As always during the Primeur tastings in Bordeaux there is rumour and speculation about which wines are 'the best'. With the advancement of instantaneous social media there are immediate opinions.....'Loved Chateau XX....surely the finest of the vintage?' or similar hyperbole.
Considering I have tasted for the last two days....and I still have 6 more tasting days ahead, I can not give a definitive opinion. HOWEVER the rumours about the Pomerol appellation being consistent and one of the better performing areas are certainly unfolding.
I tasted a full range of Pomerol wines in the miniscule village of Pomerol today. There was an intensity and balance of fruit/tannin/acidity that seems lacking in other areas. Certainly not all the wines were perfect, but Chateau Le Bon Pasteur (owned by Dany and Michel Rolland) , Clos du Clocher, Petit Village(owned by Axa), Croix du Gay, Le Moulin and Le Gay 2011s were all tip top wines today.
I am looking forward to exploring more wines from Saint Emilion and Pomerol tomorrow, when I will taste at Chateau Pavie, Cheval Blanc, L'Evangile and Vieux Chateau Certan. The latter Chateau known as VCC has been incredible in 2009 and 2010 for the purity and linear excellence of the fruit and the harmonious balance. I am already hearing good thinngs about VCC 2011 so I am eager to get tasting.
I enjoyed an excellent lunch today as a guest of the charismatic and hard working Bernard Magrez (the chap who owns Chateau Pape Clement in Pessac Leognan, as well as a host of other wineries around the world) at his beautiful Chateau Fombrauge in Saint Emilion.
I sat with an English journalist, an Australian wine buyer and a Belgian retired wine investor! It was an entertaining lunch prepared by the team of Joel Robuchon (one of the best chefs in the world who currently has 26 michelin stars across his 17 restaurants around the world). The saddle of lamb as the main couse was perfect with the Chateau Fombrauge 2006 and the Chateau Pape Clement 2008. A very pleasant interlude to tasting young tannic, tough barrel samples from the 2011 vintage.
Bernard Magrez gave a speech where he apologised that Joel Robuchon could not be there in person, due to a French air traffic control strike his private jet had been grounded.
However the food and wine were excellent even if Joel was stuck on the tarmac somewhere else.
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