Bordeaux 2011. En Primeur tastings

I have just finished a very long week tasting some interesting wines in Bordeaux.
I have written about the vintage previously and the unusual and awkward growing season.
I can now say that 2011 is quite a good vintage in Bordeaux. The problem with 2011 is that it has appeared on the scene after two incredible high quality vintages of 2009 and 2010. These two vintages set a new precedent for high pricing in Bordeaux, so we now need some realistic adjustments (significant reductions).
For the lower tier Chateaux and up to Cru Bourgeois standard there will be very little change. Perhaps a 5 or 10% reduction in cost. But these Chateaux did not double, treble or quadruple their price in the last two years.
The issues are going to really come in the top echelon of the Cru Classe wines. We should see a reduction of at least 50% in order to get some interest back in the market.

I spent this year tasting with Bill Blatch and our usual tasting team of international buyers, friends and journalists from Holland, England, China, Hong Kong and America. This year is Bill Blatch's last proper Primeur tasting as a full part of the Vintex team. Bill founded the negociant business Vintex 30 years ago and he has been tasting barrel samples in Bordeaux for the last 42 years. He is a fantastic person to taste with and a font of knowledge, as well as a very decent person.
The Saturday evening before the main Primeur week was spent clebrating 30 years of Vintex at the Place de la Bourse in Bordeaux as well as a send off for Bill Blatch. The party was very well attended by the great and the good of Bordeaux. It was a real tribute to how many people feel towards Bill and what he has done over the years. Fortunately James Gregoire who owns Chateau de la Riviere (where I was staying) and his wife Monique gave me a lift to the party. I spoke to Florence and Daniel Cathiard of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, and congratulated them on their recent 100 points from Robert Parker for their 2009 red. I saw Aline Bayly(Chateau Coutet) the great ambassador for Barsac and Sauternes. I bumped in to Dominique Febve (Lascombes), Berenice Lurton (Climens), Xavier Planty (Guiraud) as well as the delightful Jean Marie and Claudette Constans (Chateau du Pin). I chatted horses, horse racing and three day eventing with the lovely Beatrice and Benjamin Mazeau of Chateau Roustaing in the Entre deux Mers. It was a jolly evening and a perfect start to a busy week. I left as the Jazz band was in full voice.
The next day I had a magnificent breakfast at Chateau de la Riviere in my special tower overlooking the vineyards. Then it was off to Bordeaux to taste a wide selection of 2011 wines. This was the Vintex tasting, so we were offering our exclusive wines, our partner wines and a selction of wines that we have great relationships with. Many of the guests who attended the Saturday evening party were represented by their wines!!
We had a very good turn out of top quality journalists and buyers, but certainly less volume of people than the previous two years.
It is a lovely tasting to really get immersed in the wines.

On Monday I was all around St Emilion at the many tastings. The magnificent Salle de Dominiciens is a fantastic venue as well as Chateau Villemaurine for the Grand Cru Classe wines and the Biodyvin tasting out at Chateau Fonroque. I also popped in to the Pomerol tasting in the Town Hall. The Pomerols were very good.
I had an excellent lunch as a guest of Bernard Magrez at Chateau Fombrauge as I have written previously here. A delicious lunch.

