The Institute of Masters of Wine Annual Bordeaux Tasting - 2011 Vintage

To Quote Charles Taylor MW " To summarise, the best wines have good structure, ripe fruit, fine freshness and will age gracefully. Others are too tannic for the weight of the fruit and will always lack charm and generosity"

We agree 100% and in general many of our notes mention "winemaker opted for ripeness and sacrificed freshness"
The sweets are superb and a great year for them and were delicious even young!

We did not try all the wines and as always we rated based on how they felt of the day, NOT on outlook.

Not really impressed barring a stunning, for the vintage, Figeac.

• 2011 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Quite a ripe fruit, opulent nose, light cacao, oaky dynamics. Def one of the more oaky ones. Well ripe and roundish , good rich fruit, impressive even young. Quite a bit of tannin but importantly has a good persistence of flavour. (90)

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• 2011 Château Figeac 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  The best one of the right bank .
  Balanced and harmonious wine, light herbaceous nose. Fresh , one of the very few we came across in 2011, very elegant and classy even at this young age. Very nice dark fruit too. (92-93)

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• 2011 Château Lafleur 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Quite restrained, shy nose, light dark fruit. On the palate it's just not really "present" and was not impressive at all. Not sure what more we can say here. (87)

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• 2011 Château Troplong Mondot 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Shy on the nose, light dark fruit mix, light herby and floral. Quite "silky" on the palate in a way good fine grain tannin, elegant wine albeit muscular wine.Quite a bit of of oak still on the palate but time will help it, light chocolate notes.has a punch too but very good and carries the 14.5% alc quite well. (90-91)

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• 2011 Château La Fleur-Pétrus 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Shy and restraint on the nose . Few green notes on the tannin front, quite blunt and at times flat and dare we say watery. An ok wine but not up to the pedigree.(87)

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• 2011 Château Trotanoy 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  14.5% alc here. Ripe and rich nose, big and rich on the palate too, but also lacks freshness and vitality. Maybe a bit of green tannin too. (89)

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• 2011 Château Clinet 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Not a fan of this wine at this stage. Light and raisiny, a touch off putting at times and lacked structure. We gave up. 87

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• 2011 Château La Conseillante 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Quite a ripe, rich oaky nose on the forefront. Clearly here they went for ripeness at all cost and on the way dropped off acidity and freshness. Approachable now but for the wrong reasons. (87)

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• 2011 Château Petit Village 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  One of the surprises and clearly here the light handed approach got it right.
  Quite a bit of a fruity, dark fruits, nose, light oaky feel, herbaceous. Decent freshness ( especially compared with its neighbours) harmonious and pretty. A pretty solid (89)

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St Julien and Pauillac were the clearly better on average.

• 2011 Château Haut-Bailly 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Quite elegant, dark fruit nose, light herby, quite a bit of tannin, but well structured and with decent element of fruit. A pretty nice wine for the vintage. ( 90)

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• 2011 Château Smith Haut Lafitte 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Surprisingly restraint wine, both on ripeness but also extraction and oak. Litchi touch of oak is present at this age, not the overdone monster we thought we would have expected. Rich fruit notes, dark fruited , good on palate, roundish, and with good not angular though tannin . In a nice place and quite approachable and among the better wines we tried on the day from the 2011 vintage (91-92)

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• 2011 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Leafy, dark fruits on the nose. A touch flat however , lacks persistence of flavour and depth. Almost no energy . Decent fruit but feels like for the sake of ripeness they sacrificed the life and the freshness. Nowhere near the Haut Brion in level this year. ( 89).

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• 2011 Domaine de Chevalier 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Quite impressive on the nose, ripe dark fruit, light herbs. Quite decent fruit on the palate too and once again we came across that lack of acidity and freshness in favour of ripe fruit. Felt also a bit watery on the mid palate ( 88)

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• 2011 Château Durfort-Vivens 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Quite a ripe nose of fruit, rich nose, light herby edge. Singing. Good on the palate too, on the round side, firm tannin, lacks a bit of freshness much like many of the 2011s, but overall a pretty wine. (90+)

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• 2011 Château d'Issan

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  A herby-er expression on the nose less fruit. Lots of tannin, big and grippy, but not aggressive or green. Good wine but lacks a bit of acidity to give it harmony and freshness .

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• 2011 Château Lascombes 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Peppery dark fruit nose . Good ripe fruit, firm tannin, rich core of fruit on the palate but comes at a sacrifice to they freshness of the wine and doesn't feel vibrant enough. At times felt a little bit flat. (89-90)

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• 2011 Château Palmer 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  A disappointing wine given the pedigree and expectation, let alone price. Light mocha on the nose, good dark fruit, a lot of youthful, grippy tannin, decent fruit core but lacks in style, almost dull and not vibrant at all. They could have done a lot better. (87)

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• 2011 Château Rauzan-Ségla 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Light spicy, rich fruit nose. Good balance, again another wine that sacrificed freshness for ripe fruit, a touch modern in a way, good wine relatively and approachable now. (89)

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• 2011 Château Calon-Ségur 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Impressive nose, fresh and herby, leafy very Cabernet nose. Dark fruit, good level of fruit, could have been a bit fresher but overall a great effort and a good wine. Definitely ( and adjusted for price) one to pay attention to (90)

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• 2011 Château Cos d'Estournel 85 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Dark, ripe, raisiny and on the overdone side. Almost porty. Not sure what they were trying to do here or whether they were trying to rescue what was left post that famous hailstorm but a clear disappointment especially comparing with the stellar result that Montrose delivered. Unlucky with nature or on the wrong path (85)

