TN: Two left-bank UGC favourites from 2008

[chris kissack]

I've been busy trying to get all my notes from this year's UGC tasting, which featured the 2008 vintage, online. I'm sort of halfway, having 'done' Pessac-Léognan and the Médoc communes this week.

Looking back at these notes it does seem to be a vintage full of charming, attractive wines with crisp and crystalline fruit character. They don't have a wealth of substance, but there is good fruit if not a lot of texture. While they are not blockbusters they will drink well given time.....just a shame about the prices these days. It is a variable vintage as well though....although you can find some really nice wines, there are also some real flops. Of the Médoc communes St Julien remains the most consistent for me, although there was a real high-point in Pauillac too. Margaux was a real disappointment.

From the left bank, these are my two favourites:

Chateau Pichon-Baron (Pauillac) 2008: The 2008 Pichon-Baron has rather a reserved nose, tightly reined in, although there is a good density of fruit character here with a good pile of Pauillac spice too. It certainly suggests substance. There is a gravity to it, and a slightly savoury element here as well. A wonderfully flattering style on entry, hitting the palate with a flourish of fruit before it broadens out, showing a more intense and spicy structure again. There is a great pile of tannin here but it is just peeping out from behind the fruit, giving great spicy substance to the body of the wine. Very dark and reserved. Well balanced but with texture and tannic structure in equal measure. Long and rather grippy here too. But it all hangs together very well. This will take 10-15 years minimum to come round but should be excellent. One of the few great wines of the vintage. 18.5+/20

Chateau Léoville-Poyferré (St Julien) 2008: Really polished fruit on the nose here, smooth and creamy finish to it, with a sense of structure and gravity underpinning it. Almost sensuous on entry, revealing only glimpses of the tannic structure underneath, nicely hidden by a layer of well-judged fruit above. The fruit quality is fresh and kept buoyant by some lovely acidity. Elegance in abundance, manifesting as a silky composition on the palate, but with a high quality substance here. And certainly well-judged ripeness. Excellent wine with great potential, and one of the greats of the vintage, on the left bank at least. 18.5+/20

The UGC tasting only features UGC members of course, so these "greats of the vintage" were made in a context free of comparison with first growths, Cos, Montrose and Las-Cases (the 2008 Las-Cases was just lovely when tasted at the primeur tastings in Bordeaux in 2009).