Important Update From the Founder
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UGC 2015
Chicago, IL
Tasted January 28, 2015 by acyso with 945 views
Introduction
These are very short notes, and mostly reflect first impressions of tasting these wines. Due to the obvious palate fatigue that results from tasting so many young Bordeaux, I've left out most of the discussion of the tannic structure of the wines, and focussed more on the quality of fruit and oak treatment. It's very obvious how fruit bombs do well at tastings like these -- I've tried to be cognizant of that fact in my notes. I've also tried very hard to keep the scoring consistent with my rubric, though it's very likely that I would score these wines very differently in, say, a dinner setting.
Flight 1 - Pessac-Leognan (8 notes)
Perhaps the gravest (pun fully intended) crimes against terroir are occurring in Pessac-Leognan these days. Seriously, dial down the oak.
White
2012 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
88 points
White and tropical; floral with a lot of fruit flavours. Quite ripe but the oak definitely comes through a bit.
Red
2012 Domaine de Chevalier
80 points
Oof. So much oak. Make it stop. If I wanted a vanilla milkshake, I'd go to an ice cream store.
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Comments (3)
Red
2012 Château Haut-Bailly
88 points
Whiff of brett. Restrained and showing good mineral character. Red-fruited and pretty, so long as you get past the bit of funk on the nose.
White
2012 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc
85 points
Relatively light-bodied and racier. However, there's still some clear oak influence. Lacking in gravitas.
White
2012 Château Pape Clément Blanc
85 points
Oaky, buttery, big and tropically ripe. Not particularly interesting, probably because of the oak. Waxy texture.
Red
2012 Château Pape Clément
70 points
Would you like some wine with your oak?
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Comments (1)
White
2012 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc
88 points
Much better acid, with gentler oak use here. Good steely cut, but also lacking depth.
Red
2012 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
83 points
Quite austere. Stemmy and earthy but hot at the same time. Clearly discernible and distracting oak, though I suppose it could be worse.
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Comments (1)
Flight 2 - The Right Bank (7 notes)
A bunch of emaciated disappointments from the right bank. The Pomerols were all thin and lacking in muscle, which would have been fine if they weren't all trying to win Mr. Universe this year.
Red
2012 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
85 points
I really, really liked the nose on this: there was plenty of herbal and bell pepper character thanks to the cabernet franc. Ripe dark fruit on the palate, but there was some distracting oak influence that could have been dialed back.
Red
2012 Château La Dominique
Either the oak was so toasty to the point my brain could no longer process it, or this was a flawed bottle.
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Comment
Red
2012 Château Beauregard
85 points
Light whiff of brett, with a stemmy and herbal nose. Darker in character, this was surprisingly weak on the midpalate and finish given the nose.
Red
2012 Château Le Bon Pasteur
85 points
Another Pomerol husk: an empty palate with nowhere near enough density of fruit or anything else of interest to counterbalance the large amount of barnyard character.
Red
2012 Château La Cabanne
83 points
Funky animale nose. Not too much depth on the palate, and this thins out even more towards the finish. A bit of peppery character.
Red
2012 Château Clinet
88 points
Quite big and ripe on the nose; much more so than other Pomerols. Restrained and powerful, with some black cherry on the palate. Definitely could be worse.
Red
2012 Château Gazin Pomerol
85 points
This had a very nice spicy and peppery nose. Moderately fruited, perhaps almost jammy? Finishes with some cherry cough syrup notes, but again lacking in density.
Flight 3 - Margaux (7 notes)
Red
2012 Château Brane-Cantenac
88 points
Peppery, dark, and perfumed. The palate is very big, and definitely displays a bit of ripeness and girth. Lacking finesse, this is a pretty lush wine.
Red
2012 Château Cantenac Brown
Big and austere to the point I couldn't pick up anything else. Very closed.
Red
2012 Château Giscours
85 points
Funky, dirty, and animale. Not showing very much else besides that nose, but the palate does come off as quite restrained.
Red
2012 Château Kirwan
80 points
The nose is pretty, with a good floral lift. But this finishes with a ton of vanilla and drying oak tannin.
Red
2012 Château Lascombes
90 points
Very pretty and floral nose with a good dose of perfume. There's definitely a bit of sweetness here. Bright and powerful, with good density.
Red
2012 Château Malescot St. Exupéry
85 points
Dark-fruited nose. Lots of black cherry on the palate, but it does come off quite thin on the midpalate and finish, though I found the attack quite mesmerizing.
Red
2012 Château Prieuré-Lichine
85 points
This is more spiced than perfumed, but the palate is again thin and lacking in concentration.
Flight 4 - Saint-Julien (7 notes)
Red
2012 Château Beychevelle
88 points
This had a sweet black fruited nose, but the palate was interestingly savory and meaty. A darker and heavier wine, this fades towards the finish.
Red
2012 Château Branaire-Ducru
85 points
Oi, what happened here? A good whiff of oak on the nose, followed by a surprisingly fruit-bomb-y wine, although the oak wasn't as obtrusive on the palate as it was on the nose.
Red
2012 Château Gruaud Larose
88 points
This was a very pretty red-fruited wine. Quite fruit-forward on the palate, with sweet cherry tones. Dusty tannins and a very moderate amount of oak/vanilla, this was restrained and light.
