Bordeaux 2006 from Magnum

The 2006, an OK but not great vintage (I happened to be there for the harvest), was the topic of this night. No idea why they chose to serve from Magnums as this vintage is anyway only "early maturity".

• 2006 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark ruby with purple core. Expressive nose of black current, dried fruit, dark cherries and eucalyptus, very aromatic. On the palate round an fruity (excellent Merlot performance) with tannins adding just the required amount of bitterness to give it structure. While Merlot makes decent drinking wines in many places of the world, only in Bordeaux it has this kind of structure and complexity. This was the most popular wine of the evening by a margin. Well done especially for this vintage! Starting to drink well now. 93-94

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• 2006 Château Clerc Milon 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Medium ruby. Discrete nose of cedar wood, cloves and foresty notes, good aromatic. Enters the palate quite light with a bit of a weak mid palate. Not very round at the moment, right after the Canon LG it was easy to see that we switched into CabSav. Tannins still a bit young and need time, will be decent but never great. Wait 2-3 years. 89-90.

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• 2006 Château Haut-Bailly 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Dark ruby. Discrete nose of dark berries, forest floor, pine tree and a hint of wood, deep and complex but much more closed than from recent 0.75's I had. That's magnum what can you say. On the palate medium-full bodied with good volume, ripe fruit and well buffered from tannins. Good length. 93+

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• 2006 Château Rauzan-Ségla 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Medium ruby. Discrete nose of cloves, sweet spices and dark berries, nice aromatics but still reductive. Easy to distinguish as Margaux next to the Pauillacs and St. Juliens. On the palate medium bodied with good volume but prominent and a somewhat drying tannins. Not much pleasure. Least preferred wine tonight. Wait 3-4 years. 88-90+?

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• 2006 Château Talbot 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Medium garnet. This had the most classic Medoc nose of the night. Well rounded aromas of cassis, cedar wood, slightly prominent on the oak though. While not very strong on the mid palate it was very balanced and pleasant to drink. The tannins were soft as well. I drank this wine a few weeks later from bottle. While the aromas were consistent there was much less fruit and a bit drying tannins in this bottle. 88-91

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• 2006 Clos du Marquis 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Medium ruby with purple core. Nose of dark fruit, plum and a hint of oak. On the palate quite round and full. It looks like we had again more Merlot in the blend. Drinking well. Tannins were soft and provided the right amount of sappyness. Drinks well now but decanting recommended.

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Solid wines overall, a bit too early to drink especially from Magnum. Merlot did better than Cabernet. Generally the CabSavs were lacking a bit of mid palate and exciting fruit, but still solid overall. May be that is all what an average can deliver. Good, but not great could be a fair summary.