On Tuesday it was time to visit specific Chateaux and taste. We started at 8.30am at Chateau Pavie, which is probably one of the biggest and most extracted styles of Saint Emilion. The perfect breakfast = chunks of tannins. I thought the Pavie Decesse 2011 particularly good. Then it was on to Chateau Soutard to taste a wide range of Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classe and Premier Grand Cru Classe. Chateau Figeac and Beausejour Becot really stood out here.
Then we had an appointment at Chateau Cheval Blanc. This was interesting as it was the first time that I had the opportunity to see the incredible new cellar. From the outside it looks like a space ship has landed next to the old Chateau. It is like an elongated twisted wave. Most odd. But on the inside it is a lovely spacious light area for winemaking, wine storage and tasting. The different tanks are all cement and they are specifically linked to the parcels of vines that are planted in the vineyard. A fascinating place and somewhere I look forward to going back with Bella Wine Tours. We tasted the Cheval Blanc and Petit Cheval as well as their other St Emilions, then we sneeked through to a back room where the delightful Sandrine Garbay (the winemaker at Chateau d'Yquem) was waiting for us with a chilled bottle of Chateau d'Yquem 2011. This was delicious after so many rich tannic reds. The Yquem seemed to have perfect balance, fruit and acidity. It was a wine that lingered on the palate until we arrived at our next appointment at the nearby Chateau L'Evangile in Pomerol.
Chateau L'Evangile is owned and run by the Rothschild family (who own Lafite). It was my first time to taste at the Chateau. The chai is black, it is sombre and dark. A weird place. The 2011 L'Evangile was an excellent wine, but the tasting experience was cold, unwelcomimng and odd.
Next stop one of my favourite visits....Vieux Chateau Certan. Alexandre Thienpoint was presenting his wine in the cellars alongside his son Guillaume. The VCC 2011 has a high percentage of Cabernet Franc. It is a delicious multi layered smooth style, which Alexandre compared to the magnificent 1983. No holding back here for shouting about the quality of the 2011 vintage.
Wednesday was an early start at 8.30am in the northern Medoc village of St Estephe at Chateau Calon Segur, followed by tastings at Montrose, Cos d'Estournel, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Grand Puy Lacoste and lunch at Chateau Pontet Canet. This was a truly magnificent morning. the highlights were Ch. Tronquoy Lalande (made by the Montrose team), Lafite was exceptional, Mouton was awkward....but I often find it is a tricky wine to taste en primeur. Haut Batailley (owned by Xavier Borie of GPL) was fantastic and Pontet Canet was pure, linear and exceptional.
An interesting comment from Xavier Borie at Grand Puy Lacoste that he thought the 2011 vintage was similar to the 2001 and had characteristics of 2008 (but bigger tannins).
The lunch at Pontet Canet was relaxed and calm with an enjoyable 2003 Chateau Pontet Canet.
The afternoon started at Leoville Lascases, which I found slightly disappointing, then I dipped in to several tastings where I covered some great wines such as Pichon Longueville, Pichon Comtesse, Lynch Bages, Talbot, Leoville Barton and a few others. The Pichon Longueville Baron was an incredible wine and I look forward to retasting it next month at the Chateau.

On Thursday I was racing about in the morning to make sure that I had tasted the key wines and also to schedule a tasting at Chateau Palmer for after my visit to Chateau Margaux. These are always interesting to try next to each other as they have very similar soils within the Margaux appellation, but their grape mix is very different. Margaux normally has a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, while Palmer has more than 50% Merlot. I have a strong affinity for Chateau Margaux and their very professional and welcoming team. They have produced incredible wines in 2009 and 2010, but this year (2011) I strongly believe that Chateau Palmer is a better wine. The problem at Chateau Palmer is that the yields are much smaller than normal (25hl/ha). They can produce up to 45 hl/ha, but due to the uneven growing season and the ongoing drought the fruit was smaller and less plentiful. But the quality is awesome.

Friday morning was an early start at 8am tasting Chateau Haut Brion and Chateau La Mission Haut Brion. A great set of wines. This year I prefered Haut Brion red to La Mission red. The dry whites were very good....especially La Mission.
10am was an eagerly awaited appointment at Chateau Climens with the elegant Berenice Lurton and the cellar master Frederic Nivelle. We always taste the different 'lots' from the barrels and get a feeling of the vintage rather than a final blend.

Then Berenice treated us to a vertical of Chateau Climens 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The 2005 was very apricot and tropical. The 2006 had a distinct fig and spice edge. The 2007 has precise spice and great balance. The 2008 was tropical again and the 2009 was pure class. A fantastic selection.
Then on to a small Chateau dating from the 14th century on the top of a hill ........Chateau d'Yquem.
This was the third time that I had tried Chateau d'Yquem 2011 during the week. But it was good to taste again....would anyone say no to Yquem? This was a complete acknowledgement that 2011 is a good year for reds, but it is an exceptional year for Sauternes wines. The Yquem was very good, whilst other Sauternes that I enjoyed at tastings were Coutet (very stylish), Guiraud, Doisy Daene, Suduiraut and the absolutely outstanding Chateau de Fargues. In fact I think Chateau de Fargues was my very favourite Sauternes wine tasted.
After a delicious lunch at the Auberge Des Vignes in Sauternes I had to go to a meeting in Bordeaux and then on to more tasting in Saint Emilion. That was the end of the tasting week, however I was busy over the easter weekend running two wine tours for Bella Wine Tours.













