Day 1
Our Bordeaux En Primeur campaign began with dash down the motorway on Sunday to catch our 1pm flight with “Squeezyjet” from Luton to Bordeaux, where we arrived to a tropical 25 degree welcome. Merci beaucoup! A quick car collection and then off around the “rocade” to Bordeaux Lac for an hour’s tasting of the 2018 Sauternes with M. Blatch and M. Webb (Bordeaux Gold). A hot vintage for Sauternes, marked by low acidity giving the wines more opulent tropical characters rather than English breakfast marmalade. This was down to a very late harvest, the botrytis only really kicked in on the weekend 20th/21st October and by then, the fruit was mega ripe. However, the good botrytis has added good amounts of freshness.
Our next appointment was at Chateau Guiraud to taste Steffan Comtes de Niepperg (Canon Gaffeliere), Oliver Bernard (Domaine Chevalier) as well as Xavier Planty and Robert Peugeot (Guirard). Our first dive into the serious reds of Pessac-Leognan and St. Emilion, it’s hard not to be impressed by the luscious, forward and seductively concentrated styles.
They are powerful yet well-balanced. Domaine de Chevalier (rouge) and Cananon Gaffeliere were the stars of the show, whereas La Mondotte was a bit overpowering for my sensitive palate… the whites also showed particularly well, especially Domaine de Chevalier (blanc) and Lespault-Martillac.
Unfortunately there was no Chateau Guiraud to taste this year. Serious issues with mildew and then hail, resulted in no wine being made
Day 2
Today we start at Moueix in Libourne for the always impressive, finely constructed wines of Lafleur Petrus, Trotanoy, and Hosanna etc before heading to Pomerol for the syndicate tasting in the Village hall. Then to the Jonathan Malthus tasting that includes Le Dome and onto Villemaurie all before lunch.
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