Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

rjsussex

Prices are already lunatic in UK and the campaign has hardly started: Haut Marbuzet £330 in bond! Certain words of John McEnroe come to mind.

Richard

rjsussex

Any BWE notes?

Thanks

Richard

rjsussex

Farr Vintners in UK have just posted their notes, scores etc - in the preamble they say 09 is like 05 crossed with 03. I think that's meant to be high praise. To me it means - no thanks.

Richard

rjsussex

Comte (not rising to the bait!) - which other board has Zalto Denk-Art discussion?

(This evening, good but not great Barbera is magicked in the Burgundy glass.)

Thanks

Richard

rjsussex

I don't have a dishwasher! But I must say if I did I wouldn't risk any £27 glass in it! (The website goes on about them being very sturdy despite the apparent delicacy and fine-ness. They do feel strong though so light.) These too are lead-free.

Richard

rjsussex

David - do that! Am manically opening old favourites day by day and revelling at new facets, nuances and depths - this evening St Pierre 01 is just extraordinary - limpid, deep St Julien fruit and class, quite unlike earlier examples

R

rjsussex

Life (mine anyway) doesn't usually leap ahead in quality like this (more often the opposite) but for a week or so I've been revelling in excitement and pleasure over two wine glasses, one for Bordeaux, one for Burgundy, that simply, impossibly, make every wine tried taste and more particularly smell...

rjsussex

One UK merchant has just told me he's expecting the firsts to be between £6000-£8000 in bond because of Asian blank cheques, and something like Poyferre to be about £590 in bond, the latter being the 05 opening price with the much weaker UK pound factored in. Thanks, no thanks. He also says, as othe...

rjsussex

Thanks Alex

Looks like I'll be pitching well-down, if I buy at all, at predicted prices: Potensac etc.

One UK merchant I trust has emailed to say many Margaux classed-growths and most of the upper bourgeois brigade are guilty of heavy extractions.

Richard

rjsussex

I agree with Werner (and apologies if my earlier post sounded a bit high-handed! I was just rising to Jim's bait about left bank 01s not being for him!). 01s on the left-bank are a different animal to 00s, 05s, and doubtless 09s; their finesse and balance mean that at least some of the big names are...

rjsussex

Now come along there, BWE friends: 01 is an excellent left-bank vintage and one in the style that you like - finesse and subtlety over brute force. Montrose, Barton, Pontet Canet, Branaire, Chevalier etc - I have cases of each developing very nicely thank you: the Montrose is the best, the Pontet ju...

rjsussex

I like the 06 Clerc Milon, though I know Jim was not keen. Very classy nose, plush palate with evident Merlot component. But not a very long-keeper.

Richard

rjsussex

thanks so much Alex - my first response is what's this 'Le Petit Lion' that Las Cases have suddenly invented - bit late in world-history for a Las Cases second-wine isn't it (if they insist on the fantasy that Clos du Marquis isn't just that)?! But weirdly enough I recall a few posh branches of UK s...

rjsussex

Chris - like everyone else in the UK I'm at the mercy of trade briefings but I did notice Michael Schuster deploring the over the top Cos d'Est when he tasted it (hey - I've just read our own great Alex on this board saying the same - thanks Alex!) which suggests that big, modern, alcoholic wines ar...

rjsussex

Montrose 01 is a beauty and that price is very keen.

Richard

rjsussex

The UK trade were incredulous at RP's 08 barrel scores and the general feeling is that 06s are better. Having said that I've been tempted by Ormes de Pez 08, a wine I usually ignore as rather commercial but apparently very good in 08.

Richard

rjsussex

oh the days when i could afford Lascases every vintage...

Richard (£30 max) J

rjsussex

I must be a rather mean limey as £30 is my max. Best value for me is between c£10 and c£20.

Richard

rjsussex

07 Guillemot Savigny 1er Serpentieres is lovely - one of the purest, most transparent, haunting Pinot noses I've come across at the (very reasonable) price (about £17) - and it wil keep

Richard

rjsussex

My memory is that the owners also make a small quantity of a Pomerol called L'Ancien? The 98 was £20 and rather oaky but certainly good.

Richard

rjsussex

Great - really glad Ian and Chris found and liked the Gloria - yes, I think 06 is the deal for left-bank BWE drinkers if you can find good prices.

