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Bordeaux 2014 en primeur with Winefinder
Munchenbryggeriet, Stockholm
Tasted September 6, 2015 by Omar Khayyam with 807 views
Introduction
As always, very difficult to tell the future of these tannic long term projects. but fun to challenge oneself.
Flight 1 (60 notes)
Red
2014 Château Beychevelle
creme de cassis on the nose, lovely open nose, very smooth attack on the palate, finely sandpapered tannins already, shows class; not without grip but not too long finish either, very fun. recommended.
Red
2006 Château Beychevelle
much more classic nose, more restrained, lovely, soft attack on the palate but well structured, fresh and elegant, tannins fairly fine grained, medium finish. Recommended. Drink now or hold for quite a few more years.
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Comments (3)
Red
2014 Château Branaire-Ducru
One of the better samples, pure blue fruit at this stage, very elegant and fine tannins that you feel at the very back end of the palate, long finish. highly recommended.
Red
2009 Château Branaire-Ducru
much more forward and "fat" wine compared to the 2014 but well built and should probably have many more years in the cellar yet. recommended.
Red
2010 Château Brane-Cantenac
great nose, maybe somewhat tight yet, soft attack, followed by forceful freshness and good oomph. highly recommended.
Red
2008 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
great stuff: good fruit, complex, layered, berries, new leather, coffee. charming but with very good freshness and grip. its a keeper - and I am glad I have a bottle somewhere. Highly recommended.
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Comment
Red
2014 Château Cantenac Brown
60 % new oak and it feels. Very warm and open and charming nose with christmas spice and vanilla. good freshness but a tannic monster that wields its arms and legs very clumsily. I have no idea what this will develop into in 10-15 years time, but right now it was not one of my favorites.
Red
2005 Château Cantenac Brown
this was already showing some mature notes, more sloeberries and black currant than oak spice. fine. recommended.
Red
2014 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion
a lot of cab franc on this one and you can tell on the nose. very charming, also very extracted and some alcoholic heat on the finish, but on the whole this was a nice discovery. recommended.
Red
2014 Château Chasse-Spleen
elegant, berry driven, not as tannic and forward as a cantenac brown and les carmes haut brion tasted alongside. some bitterness from the oak at the finish detracts.
Red
2012 Château Chasse-Spleen
more on the elegant, structured side, sloeberries, similar to 2014 very berry driven and pure in this regard, but also some bitterness from the new oak used. maybe they should pipe down some on the oak regime in general for the kind of fruit they seem to have?
White
2014 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
What a nose on this one! and such piercing freshness! This is the essence of white Bordeaux wines! Highly recommended!
Red
2014 Domaine de Chevalier
some brett on the nose? this is very fine, more balanced than many other 2014s. recommended.
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Comment
Red
2010 Château Clerc Milon
Elegant and fine. purity of fruit, cassis. Very long and angular. Highly recommended. But keep it in the cellar for some time yet.
Red
2011 Château d'Aiguilhe
not my style, a little clumsy with the oak and extraction, some heat on the back end.
Red
2006 Château Clinet
root veggies and lovely nose, good sweetness on the fruit (I believe about 90 % merlot), new world charm, ready to drink, but good freshness and balance makes me feel you could store this much longer also. Highly recommended.
Red
2014 Château Clinet
This is a charmer of a wine with very forward and open nose at this stage, sweet and some alcohol on finish, I suppose it will close down later on, has structure and fruit and freshness but how is the future for this wine?
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Comment
Red
2014 Clos Fourtet
sweet fruit, quite forward, good body, A little too much oak for me at this stage to properly judge this wine.
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Comment
Red
2012 Clos Fourtet
very tight nose at this stage, but good fruit and palate save for the oak bitterness at the end. Impossible to tell when this will be ready to drink at this stage, and how great the reward will be.
Red
2012 Château Poujeaux
has more structure than the 2014 but is also more tight and closed down at this stage.
Red
2007 Château Destieux
lovely nose, elegant, food friendly freshness, ready to drink now. recommended.
Red
2014 Château La Clémence
charming and pleasant, sweet fruit and soft attack, forward. will probably be great early drinking bordeaux (5-8 years from now perhaps) but not as seriously structured as some of the st juliens primeurs.
Red
2010 Château Lagrange (St. Julien)
fine nose, elegant, but quite a lot of structure still that is not yet fully integrated. keep in cellar for some time yet. recommended.
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Comment
Red
2014 Château Lagrange (St. Julien)
power cab, very big and a lot of new oak, lots of sweet berries. not my style.
Red
2007 Les Fiefs de Lagrange
nice, not a lot of complexity, but elegant and enjoyable and probably good value for money - in Bordeaux terms.
White
2014 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc
tight nose at this stage, quite some baby fat on the body, palate with peach and other stone fruits, feels like it has a little more alcohol than the elegant 2013 tasted side by side.
