A slight lie in on Thursday morning as we were only a 35-minute drive from Château d’Issan in Margaux; a pleasure to see the sunshine at last, breaking through. The morning mist burning off as we headed over the moat and through onto one of the most impeccably kept gravel drives in the Médoc! It is always an enjoyable start to the morning with Château d’Issan for breakfast, such a graceful and poised wine. The second wine, Blason d’Issan, was excellent too and will certainly feature on our Star Value Margaux picks.
Our next appointment was just down the road at neighbouring Château Palmer; their Alter Ego from different vineyards (it’s not a second wine) was incredibly harmonious, pure, and seductive. You could easily mistake it for its big sister. Another must for me… it’s going to be an expensive year! The Palmer Grand Vin was outstanding: sublime, sophisticated and seamless.
Just across the road to Château Rauzan-Ségla for our next tasting. We tasted three separate samples from different barrels (each offering unique oak and age) to show the different oak integration that has been utilised in the final blend. Finally, we tried the exquisite definitive blend at room temperature: expressive, generous, and complete. I think it might well be on par with their stunning 2018.
We took advantage of a spare hour before our rendez-vous at Château Margaux and decided call into Château Lascombes for the Margaux UGC tasting as it is just 5-minutes’ drive away. I must say Château de Tertre was back on form and in tune with our palettes after a few years away, it’s possibly amongst the best vintages I’ve tasted. Notable performances also from Châteaux Siran, Prieuré-Lichine, Labégorce, and Marquis de Terme.
It was time to head back over the main plateau to the ever-impressive Château Margaux where we tasted Pavillon Blanc and Rouge as well as the Grand Vin: Château Margaux. Pavillon Blanc was impressive, graceful, and serious yet aromatic… sadly though they only produced 8 thousand bottles, so there’s not much to go around. The Pavillon Rouge was exquisite and, without a doubt, now the quality level of what the Grand Vin was in the 1980’s. Château Margaux itself had wonderful density and sophistication; every aspect of the wine was in harmony. It was simply stunning.
We headed back across the road to Château Durfort-Vivens where we tasted their portfolio of wines including Château Haut-Bages Libéral, which we thought was outstanding (worth noting part of the property is nestled in between Châteaux Pichon-Lalande and Latour on arguably Pauillac’s top terroir!). With a small window before our appointment at Château Lafite we were invited to Haut-Bages Libéral to see all their agricultural (biodiversity and biodynamic) workings of the winery and vineyards… an impressive sight to see!
Being still ahead of schedule (a real rarity during UGC week!) we popped into Château Lafon-Rochet as it wasn’t available to taste this morning at Chateau d’Issan. It’s under the same ownership and its evident; there’s wonderful intensity, concentration, and purity. Bravo.
Our time slot at Chateau Lafite finally beckoned and the whole Rothchild collection showed well, and we were particularly impressed with Château Duhart-Milon: a real step up and quite possibly amongst the best I’ve tasted. Naturally, Lafite Grand Vin was impressive on all fronts, as you would expect.
From Lafite in Pauillac it was an hour’s drive down into Pessac-Léognan for our visit at Château Haut-Bailly. Their circular winery is a highly impressive operation, and 2022 marks just the second vintage since its completion. Cyprien Champanhet guided us through their vintage; both Haut-Bailly II (their second wine) and the Grand Vin were stunning. It was also a pleasure to see Veronique Sanders, who was kind enough to take us on a tour through the vines.
Staying in Pessac-Léognan, our penultimate appointment was at Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte. As you would expect their Blanc and Rouge Grand Vins were outstanding, however, I feel their second wines could possibly offer outstanding value for money.
We cut through rush hour traffic (earlier in France), to our final First Growth of the trip and the big showdown between Chateaux La Mission Haut-Brion and Haut-Brion. Both wines are up there with some of the best of the vintage, and thankfully the alcohol was down below 14.5%, which was welcomed. Most of our tasting crew voted for Château Haut-Brion, however, as good as it was, I favoured La Mission… there was just something about it. What a way to finish the day!
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