Last night I had the pleasure of conducting a ‘Bordeaux’ tasting for 17 people in our private room. How do you begin to explain the wines of Bordeaux? It is a notoriously complex region (however, not as complex as Burgundy).I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the topic, luckily I had a few things working in my favour to help prepare for the tasting.
1. My parents own a house in the South West of France, and I was just there drinking bucket loads of Bordeaux, I visited St.Emilion, drove through the vineyards of Pomerol and had lunch at the famous La Tupina in the city centre of Bordeaux, where we enjoyed a bottle of Listrac-Medoc with a delicious steak grilled over an open fire! I find these experiences are extremely helpful in wrapping my head around a wine region ( I must visit Burgundy!).
2. I just wrote the evil Unit 3 exam for my WSET Diploma, and of course Bordeaux was one of the million topics that could randomly appear within it, so I had some recently memorised knowledge.
The wines we tasted were the following:
2007 Bordeaux Blanc Sec from Chateau des Antonins, Graves
2006 Graves Blanc from Chateau Langlet , Graves
2005 Château Haura, Graves
1999 Chateau La Croix du Casse, Pomerol, Right Bank
1999 Clos du Marquis, St-Julien, Left Bank
2000 Château Langoa-Barton, St-Julien, Left Bank
Of course this is only a tiny scratch on the surface of what the region has to offer, but what I found most exciting about this line up of wines, was the diversity of styles they offered, which can very simply be brought down to the different soil profiles of each appellation, determining which grape will dominate the blend, and which sites will be home to the best wines. I did my best to keep it simple last night, and lucky for me found that the wines did most of the talking. There were two wines that stood out, and when tasted together expressed the impressive flavour spectrum offered by red Bordeaux.
1999 Chateau La Croix du Casse, Pomerol, Right Bank - ‘Right Bank’ – Merlot Dominated – Clay Soils
This wine was drinking beautifully, a very delicate wine with fine ripe tannins. A perfect expression of the elegance of Pomerol with ten years of ageing bringing in lots of complex and interesting aromas and flavours such as anise and boiled vegetables ( I know it sounds gross, but was amazing!)
1999 Clos du Marquis, St-Julien, ‘Left Bank’ – Cab Sauv. Dominated – Gravel Soils
St.Julien and neighbouring commune Pauillac have more fine wine within their tiny boundaries than any other place on earth! This is the second wine of Deuxieme Cru Classe Chateau Leoville Las Cases, and I found that it was quite youthful despite its age, especially when compared to the Pomerol. It was was a deeper darker wine with sweet spice ,black currant , and an incredible earthiness on the palate, which must come down to the regions gravel soils.
This tasting further solidified by love and intrigue for Bordeaux, I know I still have a lot to learn, and it will take a lifetime, must keep tasting!
Caitlin
