Day two and the sun continues to shine gloriously in Bordeaux as it appears to have done for the 2010 vintage. Early impressions have been confirmed that this truly is a great “˜classic’ vintage in Bordeaux, with clearly defined Cabernet fruit. They have lovely freshness and the top wines will age gracefully for many years. We are on the right bank tomorrow so we will learn more about the Merlots then.
On the whole, there is a terrific consistency of quality across the board. We tasted a great number of wines today and although it is clearly too early to make any final judgements, some early contenders for any wine lover’s cellar already include: Phelan Segur, Lafon Rochet, Batailley, Pichon Lalande, Pichon Baron, Gruaud Larose, Grand Puy Lacoste (for the second day running it showed stunningly), Leoville Barton, Leoville Poyferre, Talbot, Lagrange and Claire Villars’s thoughtful Haut-Bages-Libéral.
In Margaux, the clear star of the day was Chateau Margaux itself but we were also very impressed by Palmer, Issan, Brane Cantenac, Giscours, Malescot St. Exupery and Rauzan Segla.
At the Haut-Medoc tasting, Cantemerle and La Lagune stood out but there were some other interesting offerings that we will re-visit in two weeks time.
Finally, the Sauternais appeared in Margaux at Château Desmerail so we were treated to an array of great sweet wines of which Suduiraut, Rieussec, Coutet, De Fargues, Doisy Vedrines, D’Arche and La Tour Blanche caught the wine buyer’s eye.
We’re heading back to Bordeaux now to taste some white Burgundies from Jean Noel Gagnard (for whom we are the current exclusive agent in Hong Kong) and have some dinner at Verretigo, a restaurant with a great list red and white Burgundies. Well you can lead a horse to water…
À demain!