2006 Bordeaux 20 years on tasting

Tasting of 30 Bordeaux wines from 2006. All wines were served single-blind in flights of 4. No prior decanting.
A difficult vintage which was marked initially warm and fairly benign weather, but then heavy rainfall hit September before harvest. Key takeaways: i/ State of tannins is quite appalling on average, drying and coarse. ii/ Ripe and polished fruit - albeit lacking variety - and plenty of sweet spice and oak notes from a time where new wood was probably still very much en vogue. iii/ It was remarkable how many of the big guns failed the test of time miserably (exception Mouton). iv/ Right bank is in a disastrous form, most are already descending into beef juice with VA emerging.

St Estephe
Calon Ségur 89
Montrose 87

Pessac
Pape Clément 90
La Mission Haut Brion 88
Haut Bailly 87
Haut-Brion NR

Paulliac
Mouton Rothschild 95
Pichon Lalande 94
Lafite Rothschild 90
Latour 87

Margaux
Brane Cantenac 93
Margaux 92

St Julien
Léoville Las Cases 90
Ducru-Beaucaillou 87
Léoville Barton 86

Pomerol
L'Eglise Clinet 91
La Conseillante 89
Lafleur 89
Pétrus 78
Le Pin NR

St Emilion
Angélus 88
Ausone 88
Pavie 88
Troplong Mondot 87
La Mondotte 80
Cheval Blanc 75
Valandrau NR

Sauternes
Nairac 93
Yquem 92

• 2006 Château Pape Clément 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Ripe, clear-cut red and dark cherry fruit. Nicely scented with notes of cold tobacco and leather. Iodine minerality and pencil shavings. This screams classic Bordeaux and only hints at the advancing maturity. On the palate rather drying tannin, an abrupt finish and feels flat in terms of acidity. Overall quite decent.

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• 2006 Château Haut-Bailly 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Quite closed. Ripe red and dark cherry fruit. Swirling teases out sweeter licorice and cedar wood. The palate lacks, alas, fruit and the tannins are very drying. Leaves you with a furry mouthfeel in the finish but no flavors.

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• 2006 Château La Mission Haut-Brion 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Darker cherry and black berry fruit. Rather wooden profile due to quite heavy use of oak. Sweeter licorice notes and perfume. The palate with drying, mouthcoating tannins. Hardly any fruit left, although the finish ends with a nicely smoky aftertaste.

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• 2006 Château Haut-Brion Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  This is already quite advanced in its oxidation journey. Hard to identify much beyond the beef juice and Maggi. The palate disgusting, undrinkable. The cork broke when opening (only one in the line-up), hence was likely a bad bottle.

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• 2006 Château Brane-Cantenac 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Sweet and sexy entry with a ripe red cherry fruit. Fruit forward with most of the complexity - while present - more in the background. Mineral, earthy and leathery notes. The palate shows well with integrated tannins, fresh acidity. But maybe lacks aromatic power with flavors evaporating as you exit the mid-palate. Potentially a wine that is at peak now and offers decent pleasure.

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• 2006 Château Margaux 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  A nice, quite polished, slightly fruit-dominated nose with ripe red cherry. Sweet spice and light cedar wood. There is good depth after a bit of air and even a touch of espresso. On the palate grain y tannins and a rather coarse texture that can‘t quite balance the acidity. Becomes a bit juicier with aeration.

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• 2006 Château Léoville Las Cases 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Ripe fruit of dark and red cherry, dry herbs and darker leathery tones. Suppressed aromas otherwise. The palate showed pretty good balance initially, but tannins dry out a bit towards the finish.

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• 2006 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  Herbal and vegetal mostly with a cool minerality. There are hints of beef juice here and there, but still manageable, and there is still a nice sweetness to attractive, plum-like fruit. However, the palate quite dry and completely out of balance.

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• 2006 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 94 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Ripe cherry, red and dark. Beautifully layered with sweeter spice, fresh herbs, bloody mineral notes and earthy as well as leathery accents. This exhibits an appropriate level of gravitas from the 20 years of age. Also an unusually approachable palate with round tannin and good balance. Fresh and still sufficiently juicy. Leathery aftertaste – unfortunately rather drying towards the finish which was my main point of contention. Nonetheless, one of the highlights in the vintage.

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• 2006 Château Lafite Rothschild 80 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  A bit of heat, other than that not much of a nose. Red cherry fruit in the distance. Maybe sweeter licorice with air, but later also adds nail polish. The palate is awful from the start. Disjointed, excessive acidity and harsh tannins.

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• 2006 Château Latour Grand Vin 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Darker cherry on balance, slightly Brandy-like aromatically with fine, sweet notes of Cognac barrel - but luckily without the heat. On the palate rather mouthcoating and drying tannin, greenish and not fully ripe.

