Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky / Café De Klepel
Tasted Monday, March 7, 2016 by Xavier Auerbach with 615 views
I attended the evening session of the Amsterdam UGC tasting this year, which featured wines from both the 2013 and 2011 vintages. There was little time, there were many friends and discussions were lively. By consequence, my notes are relatively few and relatively brief. The overall picture is clear however. The 2013 vintage is a difficult one, but the best wines turn the lack of power and weight into feminine charm and will provide lovely drinking from now until eight to ten years after the vintage. The 2011 vintage by comparison displays much more power and depth, but few wines escape the tell-tale dryness in the tannins and austerity on the finish. Many wines still need a few years to soften, but obviously bottle-age is no cure for unripe tannins. In both vintages, careful selection is essential as they are by no means successes across the board. For Sauternes and Barsac, both 2011 and 2013 seem to be good to very good vintages, the latter capable of delivering real elegance and grace.
Thin and drying. Weedy, but there is some nice fruit. Not one I would recommend - a fine expression of the difficulties of the 2013 vintage.
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Much more depth than the 2013 that preceded it, ripe cherry fruit, lovely hint of oak, drying finish. Should turn out all right.
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Ripe fruit, light structure but considerable charm and style, nice oak spice and decent length. Embraces the delicacy of the vintage to good effect.
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Good presence, truffle, ripe fruit (slightly overripe perhaps?), quite a firm tannic structure. Ambitious.
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Powerful, tannic, structured, drying finish but the fruit is ripe. Very typical for the vintage and the style of wine making.
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A very serious 2013, ripe and velvety in the context of the vintage, quite deep and rich.
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Very complete, ripe fruit, rich and spicy, full-bodied, harmonious, tannic, with the hint of austerity on the finish that is so typical for the 2011 vintage,
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Above-average weight and complexity, still a bit closed and needs time to settle, but the balance a structural components are all present and correct,
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Wonderful typicity, perfectly judged concentration and extraction, slightly drying finish.
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Good richness and ripeness in the context of the vintage, plump almost and certainly juicy. A fine 2013.
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Polished and elegant, light style and structure, but lovely fruit and ditto oak.
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Ripe fruit, elegant and balanced, spicy oak, good length. A very good 2013.
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Recognisable Lascombes style, more depth than the 2013, hints of menthol and fresh red meat, very good length.
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Elegant but tight, harmonious, subtle layers, great finesse. One of the stars of the left bank in 2013.
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Powerful and serious but perhaps without the finesse of the 2013. Quite tannic and drying.
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Classical style, light and juicy but does not lack structure, elegant and well-balanced. Lovely, but drink in the first 10-12 years of its life.
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Classic, masculine, tannic, slightly dry finish. Needs time but will age well.
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Really well done, an excellent 2013, the kinship with the Langoa is evident, classical style, good fruit. Very much in sync with the vintage.
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Very dry, very structured but little in the way of fruit. Austere. I am not a fan - I prefer the Langoa in this vintage.
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Light but lovely, gentle and refined, very feminine and elegant.
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Perdictably, this has more depth and weight than the almost ephemeral 2013 and more spicy oak too; avoids any austerity or dryness in the tannins, really lovely.
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Ripe fruit and elegance, quite tannic and a bit drying, but there are layers of floral finesse.
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Very floral, light and Burgundian, almost Pinot Noir in character, juicy, very elegant, just a hint of pepper.
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Much more depth than the very light 2013, spicy and with good fruit, no dryness on the finish, delicious.
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Lovely Giscours typicity, restrained wine making, perfectly judged tannins, very good balance.
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Sturdy, masculine, slightly medicinal, hint of cream, well put together.
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Très belle réussite, fresh, excellent rôti, balanced and elegant, complete and pure, subtle warmth from the oak, energetic and refined.
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More heft and weight than the very gracious 2013, rich yet elegant, tropical fruit, good bitters.
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Rich and tropical, resinous oak, intense and concentrated but not yet harmonious. Not really my style.
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Powerful and rich, deep and complete but lacks elegance and finesse.
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A wonderful Sauternes, very pure and elegant, has weight and poise, cream and honey.
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Good weight, rich and velvety, but actually neither very powerful nor very refined.
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Rich and tropical, very resinous oak, hot and disjointed, woody.
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Made for power in a vintage that allows this approach better than 2013, but the lack of finesse is palatable.
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Magnum. This is such a wonderful vintage for Du Tertre - what a pity that it took almost a decade to come my way again. It is fully mature now, with lovely tertiary development and complexity, whilst retaining its elegant and fresh core. Lovely flavours and length.
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Magnum. Lovely evolution, good depth and balance, slighly drying Cabernet Franc, spicy and rich.
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Magnum. Wonderfully lively and balanced, energetic, cool, spicy, ripe and fresh, medium weight, powerful and elegant, long. Excellent. Classic Claret.
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Magnum. Perfectly mature Poyferré, with its characteristic generosity, amazing fruit, balance and structure, vegetal notes, gentle, vital, bright.
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Magnum. Almost twelve years since I last tasted this and it has developed very well. In 2004 it was outshone by the youthful energy and greater weight of the more powerful 2000, but after fifteen years it has attained a finesse and balance all of its own. Elegant, with nothing lacking.
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2013 Château de Chantegrive Blanc 88 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves
Rounded, supple, lemon and grapefruit, light but complete, a lovely wine to drink young.
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2013 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 93 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Power and precision, finesse and balance, needs a few years. Stands head and shoulders above the rest.
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2013 Château de Fieuzal Blanc 90 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
A solid wine, but much coarser than the Domaine de Chevalier 2013, a bit one-dimensional, vegetal, slightly underwhelming.
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2011 Château de Fieuzal Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
More finesse than the 2013, good expression and well-judged oak.
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2013 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 92 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Rounded and ripe style, spicy oak, quite powerful in the context of the vintage, needs time to integrate.
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2011 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 91 Points
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Lots of spicy oak - does it lack the weight and ripe fruit to counter the onslaught of the wood?
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