We now await the prices for the 2011 wines. We also will evaluate the demand from all international markets. An exciting time to sell a good Bordeaux vintage. Let's see if anyone has got any money left in this World??

Bordeaux Futures 2009

Last week was hectic. I tasted over 1000 wines throughout the Bordeaux region. I was there to assess the 2009 wines, which were picked last September and October. This is an annual event, which takes place in early April. The wines are real 'babies' as they are still in early development stages. The wines have fully fermented and are at the stage when they are being aged in barrels. Many wines will age for another 12 or 14 months, so they will change and develop again. But this tasting of Primeur (or as the Americans like to say 'Futures') is a good indication of the future quality of the vintage.

2009 Viticultural Year
The Spring was quite late in 2009, with cooler temperatures and threat of disease in the vines until early June. However the Summer from mid June was great. A long dry spell, interspersed with occasional, but necessary, rain during July, August and September. High day time temperatures were complemented by cool nights (which are just as important for flavor and tannin development).
There were problems with two hail storms that effected vineyards in parts of Saint Emilion (Chateau Trottevieille in particular), extensively in the Entre Deux Mers and also in the southern part of the Margaux appellation. Hail is a very precise and frustrating enemy of a vineyard owner.
Generally the growing season was near perfect. The day time heat and the cool nights were the key factors.
At harvest time the grapes were abundant and in extremely good health. The only issue as Bruno Borie (at Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou) said:
'The grapes were analytically ripe at the beginning of September. They were healthy and full. But the pips were not fully ripe. We were helped by a light shower of rain in mid September, which washed the grapes, but did not effect the alcohol level. This purely held us back from the vineyard for a few days. When we started picking, we could not believe the quality and freshness of the grapes.'
Some people may say that is when the hype began for this vintage!!
But paraphrasing a top chef....you can only make good wine from good grapes.

I picked some of these grapes at Chateau de la Riviere on 26th September 2009.

The Cabernet grapes generally remained quite small and concentrated with thick skins. Great pure juice, but small volumes. The Merlots were fully ripe and very concentrated. The only issues could be high alcohols resulting from very ripe juicy (high sugar) grapes. Also the mid September rain seemed to freshen the grapes and clean them, so most vignerons did not pick too late.

2009 The Wines

From the first day of tasting the quality was exceptional. There is one thing looking for deep spicey concentration, but another matter is working out the current balance of fruit and tannin versus the acidity. Tasting very young wines one is really not looking for immediate enjoyment. One is looking for potential charm in 5, 10, 15 or 30 years time. Will the fruit last? Are the fruits too stewed? Is the acidity balanced with the fruit intensity?
There were undoubtedly a few 'over the top' styles with high alcohol levels (sometimes up to 15 degrees). And there were a few stewed fruits styles. But these were very few and far between. I see no value in trying sweeping statements such as 'this is a right bank or left bank vintage', as the quality of the grapes was good throughout Bordeaux.
I will write more detailed tasting notes at a later stage. However here are a selection of 15 of my top wines:

Margaux.......sublime balance and concentration. Ripe and voluptuous, but only 13.1 degrees alc.
Lafite.........darker, more brooding but fantastic.
Vieux Chateau Certan.......elegant and layers of fruit.
Grand Puy Lacoste.......a forward purple fruit style, delicious.
Montrose.........a bit of a monster, but fun.
Ducru Beaucaillou..........BIG wine, but also balanced. A wine for the long haul.
Pontet Canet.........smaller yield due to biodynamics and also small grapes, but great charm.
Lynch Bages........deep excellent Cabernet.
Pavie Maquin......elegant.
Smith Haut Lafite........well balanced and delicate mineral structure.
Talbot.........loved the balance and layers of fruit.
Figeac......a surprise as this Chateaux does not always show well early, but classy wine.
La Gaffeliere.....light, elegant terroir style rather than overblown. Very classy.
Lascombes....this Chateaux is back on track. Great balance and deep spicey crimson dark cherry.
du Tertre.....Prefered this to its stable mate Giscours. Perhaps the 15% Cab Franc adds charm?

