En-Primeur campaign for the 2021 vintage
Bordeaux
Tasted Monday, April 25, 2022 - Friday, April 29, 2022 by chatters with 1,361 views
Introduction
Daniel very, very, very kindly agreed to take me to the En primeur campaign for the 2021 vintage. I missed the first day of tasting (including the large negotiant tasting) because of the KLM wildcat strike which stranded me in Amsterdam for 36 hours & left me with no luggage, but I was able to join for the rest of the week as a guest of Daniel and the negociant Ballande & Meneret.
Just a few quick general notes about how it worked this year: Most of the large chateau may have a selection of wineries that belong in their portfolio…because of this some (though not all) may choose to show some (e.g., Lafite Rothschild), or all (e.g., Leoville Poyferre), of these wines while they show their 2nd and grand wine of the ‘master’ chateau. Other chateau may have more than two wines (e.g., Latour with les forts but also Pauillac the third wine). Some chateau will only choose to show their wines that they offer on the Bourse (e.g., Pontet Canet) and others may choose to show wines that they do not offer (e.g., Phelan Segur showed their second wine the Frank Segur though this is not available as part of the En Primeur offer). Finally, because of Covid, some of the Chateau showed the vintages that they had not been able to show because of the various lockdowns
The brackets I’ve put together are based on the village/area that we visited on the day in question so, for example, if the winery is in Margaux and chooses to show wines that it owns but that are outside this region, they will appear in those days tasting (e.g., Rauzan Segla owns a couple of right bank chateau and I’ve included these in the Margaux day). Where this has occurred, and it isn’t obvious, I’ve called this out in the tasting note (as there are not enough brackets to allow me to divide by specific chateau and still contain this within a broader single tasting story for the entire EP campaign.
Flight 1 - Margaux (21 Notes)
First day of my EP campaign and we’re off to Margaux. I suppose I’d say that Margaux is my least favourite of the four (or five if you include the lazily lumped together Pessac Leognan/Graves) appellations but, in classic Walt Whitman style, it is the village that I have the most producers’ wines in my cellar.
Call outs for the day (note – only 2021s) were Brane Cantenac, Cantenac Brown, the Margaux and the Berliquet (though it’s not from Margaux). The Kirwan and the Alto (of the whites I tasted today) deserve a mention as well.
Flight 2 - lunch at Prieure Lichine (5 Notes)
Lunch at Prieure Lichine was hosted by Lisa Latrille and featured Nadine’s famous souffle. This is my second lunch at this winery and it’s pretty and lovely. It helps that I’m quite a fan of the wines. Notes are a little short as I took them directly after lunch, in the car, on the bumpy road Chateau Palmer.
Food matches were:
The white with Nadine’s Souffle
The two 2015’s with T-bone grilled on vine shoots with seasonal vegetables (tiny button mushrooms, little roasted potatoes, and petit pois a la francais)
The 2010 (and the 1989) with a selection of aged cheeses
Flight 3 - dinner at Rauzan Segla (4 Notes)
First night supper was at Rauzan Segla. A few of the Ballande staff joined us.
Food wise the wines were matched as follows:
2011 with Tartare de veau, caviar d’Aquitaine, jus de cresson
1989 with Feuillete d’agneau confit, petit pois a la francaise
2005 with Plateau de fromages affines
By itself Ananas caramelises, crème vanilla et sorbet passion
After dinner I had a cheeky calvados (which I regretted almost instantly) and we finished up at about 1030 which meant I was back at my digs about 15 minutes before midnight – a long first day having started at 630 that morning.
Flight 4 - St Julien & Pauillac (34 Notes)
Day two and St Julien & Pauillac are our focus for the day. Oh, a little note on the structure of the days…each morning I get up, pop to the local Boulangerie in Le Bouscat, grab some fresh OJ and a seedy baguette (as in full of seeds, not dodgy) and something sweet, pop back home and consume these whilst pottering around before meeting the other guests around the corner at 8am to set off to the wineries.
It was interesting that a few of the wineries today took the opportunity to show their previous vintages next to the 2021. One of the chaps from the negotiants said it was perhaps a little foolhardy, but I think it showed a certain awareness on behalf of the chateau to show that vintage variation is very much alive and kicking in Bordeaux.
