2006 Bordeaux Tastings

Tasted Saturday, October 24, 2009 - Sunday, November 1, 2009 by amateurwino with 1,693 views

Flight 1 (6 Notes)

Flight 2 (3 Notes)

  • 2006 Château Olivier 85 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/28/2009)

    Estery banana bread and earth on nose; palate has rock and full decent fruit on palate. Good QPR. 85-87.

    Update: had from bottle a few days later. At first, this is disappointing, with slightly plastic-tasting primary merlot fruit with a slightly green edge dominating; given an hour, however this rounds out nicely into a very decent entry level Graves - with the smoke/mineral elements coming out as the fruit melds with the other elements here. Nothing special, but decent example of the appellation, and enjoyable after given enough air. Tops out at 87-88ish level in flashes.

    2nd update: the more I taste and retaste, the more an astringency comes out, the less than high quality of the fruit shows, and the oak treatment comes off as off-puttingly sweet and somewhat plastic tasting. Downgrading accordingly.

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  • 2006 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Beautiful - voluptuous sweet fruit on nose. Buttery on palate with good acidic underpinnings. 92+

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  • 2006 Domaine de Chevalier 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Coffee and quality sweet fruit on nose. Tannic but full and round on palate. 91-92.

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Flight 3 (3 Notes)

  • 2006 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Nose is sweet with a slight greenish, rocky edge. Palate sweet with excellent acidity. 92-93. Mme Cathiard mentioned that the blend includes "5 % secret varietal" - I'd guess muscadelle?

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  • 2006 Château Smith Haut Lafitte 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Pretty sweet fruit and gravel, coffee, and caramel on nose. Young but this is deep and pretty, 92-93. Smoke also red berries per Monsieur Cathiard.

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  • 2006 Château Haut-Bailly 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Lighter nose than SHL - slightly estery nose at first, but that blows off. Palate is tannic and deep- refined red fruits and gravel. Tightly wound but pretty, needs time. When retasted later - a little more funk/earth on the nose. Very structured, perhaps moreso even than LMHB and HB; darker fruits here too. Hits alongside the big boys (but a bit less approachable now), at a fantastic QPR price. Perhaps the toughest to identify blind as a Graves, but this compares very well to top Pauillacs and St. Juliens, in my opinion. 93-95.

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Flight 4 (4 Notes)

  • 2006 Château Laville Haut-Brion Blanc 92 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Pretty blend, sweet. Quite similar in overall profile to de Chevalier but a bit more buttery. I prefer the de Chevalier by a hair, but this is for those who prefer voluptuous fruit, that perhaps sticks out a little.

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  • 2006 Château Haut-Brion 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Refined nose, very similar to LMHB - classic Graves smokey perfume, nice balance, slightly less full on the palate than LMHB but nice and round. 94-95.

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  • 2006 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 95 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    Very tight - slight green in the flavor profile compared to HB but very nice, palate is quite round and good 94-95. Very similar on nose to Haut Brion, hard to distinguish. 2nd taste: round fruit on palate, very pretty nose. Best of tasting, by a hair over Haut-Brion; this has a tighter core of structure.

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  • 2006 Château Pape Clément 94 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

    (10/24/2009)

    very full and round; dark fruits; modern style; pretty nose - top quality fruit . An extra refinement here. 93-94

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Flight 5 (2 Notes)

  • 2005 Duluc de Branaire-Ducru 83 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    (10/31/2009)

    Tannic, concentrated; slight oak on nose. Not enamored with the fruit here, which seems ungenerous and bitter. Possible that this is in a dumb phase, but from what I can taste I don't believe in the material here. 82- 84

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  • 2006 Château Branaire-Ducru 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    (10/31/2009)

    After the disappointing 05 Duluc, I sniffed this and thought "now we're talking." Big difference here - pretty, sweet fruits apparent on nose. This has concentration, oak in balance, noticeable but surmountable tannins. 91-92. Decent if found for mid $30s or less.

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Closing

Overall, I came away pleasantly surprised by the 2006s overall- they fit my palate quite well (and more than I expected to). I think I may enjoy them much in the way that I enjoy 2001 Bordeaux, although they are not necessarily vintages with similar characteristics. I have bought a few favorite bottles, and will buy more widely when prices come down significantly.

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