Oh my Devil, the catastrophic St Émilion tasting

[Nicklasss]

The catastrophic Saint Émilion tasting

Last Thursday, group tasting where we opened a few Saint Émilion... drank over a period of 3-4 hours.

2000 Château la Serre: one of the better wine of the group. Nice nose of brown sugar, creamy blackberries, blueberries and dead leaves. In mouth, aged fruits, tree bark, tobacco, good tannins, good length on brown sugar. Unfortunately, fade quickly. Tn: 90-91.

2006 Château Larcis Ducasse : huge deception. Dark wine, but nose of earth, mushrooms but very closed, and never really opened. In mouth, dull, powerful concentrated dark red berries, austere, astringent. No fun. Tn: 80.

2005 Château Bélair : dark red color. Nose is nice, with blueberries, red cherries, strawberry fields, but very concentrated and a bit spirity, what i was not expecting from Bélair (was it still Delbeck the wine maker.). In mouth, very 2005, concentrated, with kind of heavy ripe red fruit flavors, some calcareous minerals, final is heavy with tannins but a green side too. Tn : 89. Far away from the nice 1998 or 2000...

2008 Château la Dominique : dark red with a very closed and muted nose, i could only smell smoke. Concentrated spicy blackcurrants and blackberries, severe and oaky. Almost undrinkable to me. Tn: 80.

2009 Clos Badon: that was good but a bit atypical, looking more like a generous ripe Médoc than Right bank. Dark color, concentrated nose on black prunes fruit, smoky oak, black cherries, spices, blackcurrants. Mouth is also dense, and serious for a 2009, black fruit flavors, cherries, light austere oak, sirupous, ripe tannins and good length. No real finesse. Tn : 90.

2010 Château de Fonbel : from the Vauthier family. Medium red color, with light animal aromas to start, but changed quickly to austere black fruit, rasberries, some sweet fruit later on, and rhubarb. Mouth is ok, with flavors of red berry jam, smoke, light oak, blackcurrants. Drink well with nice perfumed final that is medium long. Ripe tannins. A drinkable 2010. Tn: 91.

2014 Château de Fonbel : a younger and less concentrated wine than the 2010. Nose of bitter blackberries, light animal, licorice, old strawberries, and some peppermint. Mouth is light, on red berries and cherries, and rhubarb. Light. Tn : 85-86.

Well what to say? Of course no big names, but i was expecting something better. I guess some of these have been influenced by the " garagiste " style, or over extraction " à la Parker" ?

I have been a bit upset by that tasting, and have a bit lose faith on Saint Émilion wines from that era...

[JimHow]

2008 La Dominique.... a "catastrophic" 80 point rating...
"Almost undrinkable."

Mr. Maltais, we need to have a talk....

[dstgolf]

Wow Nic that sounds overall like a disappointing review of several right bankers from various vintages. I had always enjoyed La Dominique through the 80s and 90s but like a lot of right bankers I feel many have gone off the rails. At least you had a positives like the 2010 Fonbel and 2000 La Serre both of which I've never had. Still nice to read the notes but I empathize with a disappointing tasting.

[jckba]

Can’t say that I’ve had any of those and based off your notes; it definitely seems like a trying tasting.

[Nicklasss]

Maybe some bottles were off, or my nose/ taste being faulty…

Something revelative : among 7 tasters, each one needs to rank his favorite 3 + one wine with a special mention, and the 2008 La Dom had only 1 or the 28 votes… normaly, when all wines are good, the voting is spreaded all over… not this time as most of tasters voted only for Clos Badon (1st position), la Serre (2nd position), 2010 Fonbel (3rd position) and Bélair (4th position).

And most of these wines should have shown good things… hum, not really.

[Nicklasss]

By the way, i’m really sad and shocked to report that tasting, but hey, i report what i have tasted frankly.

It was my first Larcis Ducasse… encounter of the 4th type!

[jckba]

It was my first Larcis Ducasse… encounter of the 4th type!

I frequently come away thinking that Larcis Ducasse shows its terroir at the UGC but have had the 100 point Parker 2005 and then the 2009 more recently, and they both showed primary and not particularly well.

[DavidG]

Bummer, Nic, but thanks for the report. I haven’t had the 2005 Belair but it sounds like a number of other overdone 2005 St Ems, Bellevue Mondotte being the poster child of RP100s that jumped the shark.

JC, I actually enjoyed the 2005 Larcis Ducasse. Though it was very ripe, lush, and modern, it wasn’t pruney, raisiny, or overtly alcoholic and it was showing a bit of early complexity last year.

[Comte Flaneur]

Sorry about your bad experience Nic.

These wines from peak Parker were the nadir of St Emilion…

…which is why some canny observers have remarked that St-Emilion is the most improved commune over the last decade…

…as winemakers there eschew the souped up style of yore…

…as epitomised by Troplong Mondot in recent vintages…

…shame about the 2005 Belair, I have a whole case of that, and it has had mixed reviews elsewhere…

…and the 2000 and 2004 turned out really well in the end

[JimHow]

I was going to say, that was the golden era of over the top Parkerism. I have one bottle of 2014 Larcis Ducasse, I don’t remember ever having tried that wine.

[greatbxfreak]

Niclasss,

You tasted wines from lower ranks.

I have actually tasted Larcis Ducasse 2006 and partly agree with your TNs, but it was not as that bad as you describe. 2006 was a Cabernet year, and Merlot failed on the Right Bank.

It would be better to taste several wines in the same vintage.

[Ognik]

Chamber of horror