TN 2005 Ch. La Fleur de Bouard (DNME)

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Well after a great while I have found a bottle of Bdx that was not flawed per se that did not meet expectations. Have had a few of these and liked them. They are very serious, dense and long-haul wines. Inky. And slow to move. Always with some oak showing, but this one, unfortunately, exhibited a prominent seam of rank dill right down the middle of the palate, from stem to stern and from first to last pour over two days. Oak can exhibit itself in a number of ways, good and bad and this souring fashion is, to me, the worst. I hope this is not a trend. The wine otherwise was pretty much as before, strapping, sturdy and promising of an interesting--and still distant--maturity.

I did not see any references to dill in CT notes. I assume all the lots and barrels are well-blended before bottling but I wonder if perhaps a certain barrel had this particular affect on the wine.

[DavidG]

It may be a personal tolerance thing (the lack of dill comments on CT). I was served a young mid-1990s Caymus Special Select blind once, and all I could think of was dill pickles. Everyone else loved it. No doubt La Fleur de Bouard sees some serious oak.

[JimHow]

The 2009 is a stunner.

[AlexR]

Like the other de Boüard wines, this is controversial.

I find it overdone (too "modern") but don't claim to have an in-depth acquaintance with the estate.

Alex R.

[AlohaArtakaHoundsong]

Hubert de Bouard has stated he sees lFdB as, or has aspirations that it become (no doubt a lock in his mind), the right bank's Sociando Mallet.