Jeroboams - En Primeur Bordeaux 2010

Monday – Day 1
Chateaux Visits

Monday morning and a busy day’s tasting ahead of us at a selection of the Grand Cru Classe estates of the Medoc.

After a traditional French breakfast of coffee and croissants we headed for our first appointment Chateau Leoville Las Cases to see the full range including the Chateaux wines from St Julien,  Potensac in the Haut Medoc and their Pomerol estate Chateau Nenin. Its not often you start the week with a glass of Leoville Las Cases at 08:45 in the morning!! This is where our first impressions of the vintage would be confirmed and a first glance at the quality to be expected from the top end of the appellations. 

Monsieur Delon and his wine making team performed exceptionally well, setting a tough benchmark at the various levels within the range, Clos du Marquis was delicious, a real classy wine, arguably their best yet, the Petit Lion, 2nd wine of Leoville Las Cases, was wonderful performing way above its station and the Leoville Las Cases, whilst keeping its cards close to its chest was a belter. Really serious quality here.

A short walk over the road and into Las Cases sister estate Leoville Poyferre. Having produced a stunner in 2009 the question that needed to be answered was ‘could that level of quality be repeated again in 2010’.  The simple answer is yes and whilst stylistically different the Grands Vin was very very good indeed. Beautiful aromatics, poise and balance, a graceful Poyferre. A seriously strong effort from Moulin Riche which could turn out to be one of the 2nd wine purchases of the vintage.

After a quick trot back to the car and a brisk journey up to St Estephe, we opened the traditional debate about who would reign as the King of St Estephe in 2010. Having tasted the wines it was clear that we would need a little more time to settle this frequently unanswered question as both Chateaux produced wonderful wines. Montrose was a traditional and classic Montrose that we have grown to love in top vintages and Cos d’Estournel appeared to rein in the modern style that they touched in the last vintage. This was much more classic Cos a classic in the making. Worth mentioning the estates second wines here as the quality is noticeably increasing year on year.

A smart Dame de Montrose and a quality Pagodes that Jean Guillaume Prats described as “better than any Cos d’Estournel made in the 1990”, some statement given the quality of the 1995 and 1996. It was clear at this point having tasted a handful of top estates on the Left Bank that many of these wines were living up to the hype that surrounded the vintage over the past months and that many were nudging the boundries of the much used cliché “Best vintage ever”.

Leaving St Estephe we headed south to Pauillac for our first 1st Growth of the campaign.  Having seen the quality levels achieved by the handful of 2nd Growths we had seen this morning we were all excited to have our first taste of the 1st Growths who would certainly set the benchmark for the vintage. No disappointments at Mouton and a very successful set of wines across the board. Clerc and D’Armailhac were very good and potentially the best ever made and Mouton showed a depth and power above and beyond what we had seen earlier in the day…the campaign was really starting to hotten up as were the Bordeaux skies with not a cloud in sight and late 20oC heat.

With five Chateaux behind us it was time for a spot of lunch and where better than Chateau Pontet- Canet, who were fast developing a strong reputation not only for their high quality wines but also their Primeur week lunches. A civilised beef casserole followed by a decent spread of cheese was all washed down with a few glasses of their delicious and highly rated 2000 vintage. With our hunger satiated and finding it difficult to drag ourselves away from the 2000 we headed upstairs to join Alfred Tesseron to taste his latest release. A great success and a continuation on the Chateau amazing rise in quality over the last decade. Another beauty from Pontet-Canet and a clear statement that this lowly classified estate firmly belongs to the “Super Second” category of Chateau.

Next stop, and our last Pauillac estate of the day, we headed off to Pichon Comtesse de Lalande to open one half of a much often debated question….Pichon Comtesse v Pichon Baron. The great Lady of Pauillac stated her case with elegance and charm but we would have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to hear the response from her sister Chateau, Pichon Baron. A strong effort also from the ever popular 2nd wine, La Reserve de la Comtesse, one to watch in this vintage.

Back in the car and off to Ducru Beaucaillou for our rendezvous with proprietor Bruno Borie. The sun continued to shine on Bordeaux and clearly the wines at this level were showing exceptional potential. As a favourite Chateau of ours and a beautiful one to visit we headed there expecting another great wine and of course the ever present Ducru Beaucaillou ‘Primeur Girls’. It wasn’t just the stunning wines at Ducru that were attracting people’s attention. Bruno Borie really does know how to grab the attention of the wine world.

A quick stop in at Leoville Barton for a catch up with Anthony and Lillian Barton and to taste the ever popular Langoa and Leoville Barton. A solid effort from Langoa, who appear to be improving the quality of the wine year in year out, followed by a stunning effort from Leoville who achieved new levels of depth and concentration. Bravo Anthony, a wine of true pedigree.

After a busy morning and afternoon, we continued our homeward bound journey ever south into the Medoc with our final 2 visits of the day, our second 1st Growth of the campaign and AC Margaux pretender to the crown Chateau Palmer. Striding past a slothenly Zorba the dog who looked somewhat depressed (we later found out that Zorba was sulking following the introduction of a new puppy to the estate who was stealing all the attention) we headed to the tasting room where we were joined by Thibault Pontallier (son of Chateau Margaux General Director Paul Pontallier).  A complete reflection of his father in his clean cut suit and fashionable scarf, Thibault was back momentarily from his stint in Hong Kong to help with the busy Primeur schedule. He talked with total confidence and charm belying his youth, but then you could expect nothing less from a young man who has been surrounded by such wine heritage for much of his life. A wonderful set from Chateau Margaux, both Pavillon Blanc and Pavillon Rouge have achieved exceptional heights and the Grand Vin itself charmed every taster with its perfume, elegance and charm, wonderful mouth coating texture stunning balance and freshness and just all round control of its components. Could this be better than last year?

A little light hearted chat with Thibault Pontaillier about the 2010 vintage and some taxing questions about vintage comparisons he likened the 2010 to 1986. “Of course 1986 was a great vintage….it was the year I was born” he joked and when asked if he has tasted any other wines in the vintage to gauge the performance of Chateau Margaux, he responded with a wide grin. ”Of course…..I tasted the Pavillon Rouge”.

Our final meet of the day at Chateau Palmer allowed us to see if they could follow the monumental effort in 2009 with both the Grand Vin and the Alter Ego. All agreed these wines were of a different style to last year (a common trait of the vintage) but there were certainly no disappointed looks as we debated the wines heading back to car after a long and thorough days tasting.

What better way to end a phenomenal day than with fellow merchants from around the world at a soiree hosted by one of our favourite Negociants. 1996 Leoville Las Cases, 1982 Haut Brion and 1982 d’Yquem…..last year must have been tough for the Bordelais!!