Annual Pilgrimage to Chateau Lanessan (and its 200 year old cellar )
Chateau Lanessan, Bordeaux
Tasted August 19, 2011 - August 21, 2011 by Papies with 946 views
Introduction
Blessed enough to be very good friends with the family that owns Chateau Lanessan. A beautiful cru bourgeois just before Ch Beychevelle. The Bouteiller family are long standing family in Bordeaux ( Own 20% or so of Palmer, and until mid 90s owned Pichon Baron). The Chateau has a pristine selection of wines from the last 200 years and given it has not changed hands the wines are there undisturbed (bar recorking). A truly unique experience.
Paz Espejo joined in 2009 and the wine quality has received a lot of attention and praise from critics especially Michel Bettagne.
We are of course biased but we would highly recommend a visit at the chateau, they have very well trainded englidh speaking guides and as part of the experience they allow you to blend your own wine from single grape bottles that they have.
Also if you would like to buy 100yr old bottled this is the place
For more details please visit: http://www.lanessan.com/
Flight 1 - Lunch with Paz, Gildine and Guillaume (2 notes)
Red
2002 Château Lanessan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
Light, thin some fruit but overall a lifeless expression of Lanessan, drink now.
Red
1999 Château Lanessan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
Deep red and with lots of fruit. Would have guess it's 1995 given quality and palate presence. Very enjoyable at this stage.
Flight 2 - Dinner (5 notes)
Red
1909 Château Lanessan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
Wine of the weekend. Straight from the family's own wine cellar and recorked maybe 30yrs ago. Fully bricked out in colour. We thought it was 50s wine. Alive still with lots of palate presence. The Fruit is on the way out but still some presence. A superb wine given it's age
Red
1929 Château Lanessan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
1929 was never a success in Lanessan. Well kept bottle from the family's reserve. A bit thin and mild. Vitality gone and had some notes of mederisation at the end. Interesting still to try such an oldie but no match to the formidable 1909
Red
1959 Château Lanessan
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc
1959 is probably the least successful of the 50s and at this stage light and going on lifeless. Maybe a bad bottle (although from the family's reserve) as the one we had a couple of years ago was a lot better. The 52 and 57 are so much better and full of vitality. What was impressive was the colour still dark and vibrant. In general 40s and 50s Lanessan's are amazing so shame on this one.
Red
1999 Château Lascombes
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Decanted for a couple of hours. Mild closed on the nose and starts off watery and thin and finishes tannic, dry. Too young maybe but dnt see a bright future in it
Flight 3 - Chateau Visits (3 notes)
Visited Giscours and Pichon Baron ( The 04 TN is below)
Red
1997 Château Giscours
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux
Tasted at the Chateau during a visit. Some margaux mintiness to begin but on the palate this is light and with not much interest.
Red
2006 Château Pibran
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
50%+ merlot and full on fruit . vanilla and oak to begin tailing off with mocha and honey notes. Interesting nose, relatively ok on palate 85
Red
2006 Les Tourelles de Longueville
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tasted at the Chateau. Higher merlot than grand vin which adds some notes cherry and although young still a very nice wine
Flight 4 - Dinner (5 notes)
Red
1928 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Straight from chateau lanessan's family cellar ( The Bouteiller family used to own pichon baron until early 90s and as the guide at PB tour will tell you they took most of the wine with them.. lucky us).
Good bottle but not recorked and the cork collapsed. Nice on the nose, of course fully matured and interesting to say the least. On the palate it starts of mild but has good midpalate vitality and finish. Earth and tobacco notes and very enjoyable in its 90s. Great experience.
Red
2004 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Tried it twice on the same day. Once at the Chateau and once for dinner (we purchased the bottle from the chateau as we wanted the guys back at Lanessan to try)
We are sold on 04 and definitely will be buying some. Very well made elegant and tannins are starting to soften nicely . Give this some decanting and will be a great wine to drink now while one waits for 2000, 01 , 05 to mature. Great but. 92-93. Drink from now.
Red
2003 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
Purchased from the Chateau. Decanted for 3 hours and it needs it. Had it side by side with the 04 and the 1928 (ahem).
Still young and primary and tannins need decanting to soften. Primary on the fruit and still oak/vanilla notes. Still this feels very well made and a wine to look forward in the future. the 2004 is better to drink at the moment but this wine will be something special for the future. 93 for now but it can only go up. Wait 3-5 yrs
White - Sweet/Dessert
1982 Château Guiraud
France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Dark caramel in colour. Still a youngster on the palate with lots of vitality. Candied fruit, caramel notes but very good balance. Some bitterness still exists but nothing that age (and patience) cannot fix. Tons of aging capacity.
Closing
Another great visit to the Chateau marked by good friends, great weather and great wine.
Thank you Gildine and Guillaume
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