This was not the purpose of the tasting, the general consensus among those around me seemed to align—many found the wines less enjoyable than expected. This was a panel tasting featuring several winemakers and Château owners, who shared their experiences with the 2009 vintage and discussed how the wines have evolved over the years.
Neal’s role at the event was primarily to ask questions and offer insights based on his and Parker’s original ratings of the wines, both in barrel and upon initial bottling. He refrained from commenting extensively on the wines during the tasting, opting instead to keep the focus on the winemakers’ perspectives. Notably, he mentioned that he had originally rated Cos d’Estournel 89 points, while Parker gave it a perfect 100. I found myself agreeing with Neal’s 89-point assessment of the wine.
The experience left me with a greater respect for Neal’s palate, as it became clear that our tastes align closely.
Also, the first tasting of the day was an introspective into the Napa 2021 vintage with 12 different wines. All of the wine glasses in the room were completely empty at the end. In the Bordeaux tasting all of the glasses remained half full when we were leaving the event.
Robert A said it best, a lot of them were like milkshakes. Just extremely hard to drink and a complete turn off. it’s probably the first time that I’ve experienced this feeling before, but I also am not a seasoned Bordeaux drinker.
I’ve happened to really enjoy the handful of 2009 and 2010 Bordeauxs I’ve had, but I haven’t had any of the ones you mentioned, so I’m trying to calibrate myself to your palate/reviews so I can hopefully make more use of the reviews you were kindly enough to share. You mentioned that you found the Cos d’Estournel undrinkable and also that you agreed with Martin’s rating of 89 points, noting that his and your tastes align closely. That seems to mean that wines rated 89 by Martin or yourself would all be similarly undrinkable to you. To be honest that sounds like an unreasonably high bar to get over before a wine could be even drinkable, let alone to get beyond that to the point of being enjoyable. Perhaps you were using sarcasm/hyperbole that didn’t across in the written word? Or should I read it as you truly cannot drink a wine that would be sub-90 points as scored by Martin/yourself? Am I missing something else? I appreciate any clarity you care to offer.
Curious about this. I don’t have a lot of 09 or 10 but have pulled a couple to try, Gloria and Lilian Ladouys. The last 09 I had from my cellar was La Dominique in 2023, which I thought was quite good but still young.
When I describe the wine as “undrinkable,” I don’t mean it literally, I actually found the nose of this wine quite captivating. Its aroma was beautiful and kept me coming back, each time hoping the palate might reveal something new. Unfortunately, the taste remained challenging throughout making it a difficult wine to enjoy at this time.
Over the course of two hours, I continued to revisit the wine, genuinely wanting to appreciate it. However, each sip felt heavy, almost as if I were drinking sludge. This is unlike anything I’ve ever encountered with any type of wine before.
Interestingly, one person at the tasting approached the servers and requested a sample from a different bottle of the same wine. He mentioned that he felt there might be an issue with the particular bottle we tried, which could explain the experience. But I’m not willing to pay for that scientific experiment.
Yes, I would go further and say that the whole vintage is a Leve one, which is not a problem, on the contrary. I’m not sure if the WB consensus is for or against 2009, although I suspect the latter - but who cares? Each to their own. There isn’t a “right” taste and a “wrong” one. A certain critic once tried to assert that there was, but we live in more enlightened times today!
A riper vintage is not a bad one per se. Better and lesser wines exist in any vintage.
What is strange is the report that all 2021 Napa wines were enjoyed while the 2009 Bordeaux were not. But the 2009 Bordeaux vintage was described as Napa-like? Hm.
I have some 2009 Phelan Segur (amongst others) in my cellar. Will open one soon to see if I like it or not.
I completely agree with this. Jeff really likes these wines. He is not trying to get favor from producers, etc., but rather really likes 2009s. So, do a number of other people. I really don’t like many of the wines but there are vintages like 2005 and 2016 for me. We don’t all have to agree.
I have had a bottle of the Phélan Ségur and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was equally happy with many 2014s I have had recently. For me they are not mutually exclusive, but 2014s are more classic Bordeaux.
The 2009 Lilian Ladouys last night was pretty ripe and oaky. Not my favorite style but enjoyable. It’s still relatively young though there’s no problem drinking it now. I still see a big distinction between wines like this and a lot of Napa cabs that come off as somewhat sweet/syrupy to me. This just tastes like a modern style of Bordeaux IMO.
Yes. I’ve had a lot of left bank 2009s. In my experience left bank 2009s have a plush layer of fruit but that does not make them Napa-like it makes them Bordeaux with a plush layer of fruit. You can feel like this obscures some of the acidic bone structure of Bordeaux you like but I feel like that structure is still there and it will emerge more as these wines age. In the meantime, if you like that kind of fruitiness, enjoy!
My problem with 2009 is not the “plush layer of fruit” or whether or not they taste like Napa Cabernet (I like good Napa Cabernet). My problem is that some (not all) taste of overripe fruit (sort of pruny flavors) and that others (again some, not all) have a roasted or burnt quality in them. I have liked 2009s like Montrose that are not marked by these off flavors, but even for these wines it is not one of my favorite vintages.
I would add that a quality I’ve found off-putting in some 09s, even from traditional addresses, has been a real sense of heat or burn from the alcohol. Outside of New World wines, the only other old world wines that ever had an obvious heat signature like this were 07 Chateauneuf (about a nasty as comparison as I can think of).
That said, I have not tried an 09 in a good 6 or 7 years, so hopefully that boozy edge has integrated.
I haven’t found pruniness or overt alcohol, with perhaps the exception of a 2009 Malescot Exupery now that I think of it. However, I have avoided a lot of 2009 right bank wines and tried to focus on left bank, which may be part of it.