Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Comte Flaneur

I was tempted to start tasting Bojo wines some years ago by someone from BWE, I can't remember the name, unfortunately. I think I started with Thivin, then Jean Foillard, Alain Coudert (Clos de La Roilette), and then Jean-Marc Burgaud. Mee Godard and Lapierre followed after. Cote de Brouilly, Fleur...

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Apologies Alex for not chiming in on this thread much earlier, but I found I had little to add to your excellent write up of a most enjoyable and enlightening trip to this region. The fact that it rained every day did not sully the experience. I had previousy only driven past Macon and Beaujolais on...

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I bought three bottles of the 2019 Gloria after Neal Martin rated it 96 pts, by far the highest he has rated a Gloria if I am not mistaken.

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Thanks Kevin. Here are my notes Aperitif - dry white Bordeaux 2017 Clos des Lunes Lune d'Argent Muted on the nose, quite diffuse, ripe and fat. Really dull…85 pts 2015 Château La Louvière Blanc Excellent texture, rich, ripe and nuanced with clever use of oak; long finish, very classy …92 F1 – Pomero...

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Some brief impressions of individual estates Pomerol Gazin 2025, 13.5% abv, 87% Merlot - rich blue fruit, v impressive, 94-96 Conseillante 2025, 13.5% abv 87% Merlot - high class blue fruit, leaner than other recent vintages, 95-97 Conseillante 2018, bigger, rounder, not as impressive as the last ti...

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Hi Izak Sorry to hear about your mixed experiences in Pomerol The tasting I attended here in London was only for two hours between 2pm and 4pm and I didn’t have time to taste all the wines, but I got a pretty good idea of the vintage, and the contrast to the 2018s tasted alongside was pretty stark. ...

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I got invited to a tasting of the 2025 vintage today hosted by Berry Brothers here in London. Joséphine was there with her assistant but unfortunately when I arrived at her table she was on her cell phone. So unlike Alex I didn’t get much of a look in there. But I still was able to try her 2025, whi...

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It was such a pleasure to host Our Dear Leader for whom I did my best to roll out the red carpet as is fitting for BWE Royalty. We had an extensive and frank discussion on BWE - the richness of the institution, its people and its direction of travel - politics, religion, ethics and morality. We left...

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Jealous!

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I found your note interesting too Nic, given how young this wine is, and given that I have come round to the view that if you want to drink Chateauneuf you are better off drinking bottles with plenty of age and from cooler vintages. I guess the 2021 ticks the second box, but not the first one. Howev...

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For this I feared the worst but hoped for the best, a bit like so many of us poor souls who live on hope rather than expectation. In its primal youth this was a riveting wine with so much energy but buttressed by formidable tannins. The last outing with this wine set off ominous alarm bells. The fru...

Comte Flaneur

We opened one of these after returning from France on Thursday. We matched it up again a 1989 Mouton after a bottle of 2009 DP IMG_7339.jpeg The Chateau Pichon Lalande 1989 was a recent auction purchase in the US and looked in pristine condition. The nose was a huge turn on, with some of the tradema...

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Sounds lovely!

Of that golden era for Pichon Lalande - 1978 to 1989 - the 1979 and 1981 vintages are my favourites after the 1982.

It is amazing how well they have held up considering how well they drank at a young age.

Comte Flaneur

So Jim this bottle presumably did not quite live up to the stellar quality of the previous one you tried?

We have a LLC vertical planned for September and hopefully the 1981 will be in the line up.

Comte Flaneur

Interesting note Jon Sorry about your disappointing experience with the cork. I have been there too. As a rule I don’t risk using a conventional corkscrew for any wine over 25 years old and certainly not for any bottle from the 20th century. We took four 1998s to our recent right bank dinner all of ...

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Six of us got together last night to drink some 1998 right bank Bordeaux, at La Trompette in West London, including my mystery guest from across the pond. We had three flights of three, which included three St-Emilions, five Pomerols and one outsider, a Pessac Leognan. But first a splendid bottle of...

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At an auction here in London this week: 6 x Cavalotto Barolo Bricco Boschis 2018 for £130 ex taxes and premium 6 x Canalicchio di Sopra Brunello di Montalcino 2018 for £130 ex taxes and premium 11 x Langhe Bianco Nas-Cetta 2023 Sartirano Figli (2 Bts) Langhe Bianco Nas-Cetta 2022 Sartirano Figli (9 ...

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Last night I had dinner with a friend who brought along a generic 2023 Pauillac. It was delicious and drinking well already as well as being exquisitely balanced. I have reason to believe it may have been sourced from (young vines from) Lafite, not least because it reminded me so much of Lafite albe...

