The Grand Tour - day eleven

Bordeaux
Tasted Thursday, October 12, 2017 by chatters with 261 views

Introduction

Another day in paradise...Cheval Blanc for lunch then Chateau Pavie and Chateau Penin (on the wrong side of the river) followed by degustation at the rather impressive Garopapilles

Flight 1 - Day eleven - bracket one - Cheval Blanc (6 Notes)

Lunch - langoustine with carrot terrine (which was glorious), veal on mushroom and beetroot, chestnut tart, cheese.

Big discrepancy between the two 2000's...the technical director blustered his way through it, bless his cotton socks...

  • 2014 Le Petit Cheval Bordeaux Blanc

    France, Bordeaux

    Initially quite herby but, with time in the glass and some agitation , it gets some passion fruit. Plenty of fruit on the palate moved to juicy acidity and a little bitterness on the finish. Exceedingly well balanced…one of those evaporating bottles.

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  • 2011 Château Quinault L'Enclos

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Softy, juicy plums on the nose. Cream and a touch of raspberry back this up. More of the same on the palate. Soft, easy, tannic burr, Medium plus length with a touch of warm on the finish. Nicely done.

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  • 2008 Le Petit Cheval

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Very slightly dusty, touch of cocoa powder then Ribena over plum with mint and spice. Softening but still quite primary on the nose. In the mouth a little tertiary leather comes through, tannins are still chalky, savoury and quite tight still.

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  • 2006 Château Cheval Blanc

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Aromas of mint, blackcurrant, slightly peppery spice, and some cocoa powder, graphite and pencil shavings. Juicy and fleshy, lashings of primary fruit, breadth on the mid palate with chamois soft taninns, very long , beautifully balanced….wonderful

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  • 2000 Château Cheval Blanc

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Meaty, savoury, earthy over sweet ripe berry fruit, spice, leather, creamy with touches of vanilla on the nose. Juicy acidity, gritty taninns, sweet fruit vs aged characteristics; leathery, a little dirty farmyard as well. Though long and balanced it doesn't work for me especially when compared to the 2006. Very forward indeed for what it is. This was confirmed when I tried the other wine (two bottles were opened) this was confirmed.

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  • 2000 Château Cheval Blanc

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Just beginning to show some tertiary leatheryness. For me this is more like an extension of the 2006 albeit a more powerful version. Taninns are bolder as well as the acidity. Just generally 'more' all round. Very nice indeed.

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Flight 2 - Day eleven - bracket two - Pavie (3 Notes)

The most robotic guide ever. There was a lovely moment in the winery when she told us that they never do pumping over or rack and return in order to be as gentle as possible with the wine...whilst a cellar rat was doing a pump over 20 meters away over her shoulder...oops! Having said that we did try some lovely (though impressively youthful) wines.

  • 2014 Château Pavie Arômes de Pavie

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Rich plummy fruit, quite compote with vanilla, cream and cinnamon. Cedar and other spices as well and some soft red berries with time. Juicy, savoury and tightly tannic - quite drying in fact. The nose belies the palate. Needs quite a while to calm down - that fruit isn't really here yet but there are touches of liquorice and black tea.

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  • 2012 Château Pavie

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Double decanted 3.5 hours. Plum, vanilla, chocolate, cream, almost almond meal or marzipan. Cherry tending to raspberry. Juicy and wonderfully fruity then, after about 3 seconds, a wave of okay tannins smashes though and subsumes all. There is no recovery from this.

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  • 2010 Château Pavie

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Double decanted 3.5 hours. Spiced plum concentrate, chocolate, vanilla, cream, fresh herbs, liquorice and spice…quite an oaky, extractive nose. And so it proves on the palate. In its defence it does have the acidity to support the weight of the fruit and oak. All travels long.

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Flight 3 - Day eleven - bracket three - Chateau Penin (7 Notes)

This one was a bit more off the beaten track but a truer representation of the vast majority of what is made in Bordeaux. Such an education, again...this time the pure openness about wine making - oh, yes, here is my microbullage machine and, yes, of course we use American oak, do I innoculate? Not if I can get away with it but, yes, mostly...Lovely visit.

  • 2016 Château Penin Bordeaux Rosé

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Rosé

    Pretty, but slightly meaty, red berry fruit, soft and a little cream and butter. Soft, slightly candied red berry, a little warm with some breadth on the mid- palate. Fleshy Medium plus length, tiny touch of bitterness right at the end of the finish. Yum

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  • 2016 Château Penin Bordeaux Clairet

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Clairet

    More mineral, muted fruit and more savoury notes…and so it is on the palate, more mineral with some fine, slightly gritty, tannic burr on the mid palate with the bitterness more pronounced on the finish. Hmm.

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  • 2015 Château Penin Tradition

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Slightly savoury plums cherries backed by aniseed. Juicy ,spicy and drying tannins over plums and slight cherries. With time the fruit becomes prettier and sweeter on the nose and the taninns soften. Pleasant.

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  • 2015 Château Penin Natur

    France, Bordeaux

    Slightly funky over red and blackberry fruit and liquorice spice with time the funkiness gets quite cheesy. Juicy, soft berry and cherry fruit with talc textured tannins and a fair amount of breadth. Quite spicy on the long finish. Nice.

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  • 2015 Château Penin Grande Sélection

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Plummy backed by soft berries. Cocoa powder, sweet slightly spiced oak. Juicy, initially fruity then tight, slightly chalky tannins. Needs time.

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  • 2014 Château Penin Grande Sélection

    France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

    Plummy backed by soft berries, a touch more earthiness here and more cedar to join the spice. Again this is juicy but the extra year has helped soften the tannins sufficiently to give the fruit a little more prominence. Medium plus length. Pleasant.

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  • 2014 Château la Fleur Penin St. Émilion Grand Cru

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

    Plums red berries backed by plentiful sweet spice, slight cream and an earthy note. Slightly less acidity than the other wines, for me, and a little more oak. Muted fruit persists though, I'd suggest time may help but I'm not sure the fruit will last.

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Flight 4 - Day eleven - bracket four - Dinner (8 Notes)

A load of us, at Peter's suggestion, headed off for degustation at Garopapilles. Lots of posh food with matching wines…all of which were pretty handy. After supps me and Michelle fancied another drink (not that we needed one) so off we went for a cheeky (and ultimately disappointing) Beaujolais…

Closing

Crikey, what a lovely day...just brilliant...again...

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