CT Bordeaux Trip 2011 - Day 1 (France, Bordeaux, Pauillac)
Tasted Monday, May 23, 2011 by grafstrb with 1,088 views
Flight 1 - Pontet Canet (2 Notes)
Pontet Canet has 81 ha under vine: 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The average vine age is 45 years, with the youngest vines being 5 years old, and the oldest being 75 years old. Pontet Canet is quite proud of the fact that they have organic and biodynamic certifications on all of their 81 ha. Pontet Canet is the only one of the 61 Grand Cru Classe cahteaux to have biodynamic certification. Pontet Canet currently employs four horses, which help them plow 24 ha; they hope to eventually employ 10 – 12 horses, so that all of their holdings can be worked by horse. Apparently it took some time for the field workers to come around to the idea of working the vineyards with horses instead of machines, but their attitudes quickly changed when visitors to the chateau routinely took their pictures while working in the vines with the horses.
Pontet Canet uses large oak vats (110 hectoliters) with medium toast, and allows their wine to undergo natural yeast fermentations. 80% of PC’s production goes into their Grand Vin, with the remaining 20% going into their second wine. The Grand Vin spends 16 months in barrel, whereas the second wine spends only 12 months in barrel.
During our visit, we tasted a 2010 barrel sample, as well as the 2005 from 750mL.
Flight 2 - Lynch Bages (2 Notes)
Lynch Bages takes its name from two sources:
1. Bages is the name of the village in which the property is located;
2. Lynch is the name of the first family who owned the property.
The Cazes family bought the estate in 1933, and still owns the property today.
Lynch Bages’ holdings are comprised of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. In contrast to Pontet Canet, where wine temperatures are checked manually, Lynch Bages controls wine temperature by computer, and they also perform 2 – 3 pump-overs per day. Lynch Bages’ wines are 100% destemmed.
We tasted the 2004 out of 750mL, as well as 2010 barrel sample during our visit.
Flight 3 - Mouton Rothschild (1 Note)
Not much of a presentation here. I learned that the estate has been around since 1853, and the chateau started bottling on the estate in 1924. Average age of vines is 56 years. We tasted the 2010 barrel sample here.
Flight 4 - Grand Puy Lacoste (4 Notes)
Because Lafite pulled a jackhole move on our group, backing out of their agreement to accept all of our group a mere two days before our trip commenced, approximately half of us volunteered to visit Grand Puy Lacoste instead. Although I would have loved to visit Lafite and taste the 1995 that they poured for the other half of our group, I am ultimately quite happy that I was among the GPL volunteers, as Lafite isn’t going anywhere anytime soon (can always visit at a later time), and the 2010 barrel sample that GPL poured for us was either my favorite or second-favorite 2010 barrel sample of the trip. Oh yeah, the ’05 was pretty delicious as well!
Grand Puy Lacoste has 55 ha: 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. GPL does not do all natural yeast ferments, and they fine with egg whites, too. They start their malos during maceration. Grand Puy Lacoste’s Grand Vin spends 14 months in barrel (60% new, 40% 1 year old). We were told 95% of GPL’s Grand Vin is sold as futures. We tasted four wines during this visit:
Flight 5 - Pichon Baron (4 Notes)
Our final stop of the day was at the majestic Pichon Baron chateau. Striking in its beauty and slick in its modernity, one can’t help but marvel at the stark difference in philosophy between this producer and a more traditional-minded producer, such as Pontet-Canet.
Pichon Baron has 73 ha: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot.
We tasted four vintages of PB:
Flight 6 - Hotel Regent: Pre-dinner Wines (3 Notes)
After returning to our respective hotels before dinner, the lion’s share of the group reconvened at Hotel Regent for a few pre-dinner glasses. Tacman’s generosity knows no bounds – he popped a 2000 Harlan, and LST brought along two 1986 Napa Cabs., to honor two couples on the trip who were celebrating their 25 wedding anniversaries; sadly, neither of these couples decided to join us for pre-dinner wine, so the rest of us drank them in their honor!
Closing
What a day!
2005 Château Pontet-Canet 96 Points
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
-- popped and poured --
-- tasted a single pour non-blind over 5 – 10 minutes --
-- 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot --
NOSE: expressive; plum; cinnamon; hint of black raspberry on the finish; a completely beguiling and intoxicating Nose. Stunning.
TASTE: intense palate of purple berries shows incredible balance: nice acidity, ample tannins, and the 13% alc. is not noticeable. Finish was long, but not very intense as this wine is still wound quite tightly. Really a gorgeous wine. This was one of my favorite wines of the entire trip. My score may be a tidge conservative.
B: 50, 5, 14, 18, 9 = 96
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2010 Château Pontet-Canet
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
-- tasted a single pour non-blind over 5 – 10 minutes --
-- barrel sample --
-- 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot –
Very oaky on the Nose, with gentle wafts of flowers and a hint of Bdx. funk in the background. The palate is extremely tannic, with lots of purple berries and a hint of red berries. Quite hard at this point in time. Finish was long.
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