Guidelines for tasting young BDX? Wally's UGC 20

[MatthewB]

My wife and I are headed to Wally's UGC event in Los Angeles later this month and we are considering purchasing some of the 2010 vintage for long-term cellaring. While we have 350+ bottles at home and off-site storage, we have not bought young Bordeaux in case format. Additionally she wants to pick out some of her own versus drinking what I always buy (Pessac).

What are your guidelines or standard processes when tasting young BDX? What should I be thinking about when working through my target chateaux?

[DavidG]

Evaluating young Bdx and predicting if they'll be good in 10-30 years is not easy, at least for me. I look for an appealing nose, presence of fruit, balance between the fruit and structural elements (acid, tannin, alcohol, and oak), and finish. Sometimes the fruit is young and exuberant. Then there have been times when the fruit seems to be hiding to me but the experts say it's there, so I'm not sure what exactly they are experiencing. Yet those wines seem to develop just fine. So now I look at tastings like this as an educational opportunity and, with a few exceptions for known favorites, rely on the pros for buying advice.

[DavidG]

Other thoughts as to logistics...

Spit, don't swallow
Drink plenty of water
Bread can help refresh the palate
A bit of rare beef will help kill the tannins even more effectively
Don't try to taste everything, make a list and scope out the room at the start
I'm not a big fan of whites, but if you taste them, do it before the reds

[pomilion]

Other thoughts as to logistics...

Spit, don't swallow
Drink plenty of water
Bread can help refresh the palate
A bit of rare beef will help kill the tannins even more effectively
Don't try to taste everything, make a list and scope out the room at the start
I'm not a big fan of whites, but if you taste them, do it before the reds

Great advice from DavidG. This will be my sixth Los Angeles UGC event. Lots of wine, big crowd, you really do need to have a plan. Check out reviews you trust, and trust your instincts. While I agree with David about giving deference to reviews, ultimately a wine has to impress me at the tasting to move me to purchase. I usually zero in on about 30 wines I want to focus on, and anything beyond that is gravy. Like David, I focus on reds, and the whites and sauternes are more of an afterthought. I get a lot out of the UGC events, they're invaluable educationally to learning about bordeaux in general and forming intelligent thoughts about a particular vintage. Have fun, maybe I'll see you there!

[stefan]

As usual, there are words of wisdom from David. I find it much more difficult to judge young Bordeaux than young Burgundy and have a lot of admiration for the pros and others who have a high batting average.

[OrlandoRobert]

How generous are the pours at these events?

I gave up on mass tastings 10+ years ago. I learned that my crude country palate could not make an informed decision on a minimal, typical tasting size pour, especially out of mediocre glasses and wine at less than optimum temperature. Are these UGC events staged better than that?

[Chateau Vin]

How generous are the pours at these events?

I gave up on mass tastings 10+ years ago. I learned that my crude country palate could not make an informed decision on a minimal, typical tasting size pour, especially out of mediocre glasses and wine at less than optimum temperature. Are these UGC events staged better than that?

Usually there are two events. One for the people in the industry like retailers, distributors, journalists, etc. and the other organized by a big retailer in the city. If one is buying from wally's or k&l, it is usually the latter. I don't know about the latter, but the former is staged well and organized better (at least in chicago). The glasses are better, pours are better and I thought that the tasting experience is on par with the tasting at the wineries...And you are not given only one glass. After few tastings, I leave the old glass and pick a new glass...

As per the tips, if you are going to attend the former type of events, you will be given a tasting book with each chateau on each page. You just have to taste, and can write the tasting notes on the space provided, and I find it fun and educational. If not, just take a small book and take the notes. I enjoy whites, so I start with whites. And then go for the red and just taste 3 or 4 of my favorite sauternes after that. For the reds, I start with the usual suspects (growth bordeaux) since sometimes, some of them are all gone within an hour (It happened to me with 09 Poyferre last year). I pretty much taste almost 70 - 80% of the wines that are poured, and I will be there whole day writing notes for every one of them. But I do take detailed notes for my favorites (like LB, Pichons, Poyferres, Bartons, DdC, etc.). For my experience, I will be weary after a while, so I don't get a detailed notes on every wine I taste after a while. I will just note how that wine compares to others that I have rated in detail before. Like wine X is has better fruit that wine A (which is a buy), wine Y is excellent, but lower than wine B...