Initially I thought it was going to be harder to find call outs today but the Beychevelle, the reds from Pichon Baron (Pibran, Griffins, Pichon Baron) were all, in their own way, very good. I also liked the Le Crock, Connetable Talbot and Talbot. Additionally, I’d give a nod to the Beychevelle, Branaire Ducru, Langoa Barton & Leoville Barton (the latter of which historic tasting teaches me will end up being pretty special)
Flight 5 - Academie du vin de Bordeaux dinner (30 Notes)
First a little covering statement – my tasting notes were taken a little sporadically especially upon arrival. And I should say big thanks to the combined efforts of the people at Ballande & my kind chum Daniel as they helped me not only secure a tux (& accessories) for the dinner, but get it fitted and adjusted whilst my tux lay in Amsertdam in my lost luggage.
Now to the details: A note on the format and how I’ve laid out the tasting. Basically, there are a number of ‘tasting tables’ which shows wines from vintages ending in the year of the dinner – this year was 2022 so the tasting table had wines from vintage ending in 2 e.g., 1962 or 1982 etc. Additionally, there is a dinner where the first growths are also shown with the same vintage ruling. This year, as Covid has kyboshed the last two dinners, the Academie took the unprecedented step to show first growths from years ending in 0 rather than 2.
The evening flows as follows (well, it did for me) you arrive, find out your room and table of allocation (there are three rooms and multiple tables) and have a choice of Champagne or Sauternes/Barsac as an aperitif with nibbles, then there are some speeches (the green party mayor, the head of the academie and then Olivier Bernard who explains the format of the dinner), flesh is pressed, hands pumped and friends reacquainted, then you go and sit down for dinner, have the first course with the first ‘first growth’, then Olivier Bernard rings a bell and a massive scrum of older gentlemen in tuxes and ladies in fine dresses converge on these tables, elbowing, biting and scratching (okay, a little bit of poetic licence here but not much) to get a taste (pours are in the 20-30ml kind of area) of each of these wines. After a few minutes of frenzied slurping and scrimmaging the bell is rung again and we return to our tables for the next course (with the associated first growth and a little introduction from one of the guests) …and thus the evening proceeds until all the wine is drunk or the clock strikes midnight, and we turn into pumpkins (or wine barrels).
For convenience I’m going to list the Sauternes/Barsacs I tried upon entry, all the tasting table wines I managed to get to (there were 66 on show) and then the first growths that we had for dinner.
Those dinner wines were matched as follows:
Haut Brion blanc 2010 with dos de maigre a l’unilateral, asperges du domaine d’uza, mousseline de carotte et artichaut barigoule
Mouton Rothschild 2010 and Lafite Rothschild 2000 with Supreme de volaille de la Ferme de bertessec au foin, petits legumes de saison et pomme puree truffle
Margaux 1990 and Latour 1990 with Ossau Iraty fermier, Comte de reserve 20 mois, regalis
d’Yquem 2010 with orange mi confite aux epices, douces, mague fraiche, vinaigrette vanillee, crème glacee a la vanilla
I was lucky enough to sit next to someone who was pregnant (Gwendolyn Lucas from Chateau La Dominique) so (thanks to her kindness) I snaffled extra helpings of Mouton and d’Yquem.
It would not be an exaggeration to say this was the greatest wine experience of my life so far. Not sure when I got home but I felt like a barrel...
Flight 6 - Pauillac and St Estephe (40 Notes)
Day 3 of tasting and we’re off to Pauillac with a trek further north to have a look at a few in St Estephe and grab lunch at Phelan Segur and then head back down to Pauillac to try the three first growths to finish the day.
Call outs today probably need some qualifying around price points. For instance, the Lacoste Borie was nice, the Ormes de Pez pleasing in a surprisingly rustic way (I say that considering the owners) and the Marquis de Calon though I would anticipate that these should be in the 20-25 Euro bracket at most. Other call outs are less surprising – the Lafite, Montrose and Latour all showed rather splendidly for me.
Of the whites today I’d probably put the Blanc de Lynch Bages and the Cos at the top of the rather small pile.
