Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

rjsussex

Talking of Tour de Mons - the just released 2010 looks like one of the few real bargains of the vintage. New consultants. 2010 has upped the proportion of Cabernet. Sounds really good. UK price c£144 in bond.

Richard

rjsussex

Have just seen this sentence from Mount Olympian Parker on 2010 - I don't think it's a joke.

'While one cannot control the weather in Bordeaux, I have generally had very good weather during the 32 years I have been visiting this region.'

Richard

rjsussex

Yes and middle-on-down Richard is more and more middling and more and more down...

R

rjsussex

Much hand-wringing in the UK wine press about the average supermarket bottle purchase price being about £4 (of which presumably the wine is about 5p and the rest taxes) - well, let's all cheer up as Fine and Rare, big-time brokers, have just won some export award and the citation includes this mind-...

rjsussex

wanted to add that the Banfi Rosso 08 picked up for an ok £13.50 by the case is - er, is drinkable (just)

Richard

rjsussex

You'll know my search for value Brunello and Rosso and perhaps that my favourite value has been the piercingly pure and now maturing Paradiso di Manfredi Rosso 06 (c£26) - Brunello fruit just aged for less. Well, the last 3 bottles of that have all been corky - this run of 3 corked of one wine has n...

rjsussex

Bought 2 cs of this at good early price and have to say i love it more than any other vintage of this property which is so dear to me - though i haven't yet tried my botts of the 05... But yes it needs time. Up there with the lovely Gruaud, at least - probably better.

Best
Richard

rjsussex

Thanks for the replies! Updates again: - Cerbaiona Rosso 07: very expensive but nabbed 6 in a sale. Very similar to the Salvioni in style, perhaps a touch more traditional. Very subtle fragrance, succulent and structured. - Salvioni Rosso 08: had to rush to get any at the opening price. This seems c...

rjsussex

Thanks. I revisited the GPL 04 recently and that's an understated beauty.

Richard

rjsussex

I've been underwhelmed with this and side by side with the 02 the latter seemed much better...

Richard

rjsussex

Thanks for replies. Looking at all my 04s, I can add: Barton and PC both need more time than those above, I think, though not sampled recently. Also need to retaste Poyferre, Langoa and Lagrange. The Langoa at its original price was/is a terrific bargain - though bargain of the vintage for me is the...

rjsussex

Very brief notes from checking up on a vintage i like very much and bought heavily in (the last value vintage...): -Issan: mature already, subtle and pretty perfume, gently opulent, lovely but for early drinking. -Durfort: v keen on this property but recent bottles of the 04 have seemed a bit overwo...

rjsussex

Did a 2000 left bank cheaper wines tasting a few months ago for friends and the Potensac came out top (over Moulin Riche, Baron de Brane etc) - but I agree about bottle variation. The 2005 Pot is really, seriously good.

Richard

rjsussex

- Langhe Nebbiolo 09 from Burlotto is a great bargain at c £14 in UK - I have to say this is better, more minerally subtle and long than the lovely Produttori Langhe 08. Looking now into Burlotto's top 06 Barolo - will post. This Langhe 09 is certainly the best expression of Nebbiolo at its price po...

rjsussex

Yes he's something of a national treasure (in exile!), our Uncle Clive as many call him in the UK. I met him many times when he hosted Les Amis du Vin tastings decades ago and he was quite a snazzy salesman on those occasions, though once coming out with the most offensively sexist remark I've ever ...

rjsussex

Good choice, Jim - very keen on it myself though I have a suspicion the 06 might turn out even better. The property seems to have upped its game since 04 which is a serious and concentrated wine for the vintage.

Richard

rjsussex

Well, I bang the drum for 04 and for these two properties often enough but this is the first time I've compared them. The Durfort was more developed than recent bottles, very Margaux flowers and incense; ripe, ready, succulent and long, a rich mouthful of clean fruit with quite a flamboyant swagger ...

rjsussex

Thanks - I too think the 06 GL is very classy juice, so subtle and so neatly balanced. Very typical of Parker to read it so badly. My second favourite 06 after Chevalier.

Richard

rjsussex

Ok I'm going for red Chevalier 06, the best 06 I've tried and the best Chevalier ever for me (I've yet to try the 05) - quite a big step up from the good but touch green-peppery 04, imho

Richard

rjsussex

If Jim says 06, well, yes - Cantemerle or (like Blanquito says) the excellent red Chevalier, another very BWE kind of property. (How did Jono bump me into nominating??!!)

