Bordeaux 2009 – The final furlong

Day four was an opportunity to re-taste some of our favourite wines and also venture into Pessac and Sauternes. Before we left St Emilion we decided to pop into Chateau Pavie for an impromptu tasting. Hew charmed his way in and we washed away the taste of Sensodyne with some seriously tannic St Emilion. The Perse style is big, extracted, impressive and won’t be for everyone (including us...)

Then we headed to Fargue Saint Hilaire for a tasting with one of our key negociants. Here we had the opportunity to re-taste a huge selection of 2009s comparatively. This was fascinating. The super stars were Leoville Las Cases, Pontet Canet, Pichon Lalande, Forts de Latour, Grand Puy Lacoste, Leoville Barton, Calon Segur, Montrose and Conseillante. Best values included Chateau Reynon, Chasse Spleen, Durfort Vivens and Cantemerle. Again, we were impressed by the overall quality of St Estephe, Pauillac and St Julien; the wines from the Medoc, Listrac and Moulis were big over achievers, but again, we found many of the Margaux were un-typique.

UGC Pessac Leognan presented some lovely wines. Domaine de Chevalier was exceptional, Haut Bailly - silky smooth, Smith Haut Lafitte - powerful and refined, Pape Clement - enormous and massively impressive, and Malartic Lagraviere continues its recent run of success. The whites were striking too. Domaine de Chevalier has wonderful purity and intensity. We liked Malartic Lagraviere and we thought Picque Caillou was delicious and could be great value.

A quick foray into the misty depths of Barsac and Sauternes. Yquem was magnificent, our buying director and Chairman believes this to be the best young Yquem he has ever tasted, superior to the extraordinary 2001. As well as wonderful quality, Yquem has recorded its biggest ever harvest at 22hl/ha. We tasted ten barrels at Climens. Bérénice Lurton is clearly delighted with what turned out to be a harvest of quality and quantity; a splendid wine.

Our final appointment was at Haut Brion; a glorious selection of wines here. Clarence is fine textured and is undoubtedly the best Clarence ever; La Mission was so seductive, a splendid wine of purity and power; Haut Brion was enormously endowed, a vast wine built for the long haul. The whites are marvellous too; concentrated, mineral, energetic and wonderfully fresh - a great way to finish our week.

When we get back to the UK we will be posting more `Hew’s views`, video interviews and our top wines of the vintage.