3 more cheap and good 09-10s

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Been hitting up Tamura's between golden oldies for some more of these can't-miss recent vintages.This includes one "typical" early-drinking, delicious 09 and possible outliers from the respective 09-10 vintages. Youth before beauty.

2010 Ch. Haut Vigneau Pessac-Leognan. This is a very dark and very appealing wine with tons of smokey, earthy, rich, curranty and even carmelized/maple sugar bouquet flavors. Plenty of substance and depth here, plenty of dense body. And yet, and yet. This reminded me very much of the 2004 Haut Vigneau in its early days (though that wine did not impress a couple of years later - struck me then as perhaps a tad unripe). The fruit here is pretty forward but still dark and not candied or high-toned. It does seem in some sense to have taken a page out of the modern St. Emilion playbook somehow. Very polished, rounded and elastic. You can compress this on the palate and it seems to gently but persistently rebound. Maybe it lacks some "cut" or maybe this is smothered in density. This wine will appeal to a lot of people and yet I found it vaguely unsatisfactory in the second glass. Jim might say it was a bit soulless. There is enough - more than enough - material here to cellar for a while. Then maybe it would speak more.

2009 Ch. d'Archambeau, Graves. So this one is from far to the end of the less-fashionable zone of the former unitary Graves. But I like this considerably more than the Haut Vigneau. This is pretty dry, tannic and cutting for a 2009. Perhaps this makes it seem a tad less concentrated or substantial than the Haut Vigneau. To me it looks a bit lighter and redder and it seems to have more red fruits going on too. Nice clean and soft bouquet and I really like the nearly weightless mouthfeel and the cleansing tannic flourish. Maybe this is less polished or more rustic; to me it comes across as more traditional or at least what I can recall young Bordeaux tasting a bit more like. It has the added benefit of seeming richer and spicier with food. I think I recognize the MO here and I would say this would shut down and come back filled in and quite interesting around age 10. Had it twice and if I was looking add to the base of my wine pyramid with inexpensive yet (to me) older-school claret I would stock up on this. This is the way I like them young.

20090 Ch. de Seguin, Bordeaux Superieur. I think this is from the Entre-deux-Mers region. This is really delicious, mostly merlot and quite a mouthful of sweet-flavored yet still dry-feeling fruit that is very crowd-pleasing for current consumption. Much easier-going than the Archambeau. Expansive bouquet with enough moving parts to make things semi-intellectual and not just woozy. This would make a nice gateway wine for people who haven't had much Bordeaux. Pleasing and easy without being sweet or cloying.

[Chasse-Spleen]

Great notes, Hound. You're buying these wines at a shop in Hawaii? It's interesting to think of all these cases of good quality Bordeaux being shipped over the high seas. Makes me wish I were a pirate. I'm drinking a 2010 Marjosse right now. It's very good. I wonder how it would compare to your wines. It's a pretty big wine, not ungainly but a far cry from the medium bodied 2000, which aged nicely in the short term.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Finished the bottom half of the Haut Vigneau out of the freezer last night. Had a cherry-filled dark chocolate cake vibe going - both as to flavor and texture (if the cake's done right). I think I was able to discern some nice tannins - sort of the bottom crust (a fine, crumbly, buttery one perhaps) to continue the desert/confectionary analogies. By no means a bad wine, quite to the contrary. The whole package quite approachable. I thought the '10s were supposed to be a little-less user friendly young than the '09s, but this one is quite plush.

I get this chateau confused with Pique Caillou. Would have to see if I have any notes to sort out which was the 04. May have been both.

I think almost all of the 09s and 10s I've posted I've got here at a store just up the street in Kailua. It's just one small four-shelf cove of Bordeaux and I never see anyone but myself hovering near it but they do sell through. Must be the Menehune.

[hm$]

Just opened the '09 Lanessan. Then bought a case for $14.50/bottle in Connecticut. The splits were $18.99 at the same store. Not a profound wine, but solid and fabulous for the price.

hm$

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Funny, I bought and consumed another of the Haut-Vigneau not realizing I had (well vaguely thinking I might have) tried it several months ago. The interesting thing is my impressions were 100% consistent with the above. A glossy, somewhat modern-styled, dense wine giving off a blackberry-chocolate cherry cake thing. A lot of smokey/toasty element. The tannins are there in substantial effect but they are buried under that slug of fruit. Very polished, very composed. This would have a lot of appeal to the Cali/Chile/Argie malbec crowd.