Page 34 - Staff Tastings

I'm in a car en route to the airport reading Bill Blatch's vintage report. He's the legendary man who follows each vintage raindrop by raindrop and counts the hours of sun. There isn't a weather pattern from spring to harvest that he misses and many think he can nail the quality of the vintage as good as any critic without tasting a drop. I have to admit, he's been spot on for decades.

Here's an overview of his 12 page report:

-A year of extreme weather that worked in favor of winemaking, but not for much else.

- Immediate comparisons to 2009 in terms of the quality but 2010 is the year of the drought, which gives it a markedly different character of more power.

-Despite the drought, by fall the vines held up well and looked like "las vegas golf courses - showing no signs of stress" in an otherwise dry environment.

I arrived in Bordeaux and I asked for a room upgrade. The lady at the front desk looked at me like I was crazy. She told me it is busier than last year!

After a quick shower, a few friends and I ate with a terrific negociant and friend of mine. He discussed the current situation about Bordeaux. He said there's not enough wine to satisfy the global demand that he sees. His office in Asia picks up 10-15 new big clients (distributor size) a month. He says that when you add 150 new institutional customers a year, it's hard to satisfy the demand.

He also mentioned that prices will be around 10% higher this year over the already expensive 2009 vintage. Add in the Euro's approximate 20 cent gain on the dollar compared to last year and we're talking about prices that could be 20%-30% higher  than 2009. Whoa. Better buy your 2009's today. We never thought about them as a good currency trade, but they are. You're buying with last year's Euro. I think they will disappear quickly.

It's 10:00am on Monday, our first day of tastings.  We arrive at Chateau Haut Brion. There's a big lineup here starting with three whites.

Here's the line-up of six wines:

Haut Brion Blanc - 54% Sauvignon Blanc makes this taste like a Didier Dagueneau Pouilly Fume on steroids. The rest is Semillion and it accounts for its richness.  Terrific!  Wow it's tasting good today. You could serve all these 2010 whites now!  96-98 points DS.

La Mission Haut Brion Blanc - It's the most balanced, complex and delicious young white Bordeaux I've ever tasted. On the palate it comes off medium bodied even though there is so much richness underneath. So much harmony here that everything is in perfect balance. This is going to be really

BIG day today - Off to Latour and then on a whirlwind tour through the Margaux region ending up at Chateau Palmer!! Psyched! 

Today, I get to test my terroir theory that the best properties can withstand and even thrive through a drought while the rest are going to have too much tannin.

I'm headed to several chateaux in Margaux.  First stop, Chateau Pavillon Rouge.   

Pavillon Rouge - Medium purple color, red fruits pop out of the glass, medium bodied in a good way with chewey tannins, sweet and delicious and all in perfect balance. Better than most Margaux from the 70s. 93-95 DS.

Chateau Margaux - Dark purple color.  The nose is unlike any other.  Violets and lavender infused plus other elements

It's 8:30 am on Wednesday.  Day four and we're off to the races.

We're hitting some of the first and super seconds today.  I'm looking forward to testing my "year of the terroir" theory.

First we hit Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou.

Bruno Borie, Ducru's owner always puts on a big show.  En route to the tasting area, we stroll thru his contemporary art collection escorted by beautiful women. It's a big show that I've noticed is being emulated elsewhere so I'll have to rate the behind the scenes show as well. Pontet Canet has adopted the "James Bond girl" approach too, so today is going to be interesting on many levels.

Ducru - Beautiful nose, complex blue fruits. On the palate it's a beauty but not an all-time great. It's softer and easier with nice (not dry) tannins so it's great by comparison to the vintage.

Around Sokolin we call Henri Boillot "the magician" as his wines always seem to be...magical.  In comparison to his peers, his wines always deliver in their price point, regardless of the vintage.  And in a vintage with the hype like 2009, they often more than deliver.

Last weekend my wife and I sampled blind a handful of Pinot Noir with some friends from multiple recent vintages, some New World and some from Burgundy, all tasty.  However, the one standout of the group was Henri Boillot's 2009 Bourgogne Rouge.

The New World selections had fruit, but lacked the earthiness and hints of minerality that the wines of Burgundy possessed.  The Burgundies from 2009 possessed a concentration and vibrancy that the 2008s and 2007s didn't, confirming the recent good press on the vintage.  Boillot's Bourgogne Rouge displayed a balance, accessibility and length that the other 2009 Burgundies, some village and even premier cru that sell for up to three times the

Today we hit the Northern Medoc, meaning St. Estephe.

We visited the 3 big boys - Calon Segur, Montrose and then Cos d'Estournel for tasting and lunch with Jean-Guillaume Prats, the managing director.

Here are my notes from these 3 chateaux.

Calon Segur - This is an old world place, and I'm a fan of this style. It's classic - not modern - and it's like wine from the 80's & 90's, but cleaner and with a touch more power. This is a medium bodied vintage. 93-95 DS.

Montrose - You are going to need quite the patience for this wine. It's traditional cabernet to the max. High note berry restrained nose, super intense and mega tannic structure with good tannins. This is like the 1989 which turned out great. It may be better than the

So for my wrap up of the vintage I refer back to the Bill Blatch vintage notes that I referenced in my first blog.

This Bordeaux veteran negociant summarized the vintage with these two quotes:

The 2010's "have all the power of the 09s, they have nothing of the opulence and thickness of the 09s. They are much more rugged, have an incredibly strong tannic surge and there is more acidity in those tannins." Bill Blatch

"In terms of individual vintages, if , by its velvety texture,'09 has a lot in common with '82, '47 or '29, then '10, with its strong tannins, is more in the vein of '05, '00, '86, '49 and'45, but with more sheer alcohol than all of these." Bill Blatch

I tend to agree. While I tasted a handful

Spring is finally here!  It's time to get some whites in the fridge and start enjoying the warmer weather.  I just had an amazing white Burgundy that I would highly recommend:

2008 Bernard Moreau Chassagne Montrachet 'Vergers' 1er Cru

Green apples and minerals, with some citrus zest and great acidity!  Extremely long finish that makes this high quality Chardonnay, from the Premier Cru vineyard of Les Vergers, keep singing on the palate.  In fact, when I recently poured this at a dinner party, my guests were shocked at how long these beautiful and full flavors kept going.  And it was the perfect match for the Spring risotto with asparagus, peas and pancetta we served with it.

John Gillman, the author of the bi-monthly newsletter "A View from the Cellar", puts it this way: "...the 2008 Vergers is excellent, as it offers up a complex nose of tangerine, lemon, apples, white flowers, chalk and a touch of

This past Friday we were lucky enough to have the winemaker from Chateau D'Esclans at our tasting room to taste through their current Rosé releases.

D'Esclans is owned by Sacha Lichine, a very well-known figure in the wine world. He bought the chateau in 2006 with a clearly stated ambition "to make the Best Rosé Wines in the World." To go about achieving that goal he brought in Patrick Léon as the consulting oenologist.  Patrick has an extensive resume working for some of the best chateaux in Bordeaux, and is probably best known for his work at Chateau Mouton Rothschild. 

D'Esclans has four different Rosé's in their line-up ranging from $17.99 all the way up to $99.95.   It's fun to taste all the cuvees side by side as you can really detect the different nuances in each.

Here are my tasting notes:

2010 Whispering