Flight 7 - Buffet lunch at Phelan Segur (2 Notes)
And what a buffet lunch…a splendid cold spread that I cannot possibly do justice to here…lots of loveliness. Main was Medoc confit pork and, after the cold spread, it was always going to struggle to scale the heights of the first course. Wines were very much sipped as we had a fairly chunky afternoon to deal with…
Flight 8 - Supper with Laetitia and James at Vins Urbains (2 Notes)
Massive result to catch up with these guys after a bit of a nightmare trying to get back my lost luggage (I finally succeeded at about 9.15pm which was a massive result). We met at the wonderful Vins Urbains and quickly punished three bottles of non-Bordeaux vin rouge before departing past midnight. Lovely, absolutely lovely night. Unfortunately, though I took notes on the third wine I neglected to write down exactly what it was; it was a Fleurie is all I can remember so that is, obviously, not included here. Ran off and got the last tram...
Flight 9 - Right bank (24 Notes)
A single day flyer to the right bank for a quick rush around this exceedingly (for the vintage) underrated area. There were quite a few nicely handled wines here – the mentality seemed more about dialling back and creating a wine that represented the vintage – so constrained and contained.
Call outs today were the Berliquet, Figeac, Le Petit Cheval, Vieux Chateau Certan, La Conseillante, Beau Sejour Becot and the Mondot.
Flight 10 - lunch at La Conseillante (3 Notes)
Lunch at La Conseillante with was very pleasant except the blind tasting which I totally and utterly tanked on…I really don’t know right bank wines that well and, when it comes to aged right bank, I’m even more ignorant. What was impressive was the longevity…unfortunately (for my wallet) I think I'm going to start trying to explore these wines in a little more depth.
Wines were matched to…1981 – soft tartlet of wild prawns with red wine tomato marmalade, crispy vegetables, rocket tempura, 2009 and 2015 to fillet of beef from Bazas, creamy polenta, summer truffles, shallots, mesclun Bordelais
Flight 11 - Dinner at home with a supermarket selection (4 Notes)
Had a free evening so popped to the Monoprix around the corner and picked up a lazy supper of filet beef, onion, butter, mushrooms, and white asparagus and four random bottles of leftish bank red all under 30 euros as a small consolation for missing the negociant tasting at the start of the week.
Flight 12 - Pessac Leognan and Graves (15 Notes)
Last day of EP tasting and we’re off to Pessac and Graves with lunch at one of my favourite producers, Domaine de Chevalier after which we headed back into town.
Call outs for the day for the reds where the Haut Brion, Les Carmes Haut Brion & the Smith Haut Lafitte. Of the whites the Haut Brion was wonderful, the Domaine de Chevalier splendid and the Smith Haut Lafitte pretty good.
Flight 13 - Lunch at Domaine de Chevalier (4 Notes)
Lunch at my favourite producer in this neck of the woods was a real treat. Again, a blind tasting this time with the clue that all wines vintage ended with a 6.
Blanc matched to Tartare de fruite des pyrenees aux agrumes, emulsion a l’ail des ours
1986 & 2006 to the Blanquette de veau et riz sauvage
Suau matched to framboise sur sable Breton, crème legere
Flight 14 - Quick taste at Vins Urbains (9 Notes)
I packed quickly and was good to go for supper at early so headed into town and, after a brief visit to L’intendant Grands Vins de Bordeaux for a quick perv and to see if there was anything I could possibly justify purchasing (quelle surprise there was), I swanned back to Vins Urbains to taste as many of the blackboard wines as I could squeeze in before last night supper with Daniel. The owner was very kind and charged me 3/5 of FA to try all of these so I tipped appropriately. I cannot recommend this wine bar highly enough.
Flight 15 - Dinner at Point Rouge (2 Notes)
This was recommended based on the strength and relative value of its wine list by a couple of independent sources so Daniel booked us in to have a go with the proviso that, after a long week of tasting and with him having to be out of the door by 8 to get the train to Paris, we would not get too out of hand.
Food matches were Tataki de boeuf, vinaigrette au sésame et oignons cebette and Pâté en croute de veau au foie gras, jeunes pousse de Mesclun with the Clos Rougeard Breze Saumur 2011
And then we drank the Paul Jaboulet La Chapelle 2013 with Côte de bœuf (roughly 1.2kg), pommes de terres grenailles.
After this extravagance we thought it was a good idea to have an Armagnac each (as one does) – I plumped for a pleasing smooth (with a rustic underpin) 1965.
Closing
What a wonderful experience. It was incredible to view the vintage – especially one that was so obviously influenced by viti and vini-culturalists. Good and bad on both banks. The merlot dominant wines showed better than I expected them to but, again on both banks, there was a wonderful sense of freshness and lightness that put me in mind of vintages from 20+ years ago. Oh, the dry whites were pretty good across the board.