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• 2006 Château Mouton Rothschild 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Layered with espresso and black tea, sweet pipe tobacco, minor malty notes. A varied blue and darker berry fruit, without too much extraction. While humble at first, there is a lot of push behind which adds great depth. The palate not quite as spectacular as the nose. Tannins could be softer and they still have drying features towards the finish. But otherwise decent balance and good texture.

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• 2006 Château Calon-Ségur 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Rather ripe, dark cherry fruit. Sweet oaky notes add an sense of opulence. Light and varied herbs, including a touch of curcuma. The palate is not ideally balanced and tannins are somewhat coarse. Otherwise nicely fresh. Not all hope is lost with this one, may just need a bit more time.

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• 2006 Château Montrose 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Estèphe

  Ripe dark cherry, sweet oaky notes, leather and maybe a bit of barnyard. Quite low intensity all in all. The palate suffers from an abrupt finish and there are hardly any aromas left. Drying from attack to finish. An almost historic low-light for Montrose.

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• 2006 Château Léoville Barton 86 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Saint-Julien

  A minor lactic feature. Red and dark cherry fruit. Heavy-handed use of oak overshadows a lot here. On the palate the opposite. Hardly any flavors left, drying tannin and unpleasantly acidity from mid-palate onwards.

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• 2006 Château L'Eglise-Clinet 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  A minor cheesy, lactic detail. The fruit is ripe, on balance red in style. Attractive in a weird way. Uplifting spice and sprinkled with herbs. Fresh palate thanks to the acidity. The tannins slightly drying. Probably not an entirely clean bottle – but it still worked.

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• 2006 Château Le Pin Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  This was badly corked.

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• 2006 Château La Conseillante 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Compressed, ripe red cherry fruit. Sweet oaky frame. Pressed dry herbs. Full mouthfeel with ripe fruit and good aromatic presence. The tannins still too drying to be enjoyable.

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• 2006 Pétrus 78 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Mature and advanced nose. Malty notes, tobacco and a receding fruit which is increasingly making room for more balsamic and beef juicy notes. The palate already leaning heavily towards acidity, makes you pull a grimace if you hold the sip longer than half a second. In rapid decline. The crows are already circling.

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• 2006 Château Lafleur 89 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Intense and minty herbs, although rather sharp than fresh. Ripe blue and red berry fruit. Rather harsh wooden notes. Latter do retreat with aeration somewhat, luckily. The palate unexpectedly clean with a fresh fruit. Not much complexity, but workable balance even if tannins are more on the coarse side.

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• 2006 Château Cheval Blanc 75 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Highly lactic, unpleasantly cheesy. There is still a bit of fruit left and some sweeter oaky noes pop up here and there. Alas, these are joined by nail polish after while. The palate feels like battery acid and the finish is drying.

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• 2006 Château Pavie 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  An aging bouquet with dry leather and scorched earth. Ripe blueberry and red cherry fruit. Limited expression overall and medium-minus intensity. On the palate the balance is off, leaning heavily towards acidity and leaving you with a watery sensation.

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• 2006 Château Ausone 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Not too expressive with a rather restrained fruit of ripe red cherry. Sweeter oaky notes. Maybe a minor mineral frame. The palate has a certain lightness to it, fresh acidity and tannins are slightly more in check than with others in the vintage - but still nothing to be exited about.

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• 2006 Château Troplong Mondot 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Intense and ripe red cherry fruit with a sweeter angle to them. Mineral base with fresher, minty herbs. The palate is still juicy with the entry, but immediately loses all aromas mid-palate. Ends abruptly and leaves you with only drying tannins.

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• 2006 Château Angélus 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Good intensity. Extracted and ripe cherry fruit, but still within bounds. Accents of leather, earth and some sweeter oaky notes. On the palate extremely drying tannins, not enough fruit nor acidity to balance. This annihilates any textural finesse.

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• 2006 La Mondotte 80 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  This displayed petrol-like minerality. A brighter, red cherry fruit. Not much else going on. The palate shows tart acidity and drying tannins. An abomination.

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• 2006 Château Valandraud Flawed

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru

  Appealing aging notes initially. But adds unpleasant notes which at worst you would describe as cardboard as unclean features at best. Drying tannins and completely disjointed. I’m giving this the benefit of the doubt with a NR.

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• 2006 Château d'Yquem 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Lots of honeycomb and candle stick, honey and saffron spice. Williams pear fruit and candid apricot. Not overly precise. A viscous palate, loses a bit aromatic intensity and feels heavy at first. That said, tons of substance and built for the very long term. At this stage bested by a Nairac, but no doubt a question of time until this will prevail.

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• 2006 Château Nairac 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Intense and fresh fruit of quince, melon and partly candid apricot. Variable herbal layers, fresh and spicy. Only hints of saffron. A fresh palate, still quite sweet and viscous and balance is maybe somewhat off. This drinks well now, but maybe will not evolve to further greatness from here. In its current shape even a nose length ahead of Yquem – but seemed like only a question of time.

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