Leaving Bordeaux at 7.15 am we arrived at Calon Segur for 8.30. The wines were charming, that will give a lot of pleasure in the mid-term.
Then onto Montrose for a formal tasting and then Cos which was an interesting comparison. Cos was the winner for me.
From Cos we headed to Lafite. Carruades did little for me while the Duhart Milon was at least a couple of tiers above the Carruades and Lafite was impressive with a touch of the 2010 concentration with black fruits, graphite, cassis and a touch of dark chocolate.
With Lafite still lingering in the palate we popped across to neighbouring Mouton Rothschild where we tasted the Petit Mouton, D'Armailhac, Clerc Milon and Mouton Rothschild itself which I struggled with as it was unyielding but this is fairly common and it often shows it true colour after its been bottled.
From Mouton we popped to Grand Puy Lacoste, one of my star buys for 2010. It was good but not as good as the 2010 – I really enjoyed the Haut Batailley as it had finesse with a good balance between Summer fruit, cassis and an uplifting acidity.
From GPL we headed for Pontet Cantet where we had a fantastic lunch and tasted their biodynamic wine which was attractive and a good lesson in some of the techniques they use. It is common to head the vines after flowering which means that the vines stop growing outwards. It increased the grape bunches by 30%. Pontet Canet do head the vines which means they don't have to green harvest later to reduce the yields. They don't have to defoliate as the leaves don't cover the grape and they have more airflow around the bunches which helps stop quite a lot of rot when the conditions are damp.
From Ponet Canet we went to St Julien's Leoville Lascases. Here we also tasted Fugue de Nenin, Nenin, Chapelle de Potensac (2nd wine of Potensac), Le Petit Lion (2nd wine of Leovilles Lascases, Clos du Marquis and Leoville Lascases. Clos du Marquis is now a first wine in its own right coming from a plot that is surrounded by Talbot, Leoville Poyferre, Leoville Barton and Pichon Lalande.
From Lascases we went to Ducru Beaucaillou but missed our slot so we have re-arranged for tomorrow and headed to the UGC tasting Chateau Lagrange where I got half way through before heading back to Bordeaux for the D'Yquem launch of the 2011 which we compared to 1997, the latter was like crème brulee in the glass. We then headed to the Commanderie du Bontemps
I was really impressed by Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande and Lynch Bages and enjoyed Grand Puy Ducasse which was very pleasant.
Busy last day tomorrow with loads to cram in. Plan to finish the UGC tasting at Lagrange, Leoville Barton at 10am, Margaux at 11am, UGC Margaux tasting, UGC Sauternes tasting at Kirwan, UGC Cru Bourgeois and also I need to try the La Lagune.
Thank you for all your comments and interest.
Jamie