This was a great honour and privilege for me. The guys at Ballande were extremely kind and really looked after me – helping me out with a lift from the airport at night on midnight on the Sunday, sorting me out with a sweater, facilitating me getting a tux for the Academie du vin dinner (the latter two because of my lost luggage) and generally being absolutely fantastic.
If I do have the opportunity to do this again there are two very important lessons that I have learnt. Firstly, I think I would take more time over the tasting and make a conscious effort to come early (to avoid the potential catastrophe of the wildcat strike but also to try and squeeze in a couple more negotiant tastings) and taste all the wines more than once. I only had that opportunity with two of the wines and it was extremely beneficial. Secondly, I think that is imperative that I learn something beyond the pidgin French I have currently mastered; it is so beneficial when asking questions of the producers, talking with the negotiants and, well, just not being an ignorant bloody bastard from the other side of the world butchering the small amount of Francais already mastered.
2021 Château Kirwan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Blackcurrant over plum, sweet oak spice, very slight tomato leaf and rocky minerality. Acidity is moving towards medium plus intensity, fleshy, a little dilute in fact with black hued fruits, touch of savoury almost yeast extract, tannins are persistent, talc textured, lightweight. Balanced. Okay. A nice start to the first day of EP
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2021 Le Haut-Médoc de Giscours
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
(4/25/2022)
Wild blackcurrant and red currant, herbaceous notes, a little plummy underpin, sweet spice, a touch of meatiness and, with time, a little jubey prettiness. Medium plus intensity acidity, fruit reversed so plums over blackcurrant, plenty of drying, hard and slightly green tannins, and a little white pepper spice on the finish. Meh.
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2021 La Sirène de Giscours
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Smells dense, savoury, meaty, black hued fruit; currant and red currant, sweet spice and a little oaky underpin. Medium plus intensity acidity, black and red fruits with a slight herbaceous background. Tannins are hard and it finishes a little hard and astringent. Meh
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2021 Château Giscours
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Initially medium minus intensity aromas but opens to show quite pretty black and red fruits backed by meaty savoury notes and sweet oak spice. Medium plus intensity acidity is juicy, savoury woody dark hued fruits (with a smear of red fruit compote beneath this) have a pretty fruit core but there is, like the Sirene, a hard bitter and moderately astringent note on the finish. Tannins are tight, chewy, drying and there is also a smidge of alcohol warmth here. Hmm
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2021 Château Brane-Cantenac Le Baron de Brane
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Meaty savoury, plums over blackcurrant, slightly toasty notes, and sweet spice. medium plus intensity acidity is slightly sharp, plums over blackcurrant again, tannins are hard and have a slightly green quality, slight alcohol warmth on the finish which shows a little bitterness. The palate is greener than the nose. Meh.
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2021 Château Brane-Cantenac
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Plenty of polished oak up front, wild blackcurrant compote, slight pyrazine. Medium plus intensity acidity lends juiciness, fleshy, fresh crunchy blackcurrant, sweet and savoury spice, drying grainy tannins show the oak and persist long. Pretty good for a classic Bordeaux as long as those oaky tannins integrate with rather than dominate the fruit.
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2011 Château Brane-Cantenac
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Blackcurrant, a little sweaty note, slight tomato leaf, raspberry, sweet spice, a sense of freshness with a meaty underpin. Juicy, fresh, slightly sour though fresh, concentrated red over blackcurrant, a little cocoa powder, tannins are drying, woody, a little savoury spice, finishes quite dry. Nice.
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2001 Château Brane-Cantenac
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Leather, beef extract, brambles, blackcurrant, sweet spice. Juicy, fleshy, leather, tannins are tight, still drying and persistent, savoury, brambly fruit. Long, slightly warm. Pleasing.
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2021 Château Cantenac Brown BriO
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Plum, sweetly fruited, pretty with a slight savoury underpin. Quite perfumed as well but with some leafiness. Sourly juicy, the green note is more pronounced on the palate, tannins are hard, chalky and grainy, a little alcohol warmth intrudes on the finish. Not very nice
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2021 Château Cantenac Brown
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Blackcurrant smells hard and slightly green, unripe. Savoury. More ‘classic claret’ nose for me. Juicy, fleshy, brambles and blackcurrant, a little biscuit and cream, tannins are tight, drying, coarse flour textured but not overpowering the fruit, all travel long. Very good indeed though fairly simple at this stage.