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Thanks for the detailed and fascinating write up Kevin. Four years ago Graham Harvey, who is sadly no longer with us, organised a Dufort Vivens dinner in London. It was a mixed showing and here is the link (my 2006 I think was an off bottle): https://www.bordeauxwineenthusiasts.com/viewtopic.php?f=4...

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Jim - That is interesting and demonstrates the benefits and limitations/drawbacks of this AI tool. Perhaps what it fails to capture is that our views - in this case of Lynch Bages - are dynamic and evolving, and are not static. My view has certainly evolved quite significantly in the last decade or ...

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I first tasted this wine in 1995 at Sweet Basil, a fancy upmarket restaurant in Vail Colorado, when we paid $60 for it off the list. It showed brilliantly that night even though it was barely six years old. The mind boggles as to how much that might cost off the list at that same restaurant today, i...

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That is really positive and encouraging what are your thoughts about leveraging our wares Jim?
And are the posts from the previous site retrievable?

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I think most of us who have been around and buying wine for 30-40 years regret not buying more of these kind of wines which were so cheap in the context of much higher interest rates. I also suspect that a lot of us, with the benefit of hindsight, regret buying so much wine in recent years based on ...

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Many happy returns Lucie!
I had pegged her age at least ten years younger…

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A huge blow for the MAGA movement. Surely JDV’s intervention must have hurt rather than helped Orban. The EU establishment will be celebrating.

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Nic I was intrigued by this out-of-the-blue intervention by the normally passive First Lady. My guess is that something really big is about to drop and she is trying to do damage control and front run it. The rumour that I heard is that she first slept with DJT on Jeffrey Epstein’s jet. Which is not...

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Looking forward to reading your impressions of the vintage Izak

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Thanks for the evocative note David. A wine I regret never owning, and the end of a golden era for Pichon Lalande which started in 1978. It is noteworthy that you judge this wine to have a prolonged plateau from here, which is encouraging. I had the 1983 about six weeks ago, and based on that bottle...

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I assume he is not alive - more likely murdered than committing suicide - and would discount alleged reported sightings, just as we used to discount alleged reported sightings of Elvis after his death in 1977

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Here’s an article on the discussions inside the administration leading up to the decision to start the war: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/politics/trump-iran-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.Y2_R.jPpHVhjf5Kvy&smid=url-share Ian, I’m curious about your comment that seems to imply tha...

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David thank s for sending those articles the only one I could open though was the April 4 panel discussion Jim I am puzzled and surprised by your reading of Trump. This is a war he got dragged into against his wishes by a leader of a foreign country who up until now has been lobbying successive Amer...

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Trump has already lost this war But it is much more catastrophic than that America can’t just walk away and think that we can return to the status quo ex ante America will no longer be able to project power - and violence and suffering - in the Middle East (which I think is a good thing) All America...

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I bought some of 14 Ducru after your note Jim some years ago. I have tried it twice and think it is a great wine and a great Ducru, at or close to first growth level. But it did come across as being very young. I think it may now just be closing down for a while. I have a six pack in storage and won...

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My rankings
1.Ducru - 95 pts
2. Palmer - 94+
3. Barton - 93
4. Baron - 93
5. Rauzan - 93
6. GPL - 92/93
7. Pontet - 92
8. Cantemerle - 92
9. Beychevelle - 91

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Nice. That was the vintage of course that Parker called the best cabernet vintage in 50 years. Too bad about the LLC, that was the wine he described as "Wow! Wow! Wow!" If I'm not mistaken it's the wine I drank with Comte in NYC the first time I met him (or was it the PLL?). I remember we...

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"Was there a general view of which bank was better??" No really Mark, both banks are very strong, though arguably the two top wines of the vintage are Mouton and Lafite, and Latour, only recently released, got peppered with perfect scores by the critics. And with three very strong super se...

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I’ll start with the caveat that this is a potential hornet’s nest It is not difficult to understand why some critics would be terrified of blind tastings and go out of their way to avoid them, because it could shred their reputation. I had a very early experience with this when in 1990 as a 26 yo wh...

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stefan - I think this is a 2016 left bank thing more than a d’Armailhac specific issue. Other 2016 left banks revealing harsh tannins included Carruades and Clos du Marquis at the tasting on Tuesday and La Croix de Beaucaillou and Ducru Beaucaillou at a Ducru vertical in Nov 2024. The new technical ...

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David - I think the right banks are generally more approachable than the left banks, some of which still have somewhat aggressive tannins and clearly need considerably more time to resolve

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Wow! I have three bottles of this wine.
I tried the 2016 last night which was very good, but more like a 95 pointer

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