I also tasted a broad selection of over 50 Graves dry whites and sweeter Sauternes and Barsac wines. I visited Chateau Climens, Suduiraut and Chateau d'Yquem. The botrytis cinerea seemed to work very well in 2009 in order to get the deep sweeter flavours. The harvest was condensed into a frenetic 8 day period of picking in mid October. Again there is a fresh quality aspect to the wines. I adored the Chateau Yquem. I could easily enjoy the intense orange peel, toasty brioche characters early as well as leaving it to age for another 50-100 years!

These are initial notes/thoughts. I would be happy to provide more detailed notes. I will also write soon about the current market and the potential release prices.
I will be trading many of these wines (and more) as soon as the prices are released from the Chateaux. Drop me an email if you would like further information.

























Here

En Primeur Bordeaux

What is 'en primeur? How does it work? Why?

What?
The 'en primeur' or 'futures' are a method of buying wines, when they are not yet in bottle.

How?
The wines are judged and assessed by tasting from barrels in the Spring following the vintage. The trade buyers and journalists taste, assess and critique the wines and then they either promote the wines to their customers or they write glowing reports.

Why?
The Primeurs started in the early 1980's. It serves two purposes.
1. For the Chateau owner it is a great opportunity to improve cash flow. Money will be received within the year after the harvest, as they still have to pay for barrels, storage and bottling over the next 18 months.
2.For the purchaser it is a great way to make sure that we get hold of the best wines direct from the Chateaux in the best condition. Many of the top wines are only made in very small quantities, therefore the Primeur offering may be the best way to secure stock. Eg Chateau Ausone in Saint Emilion produces about 2000 cases every year and Le Pin in Pomerol produce about 500 cases.
Many of the top wines of Bordeaux do not enter the secondary trading market due to small quanties produced, therefore if stock does appear it is usually at a premium...ie Chateau Petrus or Le Pin.
The majestic Chateau Haut Brion...I'll be tasting there next week.

The 2009 Bordeaux vintage will be tasted next week at the Union de Grands Crus tastings throughout the Bordeaux region. I will be there tasting at various Chateaux and seeing whether the undoubted hype for this vintage is real. Comparisons have already been made to the legendary 1947 vintage, but I treat this with caution as I am not sure how many of us have tasted extensively from 1947!! From everything I hear it is looking very good. The down side will be the quantities available....as there will be severe allocations of the top wines. And also inevitably the prices. It will be difficult for the UK and US market with the unfavorable exchange rate. But it will be an opportunity for French buyers and also the Far East.
If you are interested in buying en primeurs or hearing more about wines available please email me directly: hamish@bellawines.co.uk

Fine Wine Investment

It has always been said that you should buy two cases of the best wines in the best vintages. This always gives you the option to sell one case and drink the other.
I have followed the fine wine market for a number of years and always been relatively confident that it is a diverse, interesting and potentially profitable investment choice.
This article in the Financial Times estimated that there is over £1.2 billion worth of wine in UK warehouses. I would think that this estimate is conservative.
Now I am in the fortunate position to be able to get the best prices (ie the first release prices) for most of the best Bordeaux wines, when the Primeur prices are released. This is similar to a new release of a share price or a company flotation on the stock market.
Sometimes it is good to get in early and secure the best price.
The other thing to bear in mind is that wine is finite. There is only a certain amount produced at each Chateau in each vintage. You can not duplicate or replicate the best wine in the World.
We will shortly be having tastings to assess the quality of the 2009 Bordeaux vintage and then the prices will be released from the Chateaux in May and June.
If you are interested in buying wines 'En Primeur' then please contact me directly. hamish@bellawines.co.uk