2009 Bordeaux : a good sampling

Thanks to Vinexpo being in town this week, my friendly London wine merchant - Doug from Bordeaux Index - organized a tasting of 2009 Bordeaux for their clients at Dynasty Club. An alcoholic like me was only too happy and jumped at the chance, and promptly showed up at a few minutes past 10am...

2009 Malartic-Lagravière Blanc - Jean-Jacques Bonnie was here to pour the wines.  Very refreshing and fruity, with a highly perfumed and floral nose along with green apples.  Acidity was a little high, perhaps due to the warm temperature of the wine.  Later on the vanilla oak emerged.  Very soft and elegant.

2009 Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc - much more perfumed and powerful, with toasty oak, minerals, flint, pipi de chat and a bit of muscat.  Very nice.

2009 Malartic-Lagravière Rouge - lots of sweet fruit upfront, with blackcurrant, a little potpurri... so ripe it almost seemed like the fruit was cooked... more caramel, eucalyptus with a hint of alcohol.  Lots of tannins but they weren't too rough.  Very nice...

2009 Smith Haut Lafitte Rouge - nose was much more muted at first, with some eucalyptus and forest.  Fruit came out but not as sweet.  Tannins are pretty soft.

2009 Brane-Cantenac - Henri Lurton was here pouring the wines.  Nose of green and black peppers, with some fruit but very muted.  Acidity was noticeably high and balanced out the tannins.

2009 Léoville Poyferré - Didier Cuvelier came into the club with me, carrying his wines.  The wine was lively, fruity and sweet, with a little caramel, a bit alcoholic on the nose and a little tannic.

2009 Langoa Barton - fruity with some minerality, pretty open... a simple and straightforward wine.  Nothing to complain about.  The defining moment came when I closed my eyes and was concentrating too much on smelling the wine...when I realized that my glass had been tipped too far and the wine was now flooding into my left nostril...and also down the lapel of my suit and my dress shirt.  You know there's something wrong with someone when you see wine stains on their shirt at 11am...

2009 Léoville Barton - smoky and fruity...interestingly I could smell the acidity.

2009 Grand-Puy-Lacoste - Laurence Borie Castéja poured the wine for us.  Nose of sweet fruit and a bit of eucalyptus.  Another straightforward wine.

2009 Clinet - I finally met Ronan Laborde after having drunk some of their wines, including the amazing 1993 Château Pajzos Esszencia.  Nose of spices, a little smoke, a hint of orange along with coffee and mint.  Tannins were lovely.  14.5% alcohol and I couldn't feel it at all...

2009 La Conseillante - Jean-Valmy Nicolas was worried that his wines didn't travel well, but I thought they drank well enough.  Nose was fruity with mint, a little orange and a bit of smoke.  A very enjoyable wine.

2009 Grand Mayne - one of the surprises of today...  Nose was pretty funky - very sweet but I swear there was plenty of borgata there...that smell of the sea was unmistakeable.  Also some orange and smoky notes, with some sharpness.

2009 Clos Floridène Rouge - Fabrice Dubourdieu was here to introduce the wines, impressing us with his ability to speak Mandarin.  He explained that the name Floridene was simply the combination of the names of his parents - Florence and Denis.  I never knew about this estate in Graves but am pleasantly surprised by the wines.  Nose was sweet and open, with mint and a hint of medicine and a little sharpness.  Was there also a little violet?

2009 Doisy-Daëne Sec - lots of minerals, with pear, a hint of pipi de chat, floral and perfumed with a little muscat.  Palate was acidic on the attack but the finish was pretty ripe.  An absolutely lovely dry white.

2009 Clos Floridène Blanc - nose of minerals and lots of floral notes, with muscat, a little pipi de chat, lemon and almost oily and buttery.

2009 Doisy-Daëne - wow!  Lots of honey, beeswax and orange marmalade.  The wine was explosive, unctuous and magnificent, with a long finish that was very hot.  An amazing wine.

It was a very enjoyable tasting, and I'm really happy that so many of the châteaux owners and family members came to show us the fruits of their labor.  As I wasn't able to go to the en primeur tasting in Bordeaux this year, this was a great way for me to get a feel for the vintage that the whole world is excited about.  Time to give some more business to Doug...