Whirlwind Medoc tasting (Margaux, Pauillac, St. Julien, St. Estephe)

Posted on 6/10/2008 12:14 PM

A 6 am wake-up call at Chateau Franc Mayne in St. Emilion meant an early drive to taste Mouton Rothschild on Thursday April 3 – with several UK tasters including Jancis Robinson. I spent the Wednesday night before dining with Jean Claude Berrouet with a bottle of Chateau Trotanoy 1966. Wine aged in only 10% new oak with just barely 12.5% alcohol (see Moueix tasting page for details). Ironically, it was at Mouton Rothschild where I recently tried another 1960s bottle, the Mouton Rothschild 1961, a wine with barely 12% alcohol. Do not believe people who say that wine needs 13%+ in alcohol to be good or age worthy. False. Wines like the above outclass some of the stuff currently made with tons of new oak, later harvesting and excessive concentration – sometimes artificially achieved with technology. No thank you. Dinner with Mr. Berrouet meant that a sleep in St. Emilion was the most convenient, and what a sleep it was. Franc Mayne’s luxurious guest rooms – photo above left – with wide screened televisions and lovely bathrooms proved a gentle way to end an evening. From the outside, the hotel combines modern elegance and classicism. Breakfast was tops: fresh hot bread just delivered, fresh fruits, a choice of fine teas, eggs, cheeses, organic yoghurts, pain au chocolate and croissants with rich jams. I high-tailed it north to the Medoc at 7 am – just in time for a 9:30 am tasting at Mouton Rothschild, followed by tastings at Pontet Canet and Lascombes for the appellations Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe. Read on…

 

More scenes from Chateau Franc Mayne: highly recommended for your next visit to Bordeaux    

Margaux tasting at Chateau Lascombes (photo) / Thursday April 3

 

Most tasters agreed that this was a difficult appellation in 2007. One American buyer, David Wiegel of Meritage Wine Market in California, said it was his favorite appellation. Margaux’s gravelly soils perhaps drained excess rain and wetness. But tasting the wines proved difficult for your humble critic. With a few exceptions: see red text.

 

Chateau Brane Cantenac: A wine I usually enjoy. Its nose was floral and elegant – what I expected – but the palate was tight with a pinched finish. Give it time in barrel, and cross fingers.

 

Chateau Cantenac Brown: Less expressive aromas than its neighbor, but softer on the palate. But also shows weak grip, with a washed out expression.

 

Chateau Dauzac: Actually a pretty decent showing for the vintage. Nicely perfumed nose, rather fruity on the palate. A short finish. But this one will certainly be inexpensive.

 

Chateau Desmirail: Funky aromas. The somewhat alcoholic palate also leaves an impression of dilution.

 

Chateau du Tertre: Aroma is fine, some cassis and plum with a decent palate feel, showing spice from the oak. A hint of stalk, however and a short finish.

 

Chateau Durfort Vivens: A somewhat dumb nose. The palate shows substance and sap. The wine leaves an overall decent impression, showing some of that Margaux elegance as well, with a soft, if short, finish.

 

Chateau Ferriere: Much brighter than the above, more expressive – also shows more sap and substance with a smooth palate feel and nice lift on a decent finish. Nice job.

 

Chateau Giscours: A softer nose than the Du Tertre, its neighbor, but shows better definition and grace. A fine effort from this estate.

 

Chateau Kirwan: There is a fruit infused nose and palate, with a plump palate, but slightly monolithic in approach.

 

Chateau Labegorce: Solidly built, but unexciting wine.

Chateau Lascombes: The representative said they employed 75% new oak ‘and sometimes we use more.’ Why? Yet again, this estate over oaks its juice, which is 54% Merlot here (40% Cabernet and 6% Petit Verdot). The nose is fruit driven, and one gets the impression they were serious about selection, but the palate is drying from the oak.

 

Chateau Malescot St Exupery: Just 60% new oak, and it shows compared to the above. A fresher feel on the palate, with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and only 33% Merlot – which makes more sense to me, given the decent Indian Summer which favored Cabernet. A rather contoured feel on the palate with fruit. One of the best Margaux of 2007.

 

Chateau Marquis de Terme: In good and especially great vintages like 2005, this wine can be a bargain. Avoid the 2007: green and short.

 

Chateau Prieure-Lichine: Nose is nicely fruit driven, but the palate is very tight and the finish is pinched. Time in barrel may improve matters, I hope.  

 

Chateau Rauzan-Gassies: This estate is improving its game, quietly but even in this tough vintage. Technical director Nicolas Pejoux told me that they increased their new oak quotient to … 40% in 2007.  Some 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine is fine with judicious extraction levels. Supple, though nothing extraordinary, either. It avoids the pitfall of too much oak or extraction of green tannins.

 

Chateau Rauzan-Segla: Margaux of the vintage? Not including perhaps Palmer and Margaux, which I did not taste. Very racy, with soft elegance matched by body and contour. The finish is medium, but I was not expecting miracles either. This would make a great restaurant wine if the price is right; the type of choice with which to impress your guests: ‘Friends, 2007 was not a great year, but this wine is, etc…’

 

Chateau Siran: A whopping 16% Petit Verdot, 40% Cab and the rest Merlot. Siran is a good buy and does a decent job in 2007, with fruit and freshness. Only 35% new oak.

