After our 1st day in Bordeaux with a burning 40 degree heat, the next day seemed much cooler.
Our first visit of the day was Château de Lamarque, the oldest Château in the Médoc and run by the family that used to own Haut Brion and Margaux during the late 17th and 18th century. The vineyards are divided into 2 parcels running from East to West. They, like many others in the area, have shifted their production of grapes from Cabernet Franc to Petit Verdot for the cépage, due to the weather. However, merlot is the dominant grape in the blend, which is unusual for a left bank wine.
With the Union Jack flag majestically raised in our honour and a very warm welcome offering us a vertical tasting from 2011 to 2007, we knew we were off to a good start!
The 2007 is a 47% merlot, quite elegant and a good solid colour. 2008 is one of my favourites, a wonderful character within this wine, very structured, well balanced and elegant, with a touch of cedar on the palate. 2009 however is exotic and savoury on the palate, full bodied with notes of tobacco. This is definitely a promising wine from such a great year. 2010 no doubt is also another great year with good balance and very fine tannins on the palate. The 2011 however was a good and classic year, especially given the hide and seek between the weather and the winegrower. The vines turned out in a very good condition with full maturity during harvest time and very well balanced fruit, floral notes and soft tannins. When we returned to this wine half an hour later, the riper the fruit seemed.
The best part though was a surprise magnum of the 1990 Lamarque at the end!
Château Kirwan
After our last sip of 1990 Lamarque, we then headed to Château Kirwan. With 4 varieties grown in the 38 hectares of land, Philippe Delafaut welcomed us to the tasting room and kindly set up a small vertical for us. Margaux wines are indeed very well balanced and elegant. They also now put more Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc into the wine for final blending due to global warming as they find that Merlot is becoming much more alcoholic compared to years before. Of all the vintages we have tried (2009, 2008, 2011, 2003), again 2008 is my favourite. A real classic Margaux, which is much richer than 2009 and fruitier on the nose.
Château Phélan Ségur
With our stomach’s beginning to rumble, we drove to Château Phélan Ségur in St Estèphe, the most rustic of the 4 important communal appellations in Haut-Médoc. It is said the wines from this appellation have a reputation of being the slowest to mature, and the toughest and most tannic wines. In fact, those we have tried were totally the opposite. Veronique Dausse showed us around the cellar and showed us their new sorting table. Having been rebuilt by Xavier Gardinier in 1985, they have retained Phélan Ségur’s elegant and balanced style.
We had a vertical tasting from 2008-2011 and all wines had this elegance, but with different notes and palates for different vintages. Well balanced and lovely purity of fruit. We then had a great 3 course lunch with Veronique in the Château where we were treated to the 2004 and 1990. The 1990 was so delicious and just showed the great potential of these wines and the ageing capacity that they have!
Château Lafon Rochet
A classic but innovative Château. The Château is yellow, which particularly caught my attention when we arrived. In front of the Château, instead of vines, was a field of beautiful pink, white and purple flowers. 10 hectares of the vines are now biodynamic and around half of the grapes now grown in the vineyards are organic. We then headed to our tasting room for another vertical tasting from 2007-2011. The nose on 2007 was earthy, and it had a well-balanced structure while 2008 is very fresh, fruity tannic and acidic but no typical green peppery taste, which is quite interesting. 2009 and 2010 were the exceptional years for all Bordeaux wines (the Cabernet Sauvignon years). Lastly 2011 was fresher than 2009 but it had more structure and focus compared to 2010, even though there was hail during September. This is a definitely a property to watch.
Château Branaire Ducru
Lastly, a Cisco owned Château Branaire Ducru, situated on the opposite side of the road from Château Beychevelle in St Julien. Flavour is their key focus for the wines. We began straight away
tasting in their very well designed tasting room (which felt a bit like the set from Moonraker). A message was written in numerous languages on the walls surrounding us – a very different feeling when compared to the Châteaux in Burgundy and the Rhône. This is clearly an international brand and well-established in the market.
So to the tasting…2011 was a low yield with small berries. The wine had a vegetal nose, was concentrated, with balance and high acidity. Overall it is a good vintage with a nice maturity, fresh and very fine floral scents, but not too heavy. 2010 in comparison was full bodied, rich with beautiful tannins, while 2009 has plenty of dark fruit, floral notes and harmony. For more information about Château Branaire Ducru, watch a video interview with Patrick Maroteau here.