A few Bordeaux
I was lucky enough to taste a few recent Bordeaux tonight. Wines were served blind.
Clos du Clocher 2000 (Pomerol)
Deep red with rich rhubarb, plumb and jam on the nose. Really ripe. After a little while, some smoke and really dusty oak coming through. The palate is puzzling: very little tannin, smooth and juicy. Gluggable. Must be the influence of M. Rolland. Who cares, tastes great. Take a look if you have a few bottles. Not sure where it’s going but I’d drink it now for the fruit.
Cadet Piola 1995 (St. Emilion)
Funky, V.A., metallic. Must be cooked. Wine maker with figured it was a bottling issue. Declared faulty.
Ducru Beaucaillou 1997 (St. Julien)
Appearance of a wine approaching maturity. Nose is classic with pencil shavings, integrated oak, dried violets and whiffs of wild berries. Palate is juicy and yet savory. Long in the mouth. Great effort. Picnic claret. Drink now.
Grand Puy Ducasse 1996 (Paulliac)
Lots of toasty oak, bitter cherry and clay on the nose. Quite austere on the palate, which is characteristic of this producer I think. Pretty boring really. Might just need 10 more years.
Lafon-Rochet 2002 (St. Estephe)
Dark, youthful appearance. Very juicy, like grape must on the nose — it smells sweet. Floral (violets), concentrated. Ripe juicy fruit, raspberries and maybe cranberries! None of the character of the appellation or the vintage. Must be the micro-oxygenation. Could be New World. Still, very good drinking but maybe not for the long term.
Chateau Margaux 2001
Rich toasty oak, coffee, tobacco, ripe blackberries, a hint of iron, violets. Lots going on. The palate is long and powerfully, but not weighty. The tannins are drying and there’s quite a bit of acid there. I think the palate needs time to resolve, 5 or 10 years. Still, very approachable now. Admittedly, I had no idea it was Margaux. I thought it was Pomerol.
Labegorce Zede 2002 (Cru Bourgeois)
Awful nose, like a timber mill that’s had a sulfur bomb go off. On the palate, lots of greenness, capsicum, etc. Hard to say anything good about it.
Lynch Moussas 1996 (Pauillac)
Youthful nose with lots of juicy blackcurrant, oak and earth. Well made wine, but a touch of greenness on the palate, the tannins are a little hard on the finish. Disappointing.
Branaire Ducru 1994
Toasty oak, some greenness which lends something of a medicinal character to the mulberry-like fruit. Tannins are hard and bitter, must be a less than ripe year. With time, started to show some character but I wasn’t as impressed as others.
Moss Wood Cabernet 2001 (Margaret River)
Is this a barrel sample? Explosive nose, very sweet, juicy, ripe black berry and cherry. The palate is sweet. After the previous wines, it tastes off-dry! Very drinkable, approachable structure. Mouthfilling and delicious!
We all thought the last wine was meant to be a Bordeaux but most of us didn’t think it could be — unless it was some crazy 2003 wine. The person who brought it, a wine makers, was puzzled by the wine. She wanted to taste the screw cap wine because she’d tried the cork sealed wine and found it beginning to show some development. Much discussion on screwcaps for these kinds of wines ensued.
Great Tuesday night drinking!
