April 2006 Bordeaux Tasting at K&L

It was really hard to evaluate these wines -- most of them aren't too appealing to me now, so I'm trying to guess what'll happen to them in the future. My limited experience with older Bordeaux (and wine in general) hardly seems up to the task. The best I think I can do is see which styles appeal to me most and then rely on the experts to determine which are the best made / balanced wines.

Due to that, the wines aren't rated on a 100 point scale. The wines are purely rated against each other to help me in making buying decisions in the future.

The exception to that statement is the Carbonnieux, which is excellent today. That wine is an excellent value.

• 2003 Château La Fleur Montagne-St. Émilion

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Montagne-St. Émilion

  Very dry. Not oaky, but earthy, green. Very tannic. Smooth. Very dry and tannic. (-)

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• 2003 Château Beausejour (Duffau Lagarrosse)

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Hugely expressive nose of red fruit and herbs. Good acidity, in a balanced way. Sweetish, but I don't know if that's the huge fruit -- probably. Vanilla, sweet and long finish. (++)

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• 2003 Château Haut-Beauséjour

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Expressive nose of meat, fruit, and herbs. Some coffee. Jimmy described this as "savory" and I thought the nose was syrah-like. Sweetish medium finish. Medium body, lots of acid. (o)

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• 2003 Château Gloria

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  The least green or herby of any of the wines to me. Muted nose of earth and coffee. Dark, dark fruit. Very little acid. Smooth and different from the other wines. Interesting. Clean finish. (+)

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• 2003 Château Carbonnieux

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Muted nose of fruit and some green herbs. Lots of fruit on the pallate, not complex, but good. Full bodied. Smooth. Nice medium finish with a hint of menthol. Easiest wine to drink today of any of the wines tasted. Not much oak noticable. (++)

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• 2003 Château Fonbadet

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Expressive, very herby nose. Bright red fruit on the palate, but also medicinal. Very medicinal finish. (-)

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• 2003 Château Clerc Milon

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Medium nose of grass, dark fruit, and vanilla. Good acid. A bit thin seeming at points. Very tannic. Sweet, slightly green, with a long, complex finish. (++[+?])

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• 1994 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Color is just beginning to brown along the edges. Very open, complex green nose. The nose was all herbs. Very smooth and mellow with lots of interesting flavors -- but to me all of this wine was medicinal, herby, and green with just a little fruit. (-)

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• 1995 Château d'Yquem

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Amazing. The most open nose of the tasting, and the most complex, interesting wine. There was a touch of front-end heat. This wasn't as complex and ever changing as my last tiny taste of D'Yquem, but it was still awesome. I was amazed at how this wasn't the least bit cloying at all. It was sweet, but perfectly balanced. This was mostly butterscoth and marmalade -- there was some fruit to it, but it was not a primarily fruit driven wine. Long finish. This was a small taste, so I didn't get to see what more air did to this. (++++)

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It seemed like Friday I was really sensitive to oak, and Saturday I was really sensitive to green and herby smells. Oddly, neither time did it affect the taste of the good wines, only the nose. So it goes.