R

rjsussex

Thanks Jim - it's very nice to think that you and other BWE friends think of their board-friends when they write - this is the first board I've joined and the only one I intend to join

r

rjsussex

Jim - you're winding me up again about 06s! I got good prices on Dom de Chev, Gruaud, Lagrange, Durfort, Gloria etc and they are Better Than 02 and (with possible exception of Lagrange) Better Than 04 (and of course way better than the doomed 03s!) It's a BWE style vintage that, if the price is righ...

rjsussex

Thanks Chris and Ian

re Moulin de la Rose: it's a Clive Coates favourite owned by a cousin of the Delons of LasCases - what I heard that for the 06 they had a new consultant (Eric Boissonet?) and so the 06 was said to better than 05 - but I haven't had the 05!

R

rjsussex

Chris - here's my note - I actually had Gloria alongside Lagrange and Gruaud: the Moulin de la Rose was I think a week or so earlier but very clear in my mind (definitely worth a search of the market) 'Gloria: lovely lustrous colour; very pure (and therefore rather surprising!) aromatics, a compote ...

rjsussex

Chris - the Gloria 06 is a beauty and already approachable - luckily got 3 cs at v keen price - price in UK for some reason has rocketed (any one know why?) I posted on it at same time as the even more classy Moulin de la Rose 06 - deeper and more classic as against the Gloria's sweeter and more rou...

rjsussex

Thanks Chris - will look for this (the 05 is pretty amazing as you probably know)

glad you too are a fan of this vintage

Richard

rjsussex

The last of my 06s to arrive and I'm even more bullish about the vintage having drunk first bottles of these. Am drinking the second bottle of the Durfort as I type and toasting Comte Flaneur for pointing me to the last case in UK at en primeur price (£17.50 all in). One merchant in UK says that 06s...

rjsussex

I'm with Ian on Malescot - loved it decades ago but not any more.

R

rjsussex

... and in reply again: at a price point above Durfort Vivens I'd go for Dom de Chevalier - 01, 04, 05 (not tasted) and 06 - just tasted (wonderful): always good and now improving further without losing its refinement and subtlety: and prices still around £24 for the 06.

Richard

rjsussex

Great price Ian - have just snuffled up their last case - thanks for the tip!

R

rjsussex

Thanks David - yes I recall RP once wrote about Gonzague Lurton being an arrogant young man - words to that effect!

R

Hope you enjoy the 05

rjsussex

Liversan. The 05 was stewed but the 06 is thin and watery, no more than just drinkable, no better than generic Bordeaux AC from a half-decent giant like Calvet. I gather that Domaine Lapalu is doing good things with his Medoc estates like Patache D'Aux so why he can't make better wine in the Haut Me...

rjsussex

To answer my own question, if I gave up wine I'd be so irritable that I couldn't be benevolent about anything so here's to the teetotal BD

R

rjsussex

Can anyone benevolently dictate over a wine-board while no longer drinking wine?

rjsussex

Not sure, David, but Gonzague Lurton apparently won't let him come to the property and, yes, I assume he doesn't provide him with samples. I don't read Advocate so I'm guessing when I say that Durfort doesn't feature in RP's en primeur tastings? Do try it! A number of good UK merchants (eg Berry Bro...

rjsussex

Among classed growths: Durfort Vivens. Also my nomination for best value classed-growth. 02, 04, 05 and 06 (drunk last night: note to follow) simply text-book top quality classed-growth Margaux (in the Ch Margaux rather than Palmer style: seriously!) at an impossible to believe price (because of you...

rjsussex

I'm very bullish about the 06s. Cantemerle I posted about many months ago - drunk blind against the 05 there was little to choose. Was lucky to buy the 06 at en primeur at only about £13 a pop. (2 cases.) Since then I've bought and highly rated cases of Gruaud, Lagrange, Gloria and the giant-killing...

rjsussex

I sold my couple of bottles years ago, more fool me - but then I did find the one bottle I drank rather too exotic and flamboyant and not Medoc-like compared to old-school Cos

Richard

rjsussex

Thanks Jon - Have also been enjoying Piccolomini Rosso 06 which is a touch hotter than the Lisinis(14.5% rather than 14%) and more floral-burgundian than Lisini's vivid fruit and drier profile. Turning from the Lisini Rossos to the good but much cheaper straight Cafaggio CC 06 was a shock - the latt...

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