An early start for our first day on the Left Bank departing at 6.30am for our fifth day of tasting, with an 8am (7am GMT) appointment with Calon Ségur awaiting us. Heavy traffic on the Rocade meant we arrived with a minute to spare, and we had to forgo the customary Boulangerie stop in Pauillac. The team were not happy!
Calon Ségur showed well, a charming wine with its heart in the right place. A strong performance from its sister property Capbern. A quick 5 minute dash to Phélan Ségur, we need to keep on time as it's a big day with many appointments to make. It’s always a joy to see Véronique Dausse, Managing Director at Phélan Ségur. Smiles all round with a good wine and good yields after suffering from hail in the 2022 vintage that wiped out 80% of their Cabernet.
Our next appointment was 9am at Montrose. We started by tasting their neighbouring property, Tronquoy, and was also introduced to their new white wine: Tronquoy Blanc, a small plot of 1.5 hectares on gravel/clay soils. It’s a superb expressive white wine, Sémillon dominated with lovely complexity, however, very small production of only 6,000 bottles. This is its first release En Primeur, I will do my best to get an allocation. Montrose is now just being made from the best vineyards adjacent to the Château that are mainly planted with Cabernet Sauvignon. First growth quality here, and it will definitely be in our top ten wines of the vintage.
Quick dash to Duhart Milon to taste Lafite as big groundwork's and renovations are happening at Château Lafite. We actually forgot this, and rocked up at Lafite to be redirected by security…whoops, désolé! Nevertheless, a beautifully crafted Lafite with its pedigree showing through.
Next up a quick pit stop at the UGC Pauillac & Saint-Estèphe tasting at Lynch Moussas. Short on time before our next Château visit we split the room in different directions to taste some wines for the second / third time. It might seem crazy, however, there can be a huge difference between the samples and where possible, we try and go to the Château. Some good performers worth mentioning are Lynch Bages, Batailley, and Ormes de Pez.
Quick hop to Grand Puy Lacoste where Emeline Borie talked us through the vintage, and what was interesting was the difference between the Merlot and the Cabernet. They tasted completely different; the early picked Merlot tasted like it was from a hot vintage, whereas the slower ripening Cabernet from a cool vintage. The challenge therefore was to successfully blend these two polarised grapes. Fortunately the master blenders were successful and the wine really performs, offering good terroir expression with plenty of 'wet stone' minerality. A classic, old school GPL in terms of style where their excellent terroir shines through.
Next stop Pontet Canet, and although you can see the Château from the GPL tasting room, you have to wind your way around Pauillac to get to there. A marathon wine performing well with energy and precision.
A quick 20 minute lunch at Pontet Canet, merci beaucoup Alfred for your generous hospitality, and sorry we had to rush as our schedule was challenging. Amazing cheese board as usual though we had to prize Andrew away as we needed to sprint down to Branaire-Ducru for the UGC Saint-Julien tasting. With only 25 minutes before our appointment with Lillian Barton, we split the room and speed dated with some Saint-Julien. The overall quality was very good and lots of favourites Branaire-Ducru, Gruaud-Larose, Beychevelle, Gloria, Léoville-Poyferré to name a few. So far Saint-Julien looks the most consistent appellation to date and we were generally pleased with what we tasted.
Then on to see Lillian Barton of Langoa and Léoville Barton for a 15 minute tasting of her three properties (including Mauvesin Barton). Such a special person and her Langoa and Leoville Barton were both excellent. In fact the Leoville Barton really impressive. Bravo, Lillian!
Cos d'Estournal was next. 15 minutes from Langoa Barton, around Pauillac, and past Lafite. Cos Labory was part of the tasting for the first time, they bought the property last March so we are likely to see the quality and price rise over the next few years. Cos D’Estournel was good, showing its class but will need time for everything to knit together a bit more.
Next on the schedule was Pichon Longueville Baron where we tasted Pibran, Griifons de Pichon Baron and Pichon Baron (Grand Vin), as well as 3 dry white from Suduiraut, their Sauternes property. The Pichon Baron had power, tension, and focus which has that Pauillac pebble minerality that makes it stand out to the left bank. A special mention to the Suduiraut Sauternes, up a couple of levels from when we tasted it at Bordeaux Lac with Bill. I can see why Bill referred them to the outstanding 2001 vintage. Gorgeous viscosity with pure wild honey, mandarin, dried apricot, and mango. Delicious!
Ducru-Beaucaillou was next so we crossed back over into Saint-Julien to taste through the brooding Bruno Borie collection starting with Madame de Beaucaillou that used to be called Lalande-Borie, which is situated up near Châteaux Lagrange and Talbot. Ducru-Beaucaillou was its usual well toned, body builder of a wine.
With 20 minutes in front of our schedule I thought about popping into Haut-Bages Liberal, one of my stars of the 2022 vintage but with 12 Châteaux visits, and 2 left to go, we decided to go direct to Pichon Comtesse Lalande as hopefully we will taste Haut-Bages Liberal at Durfort-Vivens tomorrow in Margaux.
Pichon Lalande was up to expectations as you would expect being one of the most consistent Super Seconds. Winemakers, Nicolas Glumineau, described the vintage as “back to the future”, meaning stylistically it is more about the terroir as less about fruit concentration. Pichon Lalande was graceful and sophisticated, in fact my notes say “oozes with class.”
Finally onto our last visit of the day to taste the Mouton Rothschild collection at Clerc Milon. Naturally the star of the show was the Mouton Rothschild. Its pedigree is evident; so refined, precise, and graceful with wonderful nobility. Contender with Montrose for ‘ Wine of the Day’ and definitely in the top ten.
With the taste of Mouton still present on our tired palates, we got back into the car for the final hour journey back to Bordeaux after completing the 14 Châteaux visits.
Day 6 starts tomorrow with an 8.30am (7.30am GMT) appointment at d’Issan and a much needed extra 30 minutes bed. Bonne nuit!
