2012 UGC Bordeaux Tasting

Palace Hotel, SF
Tasted Saturday, January 31, 2015 by aagrawal with 665 views

Flight 1 - White Bordeaux (3 Notes)

Interesting wines, and would be worth buying a few at $30-40, but these wines have gotten crazy at $80-100. Pass.

Flight 2 - Sauternes (8 Notes)

Although I usually love at least a few of the sauternes even in poor vintages, this vintage is a disaster. None of these were very good, and only the Coutet and Doisy Daene were even approaching decent to good. Some, like the Climens and Lafaurie Peyraguey, were poor.

  • 2012 Château Doisy-Daëne 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    Tropical fruit, intense nose, complex; palate is a bit disjointed but has great acidity and great fruit, hasn't come together yet. Hard to evaluate. 90

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  • 2012 Château Coutet Barsac 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    Flowery nose but very subtle, not the usual blockbuster on the nose; full bodied, great fruit, slight bitter grapefruit, medium persistence; finish fades a bit too abruptly. Pleasant, but no greatness yet. 90

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  • 2012 Château Climens 83 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

    Lacks intensity on the nose, some paint thinner; palate is full bodied, unbalanced, high alcohol, lacks complexity. Poor showing. 83

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  • 2012 Château Guiraud 85 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Lightly aromatic nose with slight sugar and fruit?; palate is full bodied, disjointed, excellent acidity though. 85

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  • 2012 Clos Haut-Peyraguey 86 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Mild nose; palate has good balance, simple, sweet, but good acidity, not much complexity to the flavors. 86-87

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  • 2012 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 83 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Completely flat nose; palate is full bodied, some salinity, fruits fade by midpalate. 83

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  • 2012 Château de Rayne-Vigneau 84 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    Slightly floral; alcoholic, not enough concentration to the fruit. 84

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  • 2012 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes 85 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

    A little subtle nose with some minor fruit; palate is rich, dense, full bodied, comes across alcoholic because there is little fruit. 85

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Flight 3 - St. Julien (3 Notes)

My favorite region, and these stalwart chateaux were decent wines and decent values, but not worth picking up over other recent vintages. Still, enjoyable wines and I would be interested in trying them again in a few decades.

  • 2012 Château Léoville Poyferré 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    Nose is surprisingly reticent, slight minerality, slight black fruit; full bodied, structured tannin, dense fruit; medium finish. Very respectable. 90

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  • 2012 Château Léoville Barton 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    Slight smoky minerality, black fruit, subtle to moderate intensity; palate is full bodied, nice structured tannins, fresh black fruit; medium finish. 91-92

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  • 2012 Château Langoa Barton 89 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

    Nice balanced nose with a bit of red fruit, black fruit; palate is full bodied, fruit thins though. 89

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Flight 4 - Pauillac (5 Notes)

Grand-Puy-Lacoste is generally my choice for good value, and it lives up to that here. Pichon Lalande and Baron were both decent as well.

  • 2012 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Nice nose with good aromatics, cherry, cedar; palate is full bodied, tannic, ripe fruits, a bit of heat, good fruit; medium finish. Nice nose, palate falls a little short. 90

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  • 2012 Château Clerc Milon 86 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    No nose; some black fruit but not approachable, lacks density and complexity. 86

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  • 2012 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Dense youthful black fruits, slight spice, nice complexity; palate is full bodied, plush black fruits, elegant; med finish. 90-91+

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  • 2012 Château Lynch-Bages 89 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Blackcurrant, a little pomegranate, a little graphite; palate is full bodied but fresh acidity throughout, thins out a bit by the finish. 89

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  • 2012 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

    Actually a nice nose with good density to the black fruits, a little burly, some minerality; palate is rich, full bodied, nice black fruits; medium finish. More elegant than its usual style. Very nice. 90-91

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Flight 5 - Pomerol (2 Notes)

Clinet was a modern mess, as usual. Gazin was nearly a surprise as wine of the night after smelling the nose, but the palate brought it back down to earth. Too bad.

  • 2012 Château Clinet 86 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Purple blueberry fruits, vanilla; plush mouthfeel, but thins out by the midpalate. Lacks density. 86

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  • 2012 Château Gazin Pomerol 90 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

    Smoky, spicy, very nice nose, minerality, black fruits, very complex; palate is full bodied, unfortunately unbalanced with a bit too much alcohol. Nose was so promising. 95 nose, 87 palate. 90

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Flight 6 - St. Emilion (1 Note)

Actually very interesting, and Troplong Mondot was one of my wines of the tasting.

  • 2012 Château Troplong Mondot 91 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

    A lot of spice on the nose, soy sauce, mushroom; palate is medium-full bodied, good fruit but a bit thin towards the end. This is a very unique wine and a great effort. 91-92

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Flight 7 - Margaux (2 Notes)

Nothing special here.

Closing

Overall, I see little reason to purchase 2012. The sauternes are among the worst that I've tasted in recent years. Some of the reds are decent, and maybe worth a flyer if the prices are low enough, but none of them are must-have wines. It's worth spending your money elsewhere.

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