UGC Week: Bordeaux 2015 - Day three, It’s grim up north… far from it!
8 April 2016
Tom Jenkins
We started up north with a St Estephe trio: Calon Segur, Montrose and Cos d’Estournel.
Now much has already been said about the weekend of the Medoc marathon – some vignerons in these parts are blaming the runners for the rain. It happened, there’s no point in denial, about 120 mm fell on the Northern Medoc over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September. It changed the profile of the vintage in St Estephe, but it most certainly didn’t ruin the quality. These wines are all highly successful, elegant wines, which perhaps lack a little of the exuberance and opulence other communes displayed, but they should by no means be dismissed, they are classical, beautifully structured and most alluring.
Moving south into Pauillac, we dropped into Lafite to taste the Domaines Baron Rothschild wines. We were wowed by their sister property in Pomerol, Chateau Evangile. Sadly, our tasting failed to live up to the exceptionally high standards we expect from Duhart Milon and Lafite. Perhaps elevage will be the making of these wines… It is hard to imagine that the leading estate in the Medoc would produce anything other than a flawless wine. Over at the other Rothschild First Growth, we were greeted by Hervé Gouin, Erwan Le Brozec and Philippe Dhalluin. The range here is absolutely outstanding. Chateau d’Armailhac is scented and juicy, Clerc Milon adds another level of complexity and gorgeously glossy fruit, Petit Mouton is as strong a second wine as we can ever remember from this estate and the Mouton itself is deeply impressive, packed with layer after layer of decadent, suave fruit all wrapped in gloriously sleek tannins. The Mouton team can be well pleased with their 2015s.
There was just time to drop in at the St Estephe and Pauillac UGC before our luncheon appointment with Pontet Canet. Basile Tesseron’s Lafon Rochet played host for a surprisingly successful collection of wines. Pichon Lalande and Grand Puy Lacoste were top of the class; there’ll be more on these two later. Honourable mentions should also go to Pichon Baron for an impressive, large scale `15 and Lafon Rochet and Batailley for good value, honestly made wines that will give oodles of pleasure over the next 10 to 20 years.
By then we were feeling the gravitational draw of Alfred Tesseron’s cheese table… But first there was time to taste the 2015 Pontet Canet with Melanie and Justine Tesseron. Following their staggeringly beautiful 2014 was always going to be a challenge. However, Bordeaux’s pioneering biodynamic estate has met that test and passed with flying colours. Their 2015 is reserved and builds with lustrous fruit into a crescendo. It really is an extremely impressive wine with classical Pauillac flavours that slowly tease and reveal themselves to the taster. We were thoroughly absorbed.
After Alfred’s generous hospitality, we made the short journey to Lynch Bages. Jean-Charles’ range is very smart indeed. Ormes de Pez will offer great value for money; Echo de Lynch Bages is a strong second label, while Lynch itself is a serious, brooding, concentrated, dark fruited effort – a very handsome wine indeed. A brace of Pichons followed. Baron first is big, juicy and impressive, however, it was the tasting with Nicolas Glumineau that stole the show. In fact, the Reserve de la Comtesse was a revelation before we even got to the Grand Vin. We shouldn’t have been surprised, the 2014 was sensational too. As for the grand vin, well, no-one will be wanting this, we’ll just keep this for staff drinking… This estate, with its magnificent terroir, state of the art winemaking facility and very gifted team is fast asserting itself as one of the best of the best.
To Ducru Beaucaillou with enthusiasm we went. How would the ever ebullient Bruno Borie describe his wines…? A charming reception was followed by a sensational tasting of Lalande Borie, Croix de Beaucaillou (along with RDLC, one of the strongest second wines we tasted during the week) and a dazzling Ducru. The grand vin pulls off both sexy and serious, with curves in all right places, a wine that immediately captivates, yet continues to slowly reveal itself like a burlesque dancer (we must have spent too long in Bruno’s company…). It really is a most enticing prospect.
Latour, Latour. It’s a great shame they aren’t part of the game anymore. Great wines, we’ll just have to wait… Hey ho, and over the brook to what is arguably the next best thing, Leoville Las Cases, for what can only be described as a grown up wine. Serious, tense, powerful, restrained, grand, complex - this is one smart Las Cases. A stroll across the D2 and we were conveniently in the courtyard of another Leoville, Leoville Poyferre. Didier Cuvelier’s second growth is a stark contrast to its neighbour. This Michel Rolland wine is always gloriously perfumed thanks to its wonderful parcels of Petit Verdot. It is deep, almost thick and concentrated. It is much more immediate and perhaps lacks the breed of Las Cases, however, it is an impressive, gutsy St Julien.
The day positively flew past. Not everything we tasted was stunning - far from it. To borrow a favourite word of the Bordealais, there was not much ‘homogeneity’ to our tastings. The highs of Mouton, Latour, Ducru, Pichon Lalande and Leoville Las Cases were very high; there were some disappointments too. There was time for one last highlight, a tasting with Xavier and Emeline Borie at Grand Puy Lacoste. We had already tasted a sample at the UGC, however, professionals that we are, we like to make certain. It also gave us the opportunity to taste Lacoste Borie, a seriously impressive second wine and sister property, Haut Batailley. Both are very suave, and are rather grand given their price points. The GPL confirmed our initial impression; this is a belter of a wine. It’s a classical, fragrant Pauillac like the excellent 2014, although there is a little more voluptuousness to the fruit, and the sleek, pure fruit tannins are really quite profound. Not only is this one of the smartest wines of the commune, we hope it will also offer excellent value for money.
Tomorrow – finishing off the Medoc and Sauternes…