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2021 AltO de Cantenac Brown Blanc
France, Bordeaux
(4/25/2022)
Initially a touch of fresh gooseberry, slight cream, butter, a little tropical fruit note, quite lozenge. Medium plus intensity acidity, gooseberry over sweetly ripe tropical fruit especially pineapple. Wetly enjoyable, simple, slight bitterness on the finish.
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2021 Château Prieuré-Lichine
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Ribena with a little rhubarb over polished oak, sweet spice. It’s a little reticent on the nose. In the mouth it’s juicy and savoury, blackcurrant fruit is quite concentrated; obviously bled/saignee’d. Drying, chewy, savoury tannins close down the palate, fruit persists though with a little cream and oaky notes on the very long finish. Proves quite thick. Possibly a little too extracted/worked?
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2021 Alter Ego
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Red plum, red berry and currant, cream, woody okay notes are polished. Medium plus intensity acidity, woody, chalky tannins, again quite red fruit on the palate, it’s a bit woody and chewy at the moment.
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2021 Château Palmer
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Sweet plums over blackcurrant, pretty and quite fruit driven with wrapped around a core of expensive good quality oak. Medium plus intensity acidity, quite savoury black fruit, plentiful oaky tannins, quite cabernet driven. Hmm. I’m not sure if the tannins are a little too much for the fruit.
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2021 Château Malescot St. Exupéry
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Blackcurrant tends to cassis, cream, a little baked herb note with an underpin of polished oak, sweet spice, violets. In the mouth it’s juicy tending to medium plus intensity acidity, fruit is initially sweet then rapidly gets more savoury, tannins are floury textured, drying but equally made up of grape and oak notes. There is a little black coffee note with time. It does fade quite quickly and, rather oddly, begins to show a smidge of cork taint…
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2021 Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Medium plus intensity aromas of violet, plum before oak starts kicking my nose off my face. With agitation there is a certain wild ferment funkiness (though I’m sure this is just my bruised nose playing tricks) and some blackcurrant. Juicy acidity, savoury, chewy, chalky, oaky tannins rather dominate (unsurprisingly) and there is a touch of alcohol warmth on the finish. Nope.
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2021 Château Margaux
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
Meaty, savoury, slight funky over black hued fruits; berries and currants, a little fruit tea, polished oak but contained by the fruit (on the nose at least). Medium plus intensity acidity, black fruits again but showing brambles, blackcurrant, there is a sense of wetness, and the oak lends a certain plushness but that is balanced by the fruit. Well managed tannins are persistent, woody but more about support. Wine of the day so far. A class apart.
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2021 Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux
France, Bordeaux
(4/25/2022)
Gooseberry, passion fruit, lees work, slight oak initially but, with time in the glass, this woodiness grows, Medium plus intensity acidity and an instant fruit hit, the passion fruit is washed aside by the slightly unripe gooseberry flood. Oak lends a certain biting cats rasp to the mid palate, battonage a little fatness. Long with a little minerality on the finish. There’s lots going on but it’s a bit disjointed. Not for me.
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2021 Château Berliquet
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
(4/25/2022)
Plush plums, red berry and currant underpin, polished oak is present but more in the background. Juicy, softly engaging, fresh, fleshy, tannins are finely tooled and chalky textured but, like the oak on the nose, very much in a supporting role. Alcohol is present though not intrusive on the finish where the oak vies for a little more attention. Pleasant, balanced, good.
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2021 Château Canon
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
(4/25/2022)
Medium minus intensity aromas that show a little smokiness (though this could be the fact that they seem to be burning wood somewhere nearby. Savoury, fruit quite muted; a little plum and red berry shows with time (and agitation). Medium plus intensity acidity, floury textured tannins are drying, persistent, woody, chewy to the point of toughness, fruit plays second fiddle to this oaky solo, a little creamy note on the finish. Meh.
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2021 Château Rauzan-Ségla
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
(4/25/2022)
A little struck match, graphite, fresh ripe (though not overripe) wild blackcurrant, muted polished oak in support on the nose. Medium plus intensity acidity, savoury, medium plus intensity chalky tannins show grape and wood, chewy, tight and dominant on the palate. The fruit is present beneath this with time and agitation the fruit grows on the palate. The merlot offers more breadth and structure than flavour for me. A little out of balance. Hmm
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