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UGC 2019 Los Angeles
Jeremy Hotel, West Hollywood
Tasted January 24, 2019 by Aravind Asok with 315 views
Introduction
UGC Tasting
Flight 1 (26 notes)
White
2016 Château Malartic-Lagravière Blanc
Loads of grass and sweet/sour apple, definitely sauv blanc dominated nose. Well-integrated oak is not overbearing: more sour apple and citrus on the palate. Good density, but maybe a bit grainy on the finish.
White
2016 Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion Blanc
Hmm. Closed nose, all I got was some stony minerality and the vestiges of oak influence. Soft acidity on the palate, and showed a touch thin and maybe a little green/weedy.
White
2016 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
Oak seems more over the top than the Larrivet, but still very restrained on the nose. Denser on the palate and creamier with more lemon and slate. Good density and more interesting on the palate with a nice citrus finish. I had the 2010 recently and it showed well, so I wonder if this will blossom...
White
2016 Château Latour-Martillac Blanc
Nice nose with lemon and grass, seems more sauv blanc dominated which shows well now. On the palate, good acidity with lemon and stones...nice mineral finish. This was yummy.
White
2016 Château Olivier Blanc
Very ripe and interesting right now. Nose shows papaya, guava and citrus, very tropical. Riper on the palate too, but balanced by good acidity, showing lemon and a touch of wood influence...good stony minerality on the back end with a crisp finish, showing a touch of pithy bitterness. Seems structured to drink now.
White
2016 Château Pape Clément Blanc
More tropical nose, showing some reduction. Soft acidity and kind of a suggestion of darkness with the stoniness. A little flabby; minerality but too soft on the finish. Disappointing.
White
2016 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc
Oaky nose with vanilla in the fore, but otherwise close. Ok acidity and very dense and creamy, but pretty flabby in my opinion. Finishes a touch bitter and stony.
White
2016 Château de France Blanc
Once again, seemed more sauv blanc heavy; showing grass and sour apple. A touch woody on the mid palate and good acidity; good stony minerality on the slightly hot finish.
White
2016 Château de Fieuzal Blanc
More classic semillon than other wines I tried with nice citrus notes. Good acid, and missing a step on the mid, which nevertheless seemed a touch flabby; mineral finish. Not bad.
White
2016 Château Carbonnieux Blanc
Slight reduction on the nose; but good lemon and fruit; very clean on the palate, with excellent acidity. Good lemon and mineral on the nice clean finish. Very good for drinking now.
Red
2016 Château La Tour Carnet
Nose suggests a drink now BDX: soft fruity nose with crushed fruit, without too much apparent oak influence, but on the palate, holy tannin; very dense and grainy finish, in start contrast to what the nose suggests.
Red
2016 Château La Lagune
Loads of new oak on the nose, with sandalwood which covers up a kind of nicely rustic red fruit. Loads of oaky bitterness on the palate with a finish that has rip-your-face-off tannin. This seems like an oak bomb to me, even though so many of the wines tasted tonight seemed to have more well-integrated oak. In fact, I would bet this wine is just going to dry out...
Red
2016 Château Rauzan-Gassies
Perfumed Margaux nose which shows well-integrated vanillin oak and wonderfully red and black fruited. Good acidity, but supple on the palate with clear soft fruit. Finely grained tannin on the finish. Not bad.
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Red
2016 Château Brane-Cantenac
Undoubtedly my favorite Margaux tonight. Very classic Margaux, mixing beautiful perfume with rustic earth. Supple red fruit on the palate, with good acid, a hint of earthiness, and very nice soft tannin on the finish. Just wonderful to my palate.
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Red
2016 Château Cantenac Brown
Another wine that really hit my palate right. Beautiful Margaux perfume showing good mix of earth and fruit. On the palate, good acid, maybe leaning slightly soft, but echoing the earth and fruit on the nose. Seems pretty classic to me; good tannin without the amazing density.
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Red
2016 Château Desmirail
Seems pretty cab-franc dominated, almost leaning Loire. Soft, very red fruited nose with a lot of earth and some green. On the palate, softer acid, and very softly tannic.
Red
2016 Château du Tertre
Definitely cab franc dominated with a nice spicy nose with good red fruit; showing a touch of vegetal, but it comes off as adding spice rather than green by comparison to the Desmirail. Good acid, but shows a touch thin on the palate; soft tannin on a slightly weak finish.
Red
2016 Château Giscours
More masculine in style from the du Tertre; nose shows brawnier with more apparent oak influence; soft mid, with acid leaning a touch soft for my taste. Still a touch thinner on the palate than the nose suggests. The tannin seems rather grainy and woody.
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Red
2016 Château Kirwan
Smooth nose with dark red and black fruit; a hint of green; not so perfumed and a little rough, so maybe good if you're expecting rustic. Classic earthiness on the mid with good acid and finely grained tannin. The oak influence definitely seems tamed by comparison to previous vintages.
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Comments (1)
Red
2016 Château Lascombes
A little more Margaux in style; w/ more perfumed nose, showing sandalwood and more red fruit and some dark earthiness; the oak seems pretty well-integrated, but it's definitely there. On the palate, clean and good acid with soft tannin. This was enjoyable.
Red
2016 Château Prieuré-Lichine
A little dirty on the nose (probably some brett); alternatively, very earthy. Good plum on the nose, but otherwise a bit quiet. Ok acid on the palate, and very finely grained tannin. Not very compelling.
Red
2016 Château Beychevelle
Shows loads of new oak, with good red and black fruit. The oak is distracting right now, but it seems to have the fruit to back it up. On the palate, good acidity and rather supple; soft tannin on the finish.
Red
2016 Château Branaire-Ducru
Seems like it shows even more oak than the Beychevelle. Once again though, it seems like it has the fruit to handle the oak, so while this seems slightly unidimensional now, the fruit suggests it will improve in a good direction.
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Red
2016 Château Gruaud Larose
Just my style. Just fantastic mix of earth and fruit, without any over-the-top oak influence. Classic in style on the nose and palate. Showing a nice mix of earth and fruit. So good.
Red
2016 Château Chasse-Spleen
This showed overripe and pruny to me. More overt oak on the nose, which seems intended to cover up the overripeness. Big muscular wine with dense fruit. Dark oaky notes on the palate and soft toast finely grained tannin. I used to love this wine, but somehow this style just didn't mesh with me...
Red
2016 Château Léoville Poyferré
This is just a huge wine, and I don't mean that in an entirely positive way. There is a huge amount of black fruit on the nose, but also more than a dollop of new oak. On the palate, this wine is also dense and dark, but the tannin is so over the top, I was tasting this into the next wines. In Parker's words: ``a finish that goes on for over 90 seconds". If that's your thing, then you'll love it, but I felt like I had rubbed sandpaper over my whole mouth.
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Closing
I gave up writing notes after the Poyferre, but I went through most of the other big wines. The Pauillac's were largely unapproachable, except for the Armailhac and the Clerc Milon. The St. Emilions were enjoyable, but seemed to see a fair amount of new oak. The pleasant surprise is that the wines seemed to be moving back in a classic direction.