Bordeaux 2003

[ctgm]

Just back from Bordeaux tasting the 2003 primeurs. Whilst I am not a verbosely poetic jurnalist I would be more than happy to give my thoughts on any wines that you might be interested in.

[mnebergall]

Calon?

[ctgm]

Ahhhh! Caught out on the first one As it is not a member of the Union des Grands Crus and as time was pressing we did not have time to visit Calon Segur. (unless you are referring to Ch. Calon in Montagne St Emilion)

However I had some friends out at the same time who were very complementary of the St. Estephe wines (and in particular Montrose).

Sorry!

Edited April 2, 2004 by ctgm (log)

[GordonCooks]

Ornelliaia? kiddin

Howse abouts Brane-Cantenac, Durfort-Vivens, Prieure-Lchine ? Any notable seconds or cru bourgeois?

Thanks

[Mark Sommelier]

ctgm,

Can you give an overall impression? I'm curious. I tasted 2003 Burgundies and was wowed.

[ctgm]

Overall picture:

St. Emilion/Pomerol - over ripe jammy wines which lack structure balance and some are plain filthy. For one of them my tasting note was "tastes like a cheap LBV port". The fact that Le Pin and Petrus have not made wines (or so I have been told) says a lot.

The dry white wines are OK but they are boring. The real problem is the acidity of them. You get some on the front pallet but this and the fruit dies off too quickly at the finish. I suppose that it is one of the problems of adding acid.

The sweet wines were BIG. I suppose that it comes down to the particular style you like. Going on the cost of things one of my favourites was Nairac (with 220g/l of sugar).

The Medoc is the place to stick to. Unfortunately there are not a huge number of St. Estephes in the UGC as this is where there are supposed to be the best wines. Personally I thought that the best producers came from St. Julien and Margaux but there is quite a lot of variation.

I am still confused about the size of the crop. The word is that it is smaller than usual and therefore this is supposed to justify a price rise, but I spoke to some red producers in Pauillac and they said that they were getting 55hl/ha! I know that some were affected but trying to get a straight answer.......

As for Gordon's enquiries:

Brane Cantenac - quite well structured. sweet red fruit on the nose, with good acidity and firm tannins. medium length with hints of spice. Overall i though that it was OK but could have been better.

Dufort Vivens - lighter in colour than the other wines. sweet, overextracted nose, with green tannins showing. Slightly better on the palate but still the hints of green. A dull wine that was on my list to avoid.

Prieure Lichine - oak, oak, oak but quite nice otherwise. Almost like orange peel in the mouth with firm (but possibly a little dry??) tannins and a good length. Quite attractive.

Unfortunately no real time to look at the 2nds and Cru Bs that weren't there. Of the 3 that really stood out I thought that the Sociando Mallet, Maucaillou and Poujeaux were very good. Behind these I also thought that Greysac and Tour de By were good.

The most disappointing wines for me (ignoring the right bank) were

Batailley - always easy to sell but green and unbalanced.

Langoa Barton - Over extracted. Plummy.

Lynch Bages - Boring; no balance or finesse

Pichon Comtesse - Over the top

Mouton R - see Lynch Bages.

I suppose that it boils down to taste. The US may well like the riper, plummy, jammy flavours but they were not to my liking. There were some nice surprises - for example Beychevelle made a really good wine as did Talbot. But I always wonder how much relevance the sample you taste has to the final blend.

Am having another tasting at the end of the month where I hope there will be some more Cru Bs - will report back.

Edited April 5, 2004 by ctgm (log)

[GordonCooks]

Excellent - Thanks!

[ctgm]

I see that the Wine Spectator has brought out its review. Whilst I admit that I have not tasted as many wines as they did, I am surprised by the comments and scores on a lot of them.

As mentioned earlier this might be due to the difference in styles liked by the US and UK.

I would love to hear opinions from anyone else who has tasted the 2003 and also read WS.