UGC Bordeaux 2022
Tasted Thursday, January 23, 2025 by leegustation with 134 views
Introduction
2022 UGC tasting, hosted by K&L Wines in San Francisco. There's little sign of the classic old Bordeaux of yesteryear this vintage - e.g., pyrazines, minerality, beef blood - but the best wines retain their character. The worst have overly confectioned fruit with too much oak and a significant amount of heat. I was also surprised by how homogenous many wines were - there were only a few stylistic outliers, good or bad. While there were some very impressive wines, given the high prices, I left more inclined to backfill on vintages like 2001 and 2004 than to buy 2022 on release.
2022 Château Haut-Bailly
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Beautiful aromatic attack that leaps from the glass with plums, violets, and loam. Soft and velvety on the palate with a very svelte mouthfeel - love the texture. On the palate, violets, pepper, and minerality. Loved this, my top wine of UGC.
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2022 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Small pour at UGC, and likely not representative. Very closed aromatically. Palate has a interesting hint of violets, but otherwise not giving much.
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2022 Château Langoa Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Showy dark fruit backed by a hedonic but well-measured amount of oak. One of my top Saint-Juliens at UGC.
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2022 Château Haut-Batailley
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Lighter and more finesse-driven than most other Pauillacs at UGC. Red-fruit forward with a crisp acidic attack. Nice.
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2022 Château Ormes de Pez
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
At UGC. Complete, but I detected a bit of burnt rubber on the palate that I found off-putting. Didn't love this one. Probably needed more airtime than it was given.
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2022 Château Lynch-Bages
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
From a small pour at UGC. Very tight aromatically. One of the few wines at the tasting to show pyrazines. Fruit is pretty restrained, and it ends oaky.
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2022 Château Phélan Ségur
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe
More mineral-driven, with less forward fruit than many of its neighbors. Really liked this one. At UGC.
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2022 Domaine de Chevalier
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
At UGC. Very perfumed and endowed with a great sense of minerality. Extremely powdery tannins on the palate, but still feels very light-footed. Really good & one of my favorites, both in the highly successful Pessac Leognan appellation and in the entire show.
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2022 Château Brane-Cantenac
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
At UGC. Very perfumed and fruit-forward, but by no means blowsy. Palate is very soft, with a caress of plush fruit and a velvety mouthfeel. Quite unique among its peers. My top Margaux of the show.
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2022 Château Cantenac Brown
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
At UGC. Much more closed than the Brane-Cantenac tasted right alongside, with a bigger, more astringent tannic profile. Fruit profile is darker than the redder Brane as well. By no means as elegant as some of its Margaux peers but I enjoyed its brooding, masculine character.
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2022 Château Beychevelle
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Quite ripe with Napa-like plushness and a caress of vanillin oak. Not for me, but no doubt well-made.
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2022 Château Léoville Barton
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Very intense dark fruit with excellent structure and balance. The oak feels restrained, and this was one of the few wines of UGC to display savory notes (herbs). Doesn't feel like it came from this vintage; totally unique. One of the top wines of the tasting.
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2022 Château Léoville Poyferré
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Far flashier than the Leoville Barton tasted alongside at UGC. Fruit is ripe to the point of being candied - riper even than Beychevelle - and there's lots of oak here. Versus the regal Barton, this feels more coquette yet a little flabby.
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2022 Château Talbot
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
One of the few wines at UGC that could be described as "funky", with phenolics that resemble, but are far more pleasant than, brett. Lots of pyrazine on the very dark and savory palate, all wrapped in a quite strict, very serious structure. Very unique in the context of the '22 wines tried at UGC. Loved it.
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2022 Château Gruaud Larose
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
Not as giving as the Talbot tasted alongside at UGC. Fruit is somewhat muted, with quite a lot of oak in the driver's seat.
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2022 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Explosively aromatic with a great sense of power. Palate is quite oaky but there's enough soft red berry fruit to balance it. A pretty modern wine but very intense and well done.
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2022 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Darker in character and more brooding than the '22 Pichon Baron tasted alongside at UGC. More black fruits to the Baron's red. Impressive ripeness, the fruit tastes almost sweet on the palate, although it isn't blowsy. Very persistent and impressive, this feels oakier than top wines from other appellations, but I enjoyed it more than the Baron.
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2022 Château Pape Clément
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Very intense on the palate, explodes with ripe fruit, burned rubber, and oak. Expected to dislike this but somehow it kind of works, given the massive fruit concentration.
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2022 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
This is a crazy wine and one of the outliers of UGC. Very aromatic with tons of candied fruit and an interesting floral note. Very forward on the palate, as expected, but doesn't feel unbalanced. Hot on the finish with lots of wood notes, which knocks off a little enjoyment.
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2022 Château La Tour Figeac
France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru
Very interesting. Extremely peppery on the palate with plush dark fruit. Lots of complexity, this is quite oaky (coconut?) but the wine holds it together. Very intense. This is great! Great for the money, but also great objectively. One of my favorite wines of UGC. I should look into why I like this so much - Cab Franc?
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2022 Château Malartic-Lagravière
France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
Pretty, a little oak forward but beautifully dark and fruity on the palate with a bit of softer oak vanillins. Great structure. Love this one. Good value. One of many successful Pessac Leognans at UGC.
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2022 Château Giscours
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Powdery, restrained, red-fruited, elegant. Pretty. Crowd pleaser but not I felt this was not as distinct as the Brane-Cantenac or Cantenac-Brown tasted alongside at UGC.
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2022 Château Saint-Pierre
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien
At UGC. Felt this was a bit anodyne, with a slightly muted fruit character and a body that was mostly oak-forward. Towards the end of the tasting so palate exhaustion may be a factor.
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