It never occurred to me that the Bancroft team would not make the journey to Bordeaux and visit the major Chateaux as well as the generic tastings for every appellation and judging by the turnout amongst the British wine trade almost every other merchant had made the same decision. It may be true that there are not a huge number of wines to recommend this year but that fact aside there are also some remarkable wines for the vintage that will be well worth having in the cellar if the Bordelais realise they need to take a reality check. There is a very different world outside their vine-encrusted ivory towers to the one that existed in 2006 and this is the year when wine buyers will no longer accept the high prices of previous vintages.
So what do I have to report? There are a lot of wines to side-step this year but there is a select band of Chateaux that have broken the mould of 2008 and produced some great wines. We will highlight these wines in our report out next week, but while we will be recommending them as great wines, there is a proviso. Each release will depend on the price, if there is not a significant reduction on the prices we have seen since 2005 then my advice will be to avoid the recommendation this year. The 2008 vintage is quite simply all about price so let's hope we see some bargains out there.
Monday 30th March, 2009
David Round MW (our Buying Director) and I flew out to Bordeaux and had a good start to our week since the weather was beautifully hot and our car hire rep informed us that ‘unfortunately' they only had a convertible left for us!
Sunglasses on, roof down and we shot up the Médoc, stopping for a lunch in Pauillac before heading up to Chateau Montrose. As with last year it seems Monsieur Delmas has yet to hit his stride here after his arrival from Haut-Brion and we were not overwhelmed by what we tasted.
It was a different matter at Chateau Cos D'Estournel. The new cellar is certainly the most impressive to be found in Bordeaux with every state of the art gadget at their disposal and the wines were a real boost – there were going to be some good things to be found in the vintage!
On down the road we quickly tasted at Latour and while I loved the third wine Pauillac de Latour and the Grand Vin, I was disappointed by the Forts de Latour which seemed a bit green on the palate, there is always the chance the sample was not the best however David seemed to agree that the middle wine did not shine like the others.
Then on to see Lilian and Anthony Barton at Chateau Leoville-Barton. They always hold open house with a huge array of wines to taste and the atmosphere is very relaxed just dipping in where you want to while Anthony tries to keep the new dog from jumping up all over the tasting teams. Both the Leoville and the Langoa did not disappoint us and with the Barton's reputation for playing with a straight bat when it comes to pricing this will almost certainly be a property that will see good sales this year.
At our last stop for the day, Chateau Pichon Lalande, we walked into an empty tasting room, a disconcerting experience since it is usually packed with wine merchants. Undeterred we tasted on our own and were pleased to find that here their first and second wines were a lovely end to the day, an excellent result.
Not an onerous start to the week but we had seen enough to be able to enjoy a good dinner in Bordeaux content in the knowledge that 2008 had some remarkably good wines to offer the market.
Tuesday 31st March, 2009
Today the Right Bank was our focus. First stop was Cheval Blanc where we were happy with the wines on show and set off for Chateau Ausone in the village of St Emilion prepared for another fine showing from Alain Vauthier. No disappointments there either – could it be that the Right Bank had pulled off a coup in 2008?
Alas no! Our next stop was the UGC tasting for St Emilion at Chateau Figeac and it has to be said there was not a lot on show that made us struggle for superlatives in our tasting notes. There were one or two exceptions and they were at the better value end of the properties so there may be a few bargains to be found here.
On down the road to Chateau La Conseillante for the UGC Pomerol tasting and again we found a few gems but much disappointment. With our optimism for the Right Bank sinking fast we made our way to Michel Rolland's house at Chateau Bon Pasteur. Michel is undoubtedly one of the most cheerful men in Bordeaux but then he has much to be cheerful about – Bon Pasteur is an excellent wine this year and certainly one of the highlights of the Right Bank.
Much revived we journeyed on to Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte for the Graves/Pessac Léognan UGC tasting. We had a brief altercation with a policeman who claimed we had shot through a Stop sign in the one-horse town of Catusseau (who knew the French obeyed road signs?!). This was a little worrying for David since we had tasted 73 wines so far today and even if you are spitting the samples what do you say to the police when they ask if you have been drinking? (Dark red teeth and lips tend to make denial a little difficult). Luckily David passed the breath test and we headed south, 90 Euros lighter in the pocket thanks to the Stop sign.
Rather like the Right Bank there is a lot of disappointment in the Graves with a few shining exceptions.
Attempting to end the day on a high we headed back to town to taste Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut Brion. Initially we thought proprietor, Prince Robert of Luxembourg was coming out to welcome us personally but alas we just happened to be standing in front of his car. While this is not going to be one of the property's legendary vintages it was a good tasting and if the price comes down significantly there may be the opportunity to drink First Growth claret for a lot less than usual so we will watch the price here.
All in all the day could not be described as a total success and we had to hope that the Left Bank was going to have some good news for us on the morrow…
Wednesday 1st April, 2009
An early start at Margaux and we had a relaxed tasting finding the wines to possess great elegance and I think we will be able to drink these quite young. The upward turn in quality continued as we journeyed to Chateau Lafite-Rothschild and then Chateau Mouton-Rothschild where they continued the clean sweep of excellence for the First Growths.
We then made our way to the most significant tasting of the year at Chateau Branaire Ducru where the UGC had gathered all the wines of St Julien, St Estephe and Pauillac. Fortified with an excellent lunch David and I hit the tasting room and found much to smile about. There were several excellent clarets to be found and with morale on a high we made our way to Chateau Leoville Las Cases, where I have never been disappointed. The estate's wine-maker continues to intently study Hi-Fi magazines while you taste but I do not think he will need to look for a job as a travelling DJ just yet since the Grand Vin here is a great success. Chateau Ducru- Beaucaillou was a delight to taste and the ‘Bond-girls' roaming the cellars continue to look very smart in their jodhpurs and boots even if they have yet to meet a horse.
Morale was high as we headed to Chateau Marquis de Terme for the Margaux UGC tasting but our improving run of wines started to fall apart here and in an echo of the Right Bank there were some good wines to be found but the majority of the appellation was disappointing. We hoped to sweeten our mood at the Sauternes tasting at Chateau Dauzac but again the vintage has been difficult for them and only a few of the star properties stood out from the crowd, in particular Chateau de Fargues.
So the 2008 vintage in the bag we set off back to Bordeaux for a spirit-lifting dinner at the home of an old friend and négociant. Blind tasting was the order of the day as we tried vintage Pol Roger, fine white Burgundies from Leflaive, white Rhone from Chapoutier, old vintages of Pierre Damoy's Grand Crus and then bottle after bottle of old clarets including some surprisingly good First Growths. It was a great end to the UGC tour and now I will have to sit down and write up my notes for the vintage with what we thought were the stars of 2008. Once that is done, all we can do is wait for the prices…
Piers German, Director - Fine Wine
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