We missed the first 2009 Bordeaux tasting at our local wine shop, Fine Wines of Stockton, while we were in Nepal but fortunately we were here for the second one. As usual it was a blind tasting of six wines. And, as you will read, George pulled a fast one on us by slipping in something unexpected.
We started off with a white Bordeaux, the 2009 Grand Bateau. We have had this wine before and wrote about back in April in a French Sauvignon Blanc tasting. We even have some sitting at home ready to drink. You may find it interesting to compare todays notes with the April tasting nots. The color of course was a medium yellow and the nose had spices like a pumpkin pie without the pumpkin. Some people also got lime and mineral aromas. The flavors were mineral and citrus, nice and crisp feel in the mouth and a moderately long finish with just a little tannins. A nice white wine that would pair with many dishes well.
Now we moved on to the reds with a 2009 Chateau Ferriere, a third growth from Margaux. A medium ruby red with dark red fruit and a somewhat floral nose. The wine was a little austere with tobacco and dark fruit flavors, moderate tannins and a light body. Very well balanced with good potential for aging.
All of the 2009 Bordeaux were pretty similar so I think I will just note what is different about the other three. Three? Shouldn’t there have been four more? Well, George threw in a 2009 Leone de Castris Salice Salentino from Italy. I’ll leave it out since it isn’t relevant and wasn’t very interesting.
The next Bordeaux we had was a 2009 Chateau Marquis d’Alesme, another Grand Cru Classé from Margaux. We noticed the label on this wine was missing something, usually in addition to d’Alesme it also says Becker, that word is missing now. A mystery to go explore. This was a bigger wine with a little mint on the nose. Some tasters felt it was “clumsy”, I guess they meant unbalanced but most of us did not feel that way.
The 2009 Chateau Rauzan-Gassis was next. This is a second growth Margaux that was another bigger wine with smokey, bacon flavors with some dark fruit and grippy tannins with a long finish. This wine tied with the Ch. Marquis d’Alesme as the favorite wine of the evening.
Our last wine was the 2009 Chateau Beychevelle, one of the ten fourth growths and from St. Julien now instead of Margaux. In addition to the dark fruit there was some cedar and vanilla flavors. The fruit was also riper with more structure in the body and the tannins were smoother. George called it the “The Velvet Harpoon”.
All of the 2009 Bordeaux were very good and while they differed in flavors or nose or the amount of tannins, you would enjoy any of them. All would benefit from a few more years of aging or have them with food to reduce the perception of tannins. We have reviewed previous vintages of some of these wines, you may want to search our site to see how they compare.
