UGC Week: Bordeaux 2014 - Day two, a day of transition

As Neal Martin has already pointed out, the car park at UGC Pomerol resembled Glastonbury `97. Our loafers squelched through the mud and we tasted some rather less inspiring wines than we did on day one. Gazin has beautifully delineated fruit and lots of promise; the rest are forgettable. Then to Clos Fourtet for the St Emilion UGC for some audacious winemaking. Tasting conditions were not ideal, but even taking that into consideration, the wines in general were disappointing.

It was time to bid adieu to the Right Bank and cross the Gironde for our visit to La Mission Haut Brion. Prince Robert greeted us and presented an ever growing number of wines from their numerous estates. The whites were stunning; vivid, precise, voluptuous and very fresh. There was a lot of conjecture as to which wine was better out of Haut Brion and La Mission. In truth both were spectacular – La Mission has a more Cabernet character, whereas Haut Brion has an atypically decadent Merlot style, but still shows a bit of its classic chalky minerality. In short, a great tasting and some great wines.

We moved deeper into the Graves for the UGC tasting at SmithHaut Lafitte. This was a mixed affair with one or two highs: Domaine de Chevalier (red and white), Smith Haut Haut Lafitte (both again) and Pauline Calvet’s exceptional Picque Caillou (again, red and white). Some estates didn’t quite understand the vintage and have extracted, dry, unattractive wines. Our next stop was Haut Bailly for another divisive wine. Some loved the bright, focussed fruit others were less convinced.

Back on the Rocade and into the Medoc. Our appointment at Chateau Margaux with Paul Pontallier was definitely the highlight of the day. The clouds parted and a few beams of sunshine greeted us. The wines have effortless class, real precision and wonderful purity. Bravo.

We popped in to see our friends at Ulysse Cazabonne to taste Chanel’s Rauzan Segla and Canon.  John Kolasa continues his fine work at both these estates. Back over the D2 to Chateau Palmer and our tasting with Chris Myers. There is something of a revolution afoot at this estate. They are now 100% biodynamic (though certification will have to wait until 2017) and they are reducing the use of SO2 in the winemaking. The grand vin has lost some of its exoticism and decadence and has more gravitas and tannic structure. Fans of the old style were left a little puzzled – time will tell whether the experimentations have paid off.

Our final tasting of the day was at Leoville Las Cases. We persevered through the junior Delon wines and our hard work was rewarded with an exceptional Las Cases. This is as serious a wine as we have tasted so far, a wonderful expression of Cabernet Sauvignon: deep, complex and long term. It has put us in a positive mood for a big day in the Medoc tomorrow.