Richard

rjsussex

Sociando Mallet 04 and Cantemerle 06 are achetypical BWE wines (and vintages) and were/are also my QPR best clarets of 2010. I think the Cantemerle 06 may turn out better than the 05. Anyway 04 and 06 deserve the BWE accolade (as 02).

Richard

rjsussex

Yes this property often underwhelmed me many years ago when I was fishing for bargains. Thanks for confirmation!

rjsussex

UPDATE - Sesti Rosso 08: a touch confected and commercial, I think. Small-barrel ageing gives toasty spice which I think is a touch overdone. But fair value. - Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello 04: this is exciting. Seems to be an insider's tip in Italy and 04 seems to have been their best ever. Lucky t...

rjsussex

Sorry but is this the BWE wine of the year thread? if so isn't it meant to be about voting for the BWE wine that best represents the values of this site (value, accessibility, independence of judgement) rather than 'this is the best wine I drank this year and no you can't afford it either'?

Richard

rjsussex

Yes I gave up on Malescot some years ago - used to love it in the 70s etc. For true Margaux and true classed-growth value I recommend - well, you all know what I'm going to say so goodbye!

Richard

rjsussex

Soc Mallet 04 and Cantemerle 06 are achetypical BWE wines (and vintages) and were/are also my QPR best clarets of 2010.

Richard

rjsussex

Back to the question: my QPR 05s, none of which show any sign of being unbalanced, are Durfort, De Pez, Cantemerle, Croix Beaucaillou (lovely wine: of Ducru), Moulin Riche (of Poyferre), Baron de Brane (of Brane) and Potensac. Fonroque and Gombeaude Guilllot (Pom) on right bank push the envelope but...

rjsussex

I'm an 03 left-bank no-sayer. I bought a lot because of Parker, tasted in dismay, drank up the pretty dismal Potensac, Meyney etc, sold on (at very high prices to be fair!) the Pontet and the Poyferre and kept only the Barton and the Sociando. I think the Sociando is good but not for long keeping. I...

rjsussex

I sold my 03 PC after noting that I preferred the 04 and, even more so, the 01.

Richard

rjsussex

The 04 is already delicious (and was much, much cheaper)

Richard

rjsussex

My palate has gone the other way (to SF Ed's): I'm in my fifties and I drink my classed growth claret younger than I did. In my late twenties I heard someone in the wine trade say that the French drink classed-growth claret too young, the English too old, and the Americans just right.
Best
Richard

rjsussex

Sorry I've only got the Lot 9.120 Barbaresco so I can't comment on the non-cru blend (before Lot 9.110).
Best
Richard

rjsussex

I owe it to this board (obliquely) to my falling upon this source of superb-value Nebbiolo - and fallen I am, smitten in fact - and what a pleasure that it's a cooperative, the best in Europe, best in the world, as often described. Anyway, their 07 and 08 Langhe Nebbiolo (in effect declassified Barb...

rjsussex

I too sampled my last remaining Potensac 00 recently - comparing with 00 Moulin Riche (2nd of LP) and 00 Baron de Brane (2nd of Brane) and to general surprise it came top - easily.

But bottles have varied.

Richard

rjsussex

Well, I'm rather boyishly proud that I nominated Poyferre 02 as BWE wine of the year not long after I joined - and that it won. Agree with the BD's note/update - my last bottle was just lovely and I'm glad to have 18 or so left. As a unrepentant fan of 04 you'll expect me to add that the LP 04 is a ...

rjsussex

I think Soc Mallet in the northenmost part of the Haut Medoc and Cantemerle in the southern-most part have claims to be the best QPRs in Bordeaux at present, the former regularly outperforming leading Pauillacs and the latter regularly outperforming leading Margauxs. And the price differential betwe...

rjsussex

Thanks Jono - I thought so too and will buy and will post a note. I love 04s generally and only Chasse Spleen has a been a minor disappointment.

Richard

rjsussex

Thanks Jono - I love the 05 and 06 and I've been offered the 04 at c£17 - fair price do you think?

Best
Richard

rjsussex

Any one tasted recently?

Thanks
Richard

rjsussex

BD winding us up again, of course! I'm not especially sensitive to TCA but I drink a bottle of good claret or red burgundy or Sangiovese/Nebbiolo every night and TCA ruins about one bottle per 30. Burgundy and Italy seem more susceptible than claret. Many of my suppliers reimburse without question, ...

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