Every one has their own way, but I do the following in my way of tasting. There may be a better way of tasting methodology and the forum gurus can fill you in...

1. I will look for how good the nose is to begin with. Is it just one or two notes or more complex with different aromas?
2. Then on the palate, I will go for mainly 4 entities (acid, tannins, fruit and body/alcohol)
3. Is there a good balance among the four, how long is the finish, followed by the texture and how well concentrated the wine is...

But at the end of the day, it is what you like the most for your palate. Enjoy the tasting... It will be amazing the taste different chateaux and different communes side by side to see the subtle differences...

[pomilion]

I've only gone to the public tastings and not the trade tastings. I suspect the latter are better organized than the former. I've been to a fair number of the public UGC tastings (this year's will be my sixth); some have been decently organized, others not so much. No question they are big, mass tasting events - nothing intimate, charming or relaxing about them. But they are incredibly useful in advancing one's knowledge of bordeaux, in getting a handle on a vintage, and figuring out what to buy. The price is quite fair as well, for the number of wines offered. The pours are adequate but not generous, and you can always go back for seconds. Make sure to taste the wines you are most interested in early - some of the more popular ones run out before the end of the event. I go to the UGC events with my wife, and we often combine our pours of the same wine and taste a second wine side-by-side.

[Tom In DC]

The last time I went, there was only the trade tasting, and the new vintage was...

...1988! A much smaller number of wineries back then, maybe 30 in all. Cos d'E was pouring '86 and '87 along with the newly minted '88. I spent a long time talking with the proprietor of Clinet (the late Jean-Michel Arcaute) - I was floored by the quality of the '88 compared to other vintages I had tried but I felt like the only person in the room to have noticed.

I'll be attending the DC episode on Thursday, January 24th. Anyone else going?

[dstgolf]

I'm always amazed at how disjointed a lot/most of these wines taste. The majority are so out of balance that I can't make hide nor hair out of what they will turn out like. Certainly there are a lot wines that seem to drink well and surprisingly show very well indeed. I can't tell which ugly ducklings will evolve into the beautiful swan which many of them will. The last time I was at a large event was for the 2006 release with an added 1st growth tasting. The 1sts were awful accross the board,closed,tannic and very disjointed. Tasted blind I'd never guess 1st growth and I'd certainly not buy any of them. Latour one of my favourites annually was virtually undrinkable!! and I'm certain that it will shine with age. Cos,LB and L Barton were beautiful and I'd drink them anywhere any time.

[JimHow]

I'm going to make a bold statement:
I love young Bordeaux.
I'm not trying to be facetious or provocative.
I love old Bordeaux as well, of course.
But I've had many a young bottle of Bordeaux that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
Sure, sometimes I run into one that is in an awkward stage.
But many times I'll uncork wines from recently released vintages and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

[OrlandoRobert]

I'm going to make a bold statement:
I love young Bordeaux.
I'm not trying to be facetious or provocative.
I love old Bordeaux as well, of course.
But I've had many a young bottle of Bordeaux that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
Sure, sometimes I run into one that is in an awkward stage.
But many times I'll uncork wines from recently released vintages and have thoroughly enjoyed them.

Nothing bold or provocative about that at all. I, too, love mature Bdx. I love the sublime tertiary aromas and tastes that come from a well-healed, well-stored, mature Bdx. But I like 'em young, too (not talking about you, Goulet). Sometimes I love chewing on a wall of sweet tannins and simple fruit. Some vintages turn out wines that are damn fun to drink early, even if you know that they may be even better in time. Last night I knocked back a Loire Cab Franc that had HUGE tannins, big grippy, grainy, chewy tannins and tart, crisp, crunchy fruit. I was in love.

