Jeroboams - En Primeur Bordeaux 2010

Wednesday – Day 3
Haut Brion, Graves & a little bit of Pauillac unseen

Its not that often that one gets to wake up, drive through the beautiful Graves countryside and start the day with a tasting of Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion.

In fact for the most part it sadly happens but once a year (Primeur week) and this year the tasting was hosted at La Mission. It always amazes me how both these Chateau can produce such good wines when located directly in the middle of the city of Pessac. The view from the Chateau neighbours is one of beauty and prestige, the view from the Chateau is less good looking onto the industrial portions of the town. That aside we were greated at the entrance and led up through the church like staircases into a beautiful, tranquil tasting room that looked like something out of a Harry Potter movie and made me feel like I had returned to school to sit my final exams. Pens at the ready, the wines were poured……With moments of stunned silence the mood changed to jovial conversation as everyone was clearly in a good mood having tasted a selection of stunning wines. First rate offerings from La Mission Haut Brion and Haut Brion, another stunner in Haut Brion Blanc and a trio of 2nd wines that performed well above their station. Wonderful quality from Clarence de Haut Brion which like the Forts de Latour was touching on 1st growth quality.

We offered our congratulations, said our goodbyes and headed across town to Pape-Clement for a selection of wines from the Magres empire. The focus here would be the white and reds from Pape Clement but good showings from Ch. Fombrauge (a modern styled St Emilion) and Clementin du Pape-Clement (2nd wine of Pape-Clement) caught our eye. An excellent white and red from Pape Clement set the standard for the appellation (1st Growth estates excluded) and set us up for the rest of the appellation at the Graves UGC tasting hosted by Chateau Malartic Lagraviere.

With much more suitable tasting conditions compared to our previous UGC encounter there were standout performances in both whites and reads from the usual suspect, Smith Haut Lafitte & Domaine de Chevalier, strong efforts from De Fueizal and our hosts Malartic Lagraviere but the star of the show was this years Haut Bailly. Powerful with super texture, very classy.

After a speedy lunch in the gardens of Malartic Lagraviere, and a glass or two of 1990 Malartic Lagraviere from Magnum (I must confess to be relatively inexperienced when it comes to this Chateau, but was most impressed by this delicious glass of wine and I will certainly be paying more attention from now on.) we headed back to the Medoc for the last of our Medoc Chateau visits, both hugely popular wines in the UK, Lynch Bages and Batailley. With Batailley up first, we met Frederic Casteja in the tasting room that abutts the main Chateau to discuss his collection of Chateau from right across the Bordeaux region. This was to be our second look at Batailley, with hopeful expectation that it would live up to the quality it had shown at the UGC tasting at Branaire Ducru yesterday. No disappointments there, it showed beautifully and re-confirmed that Batailley had produced a cracker this vintage potentially better than last years super effort. This may prove to be one of the best buys of the vintage. Fingers crossed on pricing.

Next stop Lynch Bages. We made the short journey across Pauillac to meet Jean–Michel and headed off to the tasting rooms. Like Batailley this was to be our second viewing of Lynch Bages (and Ormes de Pez) but our first of the 2nd wine Echo and their popular white the aptly named Blanc de Lynch Bages. Like the Batailley the Lynch Bages showed exceptionally well the second time around. Wonderful rich structured fruit, spice and minerals. Very Lynch and will sit very well alongside the greats of recent years. High class.
With another days tasting complete and a full picture from the Left Bank we headed home with the glorious sunshine still beating down on the vines of Bordeaux.