 

After spitting, taking notes at Chateau Lascombes; at right, my wine of the Margaux tasting: Rauzan-Segla

 

 

Trade tasting at Chateau Pontet Canet / Thursday April 3

 

Here I tasted northern Medoc wines from St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estephe. One American buyer told me that few wines are worth buying, including Lynch Bages, Leoville Barton and one or two others. Bill Blatch, famous for his harvest reports, called 2007 generally a ‘consumer’s vintage.’ After tasting the northern Medocs, I was impressed with some, but most proved tight or short. St. Julien did best.

 

St. Julien

 

Chateau Beychevelle: Rather agreeable perfumed nose of cassis. A decent feel on the palate but it fades quickly on the finish.

 

Chateau Branaire Ducru: A cleaner nose and palate. It is more fruit driven, with more substance and corpulence. Quite fine. Depending on the price, could be a bargain.

 

Chateau Gruaud Larose: Very meaty and juicy feel on the palate, a hint of heat, but some good tannic bite. Actually, my favorite so far – I liked its chutzpah!

 

Chateau Lagrange: Soft but insubstantial. Lagrange can be really good, even in lesser vintages, but it is weak here; I found it lacking in substance and also being too short.

 

Chateau Langoa Barton: The nose is a bit closed, and the palate shows some tightness, but there is foreboding tannin and good body: serious wine in the context of the vintage.

 

Chateau Leoville Barton: Yet again, this estate shows strength in a weak vintage. Lovely perfumed nose, although noticeable palate tightness. Barrel aging will do things right here, and I get the feeling this will be a star of the vintage.

 

Chateau Leoville Poyferre: Not quite as impressive as Barton this year. The palate is good, though. The nose is just a bit mute compared to the above.

 

Chateau Saint Pierre: Green pepper aroma and the palate shows stalk… this is an estate that can be very good and can constitute a bargain, but not in 2007.

 

Chateau Talbot: Softer than the St. Pierre, indeed more St. Julien in its approach. Not bad, as it reminds me of the slightly diluted 1993. Good effort for the vintage.

 

Pauillac

 

Chateau Batailley: Normally a solid Pauillac to seek in good to great vintages – try the 2005 for example – but it shows green in 2007, with a light and insubstantial palate.

 

Chateau Haut Bages Liberal: It is good to know that this estate continues to improve even with this tough vintage. Pleasing notes of cassis on the nose, followed by a smooth palate that is certainly light but also soft and fine.

 

Chateau Lynch Bages: With about 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 70% new oak – same as in 2006 while 80% in 2005 – this wine showed a nice nose, stressing red fruit over black, though a rather austere and tight palate. Ok, mind you, but not that impressive either.

 

Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron: A lovely nose, rather soft on the palate compared to the Lynch Bages and with more subtlety – albeit with a hint of austerity on the finish. In the battle of these two top wines in 2007, get a much more positive impression here. Rather successful for the vintage.

 

Chateau Pontet Canet: Good fruit, somewhat jammy. The palate is tight, and just a bit disjointed overall. I do not get the breed from Pichon or Lynch Bages, however. 

St. Estephe

Chateau Cos Labory: The nose is nothing extraordinary, but a fulsome palate with chewy tannin makes this one pleasing.  

Chateau Lafon Rochet: I like this estate normally, but in 2007 they produced a light and inconsequential wine.

Chateau Phelan Segur: More substance than the Lafon Rochet, with fruit-driven flavors, although the palate shows some drying tannin.

Private tasting at Chateau Mouton Rothschild / Thursday April 3

It was a treat to taste Mouton Rothschild and Clerc Milon and d’Armailhac. A slew of UK tasters were on hand, including Jancis Robinson and Steven Spurrier. Some sat with their computers – at right – after being driven to the tasting room in golf carts. We were lucky to taste the Mouton Rothschild 2006 as well – it was showing very well, with fine structure matched by pristine opulence and good length. Not the best time to taste – it had just been bottled – but it did the 2007 no favors when compared…

Chateau D’Armailhac: With just under 55% Cabernet and 22% Merlot and 23% CF, this was rather fresh and tart. Not alcoholic or heavy in any way, but not particularly rich either. OK.

Chateau Clerc Milon: The nose is rather lush compared to the above; a bit of coco perhaps coming from the oak. They installed a new aging facility in 2007. There is greater elegance and complexity than the above, but rings a bit hollow on the mid palate.

Petit Mouton: The second wine of Chateau Mouton Rothschild has a pleasant chocolate like flavor. Smooth on the palate though there is an odd lactic quality as well. OK.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild: A whiff of roasted red pepper at first, then cassis. The palate is surprisingly soft – none of the Mouton chutzpah – and rather a continuation of finesse styled wines under the direction of Philippe Dhalluin. But the impression remains rather low-key, as Steven Spurrier commented. Very fine, but not exciting at this stage at least.

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2006: This one is both fine and exciting. The nose is very inviting, opulent and perfumed, while the palate has depth and impressive length.


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