White
2013 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc
lovely lovley nose and great palate with cleansing freshness and lemony, grapefruit feel. love this wine. Highly recommended.
Red
2014 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion
emphasis on sweet fruit, new leather, sloeberries, good balance, ok freshness. nice effort.
Red
2009 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion
bigger and more power than the 2014 (which was fairly forward also), this was not as balanced with some bitterness from the new oak and some drying tannins at the end.
Red
2014 Château Lascombes
elegant, purity of fruit, complex already, very well balanced, long. highly recommended.
Red
2012 Château Lascombes
good clean nose, lots of berries, quite open compared to other 2012 Bordeaux tasted at this event. some budding complexities.
Red
2014 Château Léoville Barton
Great structure but rather forward and big. Very good amongst the 2014. recommended.
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Comment
Red
2006 Château Léoville Barton
I liked this a lot, the nose is classic claret, the body is elegant with good freshness, sandpaper soft tannins that nevertheless provide quite some grip, very very fine. Should keep it still though. I had a second sample at the end of the showing and felt it was not as great but by then the room was much warmer, and it felt like the last bottle had as well so not sure I should take this into account. recommended. which is a relief since I have quite a lot of these classic bottles in the cellar...
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Comment
Red
2014 Château Langoa Barton
A lot of stuff going on here, focus on power, sweet fruit, good freshness, a little oaky at this stage. maybe a project that will turn out great when it all comes together.
Red
2006 Château Langoa Barton
surprisingly soft and juicy compared to the big brother Leoville 06 tasted alongside. Lovely drink now I'd say. recommended.
Red
2014 Château Léoville Poyferré
Dense, great structure, freshness, great fruit, forward at this stage but will for sure turn into a beauty. Highly recommended.
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Comment
Red
2011 Château Léoville Poyferré
Tight nose, very structured wine, good freshness, some oak bitterness detracts at this stage, for the cellar. recommended.
Red
2014 Château Phélan Ségur
Very fine nose, big body, soft attack on the palate that ends in a rather long and forceful grip. recommended.
Red
2006 Château Phélan Ségur
closed nose, sour berries on palate, acidic, soft finish. strange. not showing too well today.
Red
2014 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
Monster tannins, complexity, dense texture, forceful, great fruit. One of the few 2014s I tasted at this event that felt like it was for the really long haul. Highly recommended.
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Comment
Red
2011 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
elegant, fine, soft palate and a little thin but lovely. drink early fine wine.
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Comment
White - Sweet/Dessert
2014 Château Suduiraut
great, some botrytis, very good freshness, fine balance, great sweetness. similar to the 2010. highly recommended.
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Comment
White - Sweet/Dessert
1989 Château Suduiraut
amber coloured and lovely, light body, freshness is on the decline, great complexity. don't save this for another thirty years.
White
2014 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc
unmistakable varietal nose and a fat texture coupled with good acidity makes this a great wine. highly recommended.
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Comment
Red
2011 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
Complex, berry driven, soft attack and elegant body but with good structure at the end. recommended.
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Comment
Red
2014 Château Talbot
good but also forward and it clearly needs time to integrate more before it is possible to say how this will come together.
Red
2006 Château Talbot
good nose, structure but a little robust and simple in style.
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Comments (3)
Red
2014 Château Haut-Bailly
Very fine, purity of fruit, elegant, well structured. very good balance. highly recommended.
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Comment
Red
2011 Château Haut-Bailly
soft attack, thin mid palate, pleasant enough nose with lots of berries, perhaps a little tight at this stage and unclear what the potential is.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2014 Château Guiraud
lovely balance - the sweetness and complexity and freshness is all there. recommended.
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Comment
Closing
As a whole, the 2014 offers much more than the 2011 and 2012 vintages amongst red bordeaux. But some are very extracted and it remains to be seen if it will all come together in harmony and how long lived some of these charmers will be. For example, of the 2014 St Julien, five out of nine tasted are either highly recommended or recommended, but the other four left me rather indifferent.
The five highly recommended red 2014s were evenly distributed on the left bank, I would not recommend the few Pomerol and St Emilion 2014s I tried. Here, I see that I am comfortably in the mainstream of public opinion. But then again, hard to say for sure what these things will look like in 10 or 20 yrs.
Prices remain quite high and there is so much wine out there in the world today that not all of these feel very price worthy.
I refrain from assigning scores at these mass-tasting events as it just feels silly with that level of precision. Instead I go with "recommended" or "highly recommended" in a few cases. highly recommended is for me a wine with the potential to go in the 92-96 point range, while recommended is a notch or two below. Price does not factor in these recommendations, only my very subjective and imperfect opinion on quality at this particular tasting event.
The few white 2013 and 2014 I tried were great, slight preference for 2013 with more freshness. The 2014 Sauternes were also great. 2006 and 2008 remains projects but with clear promise to deliver classic, food friendly and elegant wines for the next decade or so.