieties could better handle higher levels of ripeness, and Merlot was NOT one of those varieties. So, winemakers and producers have been learning and you see better balance and elegance in the wines, but still not the same as the 80s & 90s.
To some degree it reminds me of the old music days and listening to records. Records were not perfect and had a unique and wild sound that I remember and loved. Sometimes the clean polished digitally remastered versions of songs just annoy me. A surgically sterile sensory experience is boring.
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I tried a Cantemerle 2009 last night:
Quite a fragrant nose, with dark raspberry, black cherry, rose petals and then some cedar. A crisp, fresh attack, mainly dark cherry, atypical for the vintage, then a lusher middle section featuring blackberry and raspberry, before a tense, cool finish dominated by blackcurrant. Not very tannic for me, but very precise and with a little steel behind some Margalais charm. It still needs time, but this is good stuff, potentially the best for me since the prodigious 89. 93 pts
I really enjoyed it - thereâs something Loire-like, which struck me when I first tried it in 2020, but it has evolved into a much more complex package than back then. Definitely one for people like @Robert.A.Jr who are not fans of Bordeaux 09s in general - I would never have guessed the vintage right, since it tastes more like a blend of 08 and 16.
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Excellent note Julian, I do hope your bottle is representative of the rest and mine was just off.
I am very happy to have never bought 2009s or 2010s (ok, I have one 1/2 bottle of Prieuré-Lichine in my cellar). There have been so many good vintages on Bordeaux over the past 20 years. Why buy crapshoots like these when there are vintages like 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2016 around, among others?
Great note, Julian! I agree, and Lanessan as well turned out a very nice 2009.
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We have more 2010 than 2009, and tried a 2010 Clinet a few weeks ago, for our anniversary weekend. We renewed our wedding vows in 2010 with our son and daughter as best man and maid of honor, so it was a fitting vintage to try. It was fantastic; not over-the-top or drying out at all. It is starting to pick up some secondary flavors, with the dark fruit shining through, smooth tannins and wonderful balance. Glad to have a few more. We opened this for dinner and brought the remainder of the bottle back to our room to watch the sunset on the Monterey Peninsula.
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Thanks Paul! Iâve come across a lot of bottle variation with Cantemerle in numerous vintages, so it wouldnât surprise me. I even had a 2006 once that tasted of toffee!
Well, today I would know better, but at release if I had known just what they were like, especially 09, I wouldnât have bought them! The problem was that at the time, I hadnât yet cottoned onto the fact that RMPâs taste had veered sharply away from my own (or the other way round). To be fair, he actually liked the Cantemerle 09, describing it as âethereal, long and intellectualâ, but in a way, that just makes it worse - because how could anyone guess that so many other wines he also liked would be diametrically opposed in terms of style to the Cantemerle?!
Love 09 and 10 but just had a 2020 ChĂąteau La Fleur-PĂ©trus and itâs fantastically delicious, but 15% alcohol and could easily be blinded as a ripe Napa. I know what lots of people said about 82, 05, and 09âs ability to age, but those werenât close to this. I think itâs an outlier though and will happily drink mine young.
I am lucky I now have people like you to steer me correctly on more recent vintages of Bordeaux. We all have a lot of vintages we kind of learn from.
I dodged the bullet on 2009 and 2010, didnât buy much of it. I did get snake bit by 2005 St Ems. Was a big lesson to learn that with the more modern and warmer vintages I generally prefer what others might see as lesser vintages, say 2014 and 2008. Now that said, I think 2016 is an exceptional vintage that should appeal to all palates. I did buy have have enjoyed 2019 and 2020 but am selective in what I buy. I have steered clear of 2022. No need to keep buying new vintages, and not taking a flyer on one that sounds rather extreme.
For those of us with a broader tolerance for ripe fruit, 2009 and 2010 are just fine. As always, there are winners and losers.
Iâve been very happy with Palmer, Montrose, Beychevelle, pichon Baron, and BAMA in 2010. Theyâre still on the upswing.
In 2009, Iâm happy to have Pontet Canet, Pichon Comtesse, Haut Bailly, and Gruaud Larose. A lot of right bankers, St. Ems in particular, are high alcohol and low acid cocktail wines. Clinet, however, is terrific for my palate.
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The 2009 Palmer is a bit of a caricature!
Do tell⊠I havenât had the â09 Palmer. I see you are not a fan!