Bordeaux 2009: UGC Day Three (brief)

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Only ten minutes before check-out time at the hotel, so the quickest of snapshots of the day three in Bordeaux on the Right Bank. Ridiculous thunderstorms and drenching rain. Evangile opulent and polished, Le Pin a wonder of restraint and complexity, VCC simply divine.

Another mixed bag – some wines were as expected struggling to keep everything in balance with very ripe dried berry flavours, huge tannins and whopping alcohol levels. But so many delicious well made wines. At the UGC Beauregard, La Conseillante and Petit Village all delivered.

Cheval Blanc another incredibly consumate delicious wine – and Yquem is legendary. After lunch several of the Alain Vauthier wines including the Ausone itself shone. Pavie was an education in extraction. Nicolas Thienpont’s PavieMacquin is as good as ever, while a visit to Francois Mitjaville’s quasi-Burgundian chai at Tertre-Roteboeuf was incredibly inspiring.

Much more on this to follow. Including a fabulous restaurant with the best cote de boeuf ever.