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• 2011 Château Montrose 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Estèphe

  Quite an impressive wine, and at par with first growths. Beautiful nose, vibrant fruit, well balanced mineral and pretty solid. This is the must have wine of the 2011s we felt .(93-94)

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• 2011 Château Beychevelle 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Quite a blunt effort here ticks a few boxes but lacked charm and magic. A touch flat and not as inspiring as we expected. (88)

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• 2011 Château Branaire-Ducru 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Muted nose, an ok wine but not impressive. Needs time we think as it has a good density of fruit and decent acidity but the tannins are too much and need time to soften. (88)

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• 2011 Château Gruaud Larose 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  A pretty solid and harmonious wine. Good balance of ripeness and freshness (something most wines did not have ) elegant and very nice to see GL continue to make solid old school wines. One to own. (91)

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• 2011 Château Lagrange (St. Julien) 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  A chateau we always consider a great find and great value for money, however it did not perform in 2011. Quite dry, muted and very tannic. Not a bad wine but not a great result either. (87)

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• 2011 Château Léoville Barton 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Good wine and one that shown on the day. Lovely balance and harmony. Decent fruit, good density of flavour and maintained a classy feel across. Nice depth too. A pretty solid wine and one we would look for. (91)

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• 2011 Château Léoville Las Cases 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Good but restrained, buttoned down but full of energy and stuffing to evolve into something special in the future. A sleeping boxer of a wine here but we are very hopeful that given time this will be special as it had both the rig ripeness of fruit and acidity. (92)

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• 2011 Château Léoville Poyferré 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

  Touch thin on the fruit side and aggressive on the tannin. A few off-putting notes on the nose at times too, not one we spent long time around. (87)

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• 2011 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Light and muted on the nose. Light on the body, a touch lacking of fruit density across and generally felt not up to standard and a bit average. (88)

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• 2011 Château Lynch-Bages 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Good nose, light spice, bright fruit, vibrant wine, good tannin, well made and stood out. Young of course and needs time but this is one of the successes of 2011. (92)

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• 2011 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Good to see that they now tone down the oak. Harmonious wine and balanced good fruit a feel of rich fruit, decent freshness, a pretty solid wine until one tries the Pichon Lalande tbh. (90)

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• 2011 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A very classy and charming wine here. Even at number 86 with all the palate fatigue this shown like the star it is. Elegant, well round, IB tune and in a way delicate. Good fruit density, freshness and a lot of structure. A. Erg solid result given the vintage and second to Montrose for us outside the premier . (92-93)

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• 2011 Château Pontet-Canet 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Light nose, dark fruits, a touch of raisiny edge a few times but not one to put us of from seeing what a beautiful wine this is . Nice balance, well made, good structure and almost soft at times. Big tannin of course but not overpowering. Very very good, (92)

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• 2011 Château Angélus 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Spice, cloves, light raising on the nose. Medium bodied, big tannin, lacks a fresh feel. A it overripe and in general we felt it was lacking and was not impressed at all. (88)

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• 2011 Château Cheval Blanc

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Not a very developed wine at all, especially on the nose. Shy , closed, not singing. Obv very young and to be honest barring the name nothing really of interest here at this stage. At least it felt it had balance and hopefully time will help it catch up to its price.

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• 2011 Château Haut-Brion 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  The first probably wine in the line up that we found a fresh and vibrant core. Good ripe fruit, well mannered wine, a bit of oaky dynamics still linger. Proper wine even in a challenging vintage like 2011. Elegant and albeit very young had a solid feel to it.

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• 2011 Château Lafite Rothschild 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  12.5% alc here! Herby nose, good balance, elegant wine albeit on the shy side at this stage. Nice harmony and showed sides of a bib rant core of fruit. Very elegant wine. 92 for now though.

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• 2011 Château Margaux 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Essence of effortless balance here. Lovely wine, good fruit, good tannin, no sharp edges and green notes. Could have been a bit more vibrant but overall very nice and dare say delicious even at this stage.

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• 2011 Château Mouton Rothschild 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  The best nose of the tasting by a mile. Elegant as expected, balanced, good fruit, nice persistence of flavour and just a has a hidden gem feel to it. Very good.

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• 2011 Château d'Yquem 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Liquid gold and stood head and shoulders vs the other sweets in the tasting. 2011 looks like a year for the whites. We should make the argument for trying this wine even now as it is utterly delicious. Harmony, balance, fresh . Maybe the best the 2011 has to offer?

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• 2011 Château Doisy-Daëne 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Nice fresh wine, lovely fruit, good rich profile , long and complex. Very brig and vibrant. Solid effort here and we would suggest as with many 2011s to try a few young. (92-93)

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• 2011 Château Rieussec 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Barring the Yquem this was the best of the sweets. Good density of fruit, lovely elegance, depth and supercomplex even at this young age. Impossible to resist to be honest and we really loved it. (94+) a must buy.

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• 2011 Château Suduiraut 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Came 3rd after the Yquem and the Riussec but even still have very little to be jealous from them. Fresh, lively and bright, nice balanced sweetness and just utterly delicious. (93)

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• 2011 Château Climens 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Quite restrained to be honest vs the rest of the sweets and lighter on the fruit density too. Not as opulent as the rest and not sure if it's because it's gone to sleep or just the level of it.

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