The '05s were damn fun to drink for about 6 months after release.

[DavidG]

True words spoken from the heart, Jim. Have you ever tried barrel samples or been to one of the UGC tastings?

[Chasse-Spleen]

This would be my approach: Do some good homework, reading up on the wines and paying attention to what my favorite critics say (if I still had any, other than Michael Broadbent and Burghound). Then, I would go there and look for balance, as they all say that's a key for good aging. I would try to think about the wines in terms of styles that I like, and also try to hit a few spots, ie young drinker, mid-term, long haul. Then of course there is value. Finally, you want to have some fun, right? Maybe splash out on something, heh-heh, the old enablement factor. Try to taste the wines in a sensible order. If you only plan to buy reds, drink/taste the whites after. Everything that was said above is valid, as well. In any event, it sounds great!

Chasse

[JimHow]

Never have, David, but I need to at some point.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Fill your pockets with shelled walnuts. Have a half piece between wines. It will compensate for the tannin and let you concentrate on the fruit.

Disclaimer: I've only done this at home. Professional and near professional tasters would scoff at this, I assume. But I do recall reading here, or in something linked to here, about a couple of tasters or perhaps even vignerons swigging olive oil periodically to refresh their palates. Tried it once and did not like it.

Not facetious. The other thing is to bear in mind the "Dominant Nostril Theory." I never doubted its legitimacy, but only refused to look so foolish as to appear to be snorting the bouquet. But, in connection with a small sinus problem I'm having, I've learned that one actually breathes mostly through one nostril for about two hours at a time. It's because the turbinates in each nostril - they act to humidify and warm the incoming air before it heads into the, the trachea?/lungs or somewhere - need a breather (no pun intended) every couple of hours.So they cycle on and off, and as they do you breathe more through the "on" nostril than the "off." Now, I don't know if this is actually related to the dominant nostril theory, which says that one of your nostrils is more wired to your brain than the other - think left versus right handed, or of your dominant eye. But it could have major consequences for your perception of bouquet, if your dominant nostril is not the one that is "on" during the event. Just think about it. That's all I'm saying.

[stefan]

Take a toothbrush along and every once in a while brush with no toothpaste your teeth and tongue (or use an Indian tongue cleaner).

[MatthewB]

From an online interview with John Kolasa, Winemaker at Chateau Rauzan-Ségla:

Q: So I just tasted the 2009 vintage. What am I supposed to look for in tasting a young Bordeaux, to know how it’s going age or if it’s going be a great wine in 10, 20, or 30 years?

A: If people are looking at you and you seem in good health, and you look lively and fresh, well it’s bit like that looking at a wine to see what’s inside. At the end of the day, you’re looking for a certain balance of things. A wine’s got to have a certain brilliance and depth about it. And then the taste must be balanced from beginning to end, with no flaws in the middle palate. Look for a good first taste, with all the fruit and lusciousness, no hole in the middle, then that lingering taste which shouldn’t be vegetal, or hard, or dry or anything like that. It just lingers on the palate, which is good for food because it’s made to go with food. It has to have a certain amount of freshness. We like to think that we make wines with a certain freshness.

One of the mistakes I think vintners make in Bordeaux—and other places as well, even in white wine—is over-ripening their grapes. The grapes then tend to flaw and become flabby after five or six years, which is a great shame because the wines lose that freshness, density, and vivacity. I want the vivacity of wine: the backbone of the wine is acidity. Tannins and acidity.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Ah yes, the "hole" in the middle. It seems to fill in with age in my slender experience. I attributed the hole as a function of an onslaught of fruit in the fore and an onslaught of tannin in the back, making the middle seem like the saddle between two peaks. Actually I thought it was pretty typical of young Bdx.