George thought it was time to revisit some of the Bordeaux we tasted between January and May of this year. We expected them to be the primarily from the 2006 vintage since that was mostly what we had tasted earlier this year. However, George has been known to throw in a twist or two just to see if we have been paying attention. It turns out the twist started with the first wine.
2002 Chateau Cos Labory – This is a fifth growth from St. Estephe. A dark garnet color followed by smoke, leather and dark fruit in the nose. The flavors were dark fruit, leather and spice with moderate tannins and plenty of acid. It had a light body with a moderately long finish. It finished with flavor and acid. Overall a well balanced, though slightly restrained wine.
2006 Chateau Marquis D’Alesme Margaux – Dark ruby with a nose initially of caramel that blew off to a minimal vegetal smell. There were restrained flavors of leather and dark fruit. This wine had a high level of tannins and matching acid. The finish was moderately long with tannins and after the tannins died off, flavor of leather lingered. Nancy found some bitterness on the finish, probably the tannin. Later when she had some cheese with it the bitterness disappeared.
2005 Canoe Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven AVA – This was the second twist. The color was dark garnet and the nose was vegetal. The flavors were jalapeno, green pepper and dark stone fruit. There were moderate tannins balanced with the acid and long finish with flavor and smooth tannins. Overall this wine had bigger flavors than the first two wines and a slightly hot finish. This should have been a clue that this was not a Bordeaux, but nobody caught it.
2005 Ormes De Pez – This is a Cru Bourgeois also from St. Estephe. The color was a dark garnet and the nose was very stinky at first but blew off to dark fruit and a hint of licorice. There was smoke, leather and dark fruit flavors with moderate plus smooth tannins (not drying) and well balanced acid. The moderately long finish consisted of leather and tannins and a slight bitterness.
2006 Chateau Du Glana A Cru Bourgeois from St. Julien with a very dark ruby color. It had a sweet caramel and ripe fruit nose and a lot of dark fruit flavor. There were moderate grippy tannins with a nice amount of acid and it finishes mostly with tannins and a slight bitterness.
There was no clear favorite wine this week. Votes for the favorite wine were scattered among all wines, and some wines were disliked by one or more of the tasters. The discussion included aging wines and which ones might age well. Basically, the conclusion was if there are significant tannins and acid and enough fruit to last a few years, the wine may benefit from aging. The expectation is that over time the tannins decrease and the fruit comes forward. According to George, one of the best reason to age a wine is to find that wine that tastes great by itself.