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Comment
Red
2012 Château Langoa Barton
83 points
A slight hint of graphite on the nose (already?). The nose was promising, but the palate thins out and doesn't show very much at all.
Red
2012 Château Léoville Barton
88 points
Dark fruited and more gravitas than the Langoa. Lots of fresh acidity, this is quite pretty, though I think the oak still could have been dialed down on the finish.
Red
2012 Château Léoville Poyferré
88 points
This had a very strong black cherry character. Darker-fruited, with the black cherry persisting all the way from the nose to the finish. A well-integrated package with good concentration and density.
Red
2012 Château Talbot
88 points
Spicy and peppery on the nose, and definitely more austere. Showing some good St. Julien dustiness. On the bigger side of things with good fruit, but restrained at the same time.
Flight 5 - Pauillac (7 notes)
Red
2012 Château d'Armailhac
88 points
Very pretty, with a lovely light-bodied red-fruited character throughout. Lots of acidity. Fresh and delicious.
Red
2012 Château Clerc Milon
80 points
This is a lot darker than the d'Armailhac, and has an overt and obnoxious display of oak on the finish. No thanks.
Red
2012 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
88 points
Darker in profile, with a fruity yet medicinal and herbal nose. The palate has good fruit density, and everything's in its place. This is a wine made to fit the vintage, instead of distorting the vintage to fit what the wine "should" be.
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Comment
Red
2012 Château Haut-Bages Libéral
88 points
This has a ripe dark fruit character through the nose and palate, but this also embraces the vintage and runs with the acidity. Lovely drinking Bordeaux.
Red
2012 Château Lynch-Bages
88 points
Quite austere and big, with a very prominent dusty character. This is a huge wine, like a restrained beast, but not one that is resisting its chains and fighting to break free. Decent red- and black-fruit; one of the few wines that accomplished having both this vintage.
Red
2012 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
85 points
Medicinal and herbal. Dark fruited, big, and powerful, but definitely another hot mess. Fortunately the cool vintage prevented this from becoming too hot and too messy.
Red
2012 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
85 points
Very, very dark. A bit of sweet fruit that's followed by moderate but annoyingly nagging oak. A very masculine Comtesse (I had to make the joke), this really lacks the elegance I expect.
Flight 6 - Miscellaneous reds (3 notes)
They may be classified under miscellaneous, but two of my winners (the Phelan Segur and Cantemerle) belong to this group.
Red
2012 Château Cantemerle
90 points
Now this is a wine that took the vintage and ran with it. Very restrained on the red fruit but quite perfumed. Soft and pretty, this is the perfect embodiment of the vintage. Moderate tannins. Fantastic drinking Bordeaux.
Red
2012 Château La Lagune
85 points
A bit of earth and darker fruit. Almost jammy on the nose. The palate has a savory character, along with dark fruit and some earth. A relatively big structure for what's on the bones. A slight bit of oak on the end.
Red
2012 Château Phélan Ségur
93 points
My wine of the UGC. Yeah, there, I said it. This had a nose with graphite, dust, and earth, but was also transparent and pretty, showing some very clean and crisp red-fruited character. Lovely stuff, this had everything that I look for in a Bordeaux wine.
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Comments (1)
Flight 7 - Sauternes (7 notes)
Botrytis? What botrytis?
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château Coutet Barsac
88 points
There's this super-weird sulphur note on the nose. Took me to the Mosel for a brief second. Lovely floral notes, though this seemed a bit light on the acid. Light and airy, and nary a hint of botrytis, this is a really juicy and yummy bottle of Sauternes.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château Doisy-Daëne
90 points
There was a prominent cat pee note on the nose -- yes, you get it from sauvignon blanc all the time, but I really didn't expect it in Sauternes. Almost green on the palate, this is quite clean and thin in texture, but tastes a bit like liquefied pineapple gummy bears.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château Guiraud
90 points
This was fresh and lively with a bright sunny tropical character. Quite sweet, with a light hint of lychee, with a thicker texture. Seems quite ripe.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château Clos Haut-Peyraguey
88 points
A very reticent nose compared to its peers. Very honeyed and sweet on the palate, and if this weren't served so cold, I could easily see this ending up a bit cloying.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey
85 points
This is a really weird one -- there was a dose of earthy funk on the nose, which persisted with some mushroom character on the palate. Very thick and unctuous. Strange...
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château de Rayne-Vigneau
85 points
This is one of the few examples of Sauternes where I picked up some clear notes of botrytis. Honeyed, which some lychee notes, but finishes with some clear new oak influence.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2012 Château La Tour Blanche Sauternes
85 points
A relatively closed nose, but there is a fair bit of botrytis on it, as well as a lot of coconut. Quite big and rich, but the freshness is provided by the serving temperature, not acidity.
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Comment
Closing
The red wines were, for the most part, very light and approachable young Bordeaux. They certainly do not have the midpalate depth for them to last as 30-year wines. That said, these are drinking very well now, and I could see use for the 2012 reds as bistro-style wines, so long as the prices are right.
The Sauternes were un-botrytised and definitely served on the cold side, which gave them a lot more zing that they would normally have. There is a strange prevalence of sulphur in these wines. However, these are also great to drink now, in the juiciness of their youth.