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UGC Bordeaux
Drake Hotel - Chicago IL
Tasted January 22, 2020 by Burgundy Al with 337 views
Introduction
Tasting 2017 Bordeaux. I was disappointed from the beginning, and so just tasted wines from the Châteaux I already know and tend to like. Certainly some good wines, but many are light, others seem over-extracted, and rugged tannins very common. I do not understand the positive critical review the vintage and wines have received.
Flight 1 (33 notes)
Red
2017 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion
Walk around tasting. Rich and nicely balanced with good weight. 90-93 point potential with good polish. A highlight of the generally disappointing vintage tasting. Cab Franc centric, which I assess seems to help in this vintage.
Red
2017 Domaine de Chevalier
Walk around tasting. Good nose shows ripe fruit, but more firm/ rugged palate has much less balance or elegance. Firm and tannic. 87-88 points.
Red
2017 Château Haut-Bailly
Walk around tasting. Fat black fruit with good weight. Too much rugged tannins for the level of fruit, this doesn't quite come together. Will it? 86-89 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Malartic-Lagravière
Walk around tasting. Plenty of black fruit with cedar and spice. Good weight, good length, but a drying finish that detracted from the overall experience.
Red
2017 Château Pape Clément
Walk around tasting. Rich black fruit, both sweet and savory spice with very good concentration, especially for the vintage. Also goo balance and depth. Another one of my few highlights from an otherwise underwhelming vintage tasting. 91-93 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
flawed
Walk around tasting. Plenty of black fruit with anise and mint as highlights. Rugged throughout with an especially tough finish for now. Good potential when it integrates and softens, provided the fruit stays bright enough.
Red
2017 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot
Walk around tasting. Ripe black and red plum aromas with anise and green pepper. Ripe and tart flavors with good+ weight and length. Like many 207, there is a rugged sense on the finish, but here there is above average balance. 89-91 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Canon
Walk around tasting. Lighter style for with good balance. Upside based on how much weight this puts on. 89-91 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière
Walk around tasting. Black plum, cassis, anise and roasted meat. Very good nose, good+ palate. Structure is slightly more dominant than I’d prefer, but this has very good substance, so I think there is also very good overall potential.
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Comments (2)
Red
2017 Château Pavie Macquin
Walk around tasting. Intriguing combination of ripe and tart black cherries and plum. Lots here, but more rugged than fun in the near- and medium-term. Another wine that others liked more than I did today.
Red
2017 Château Valandraud
Walk around tasting. Rich and nearly sweet start, but then quickly and brightly savory from middle forward. Not a powerhouse, but supremely balanced in context of the many 2017s tasted today. 91-92 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Clinet
Walk around tasting. Black fruit with spice nuances that bring a greater level of complexity vs many others tasted today, even if slightly wanting for ripeness. Good+ weight with out any bitterness, but still slightly rugged. Intriguing 89-91 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Brane-Cantenac
Walk around tasting. Intriguing combination of sweet and tart black fruit with spice hints and overall medium weight. Good medium-term potential, 87-88 points.
Red
2017 Château Cantenac Brown
Walk around tasting. A small step up over Brane-Cantenac just tasted. More weight and density, even if also more structure. Needs time, 88-89 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Dauzac
Walk around tasting. Good weight and fruit richness, but too structured and tannic for the level of fruit, at least for any time in the near-future, and unclear where this will resolve and emerge. 86-87 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Giscours
Walk around tasting. Bright fruit for the good vintage with good weight and noteworthy balance (again, for the vintage). Expanding finish. Good 89-91 point potential.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Lascombes
Walk around tasting. Wonderful aromatic start with rich fruit, spice hints. Tannins just dominate on the palate, resulting in a bitter finish for now and little sense of balance. Where will this go?
Red
2017 Château Malescot St. Exupéry
Walk around tasting. Enchanting aromas with black plum, spice and earth. Good weight and good balance (better than most 2017 today) so this should soften and drink well medium term. 88-89 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Rauzan-Ségla
Walk around tasting. Pleasant with soft textures, bright fruit and good balance. But frankly, this is simple for Bordeaux at this level, and do not understand most of the other reviews for this wine, or for the vintage in general.
Red
2017 Château Beychevelle
Walk around tasting. Persistent black fruit start-to-finish with some roasted meat notes. Retains better balance and elegance than most today, while also coming across as full and firm. Very good 90-92 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Branaire-Ducru
Walk around tasting. spiced nose with black and red cherry. Lighter styled, so avoiding any over-extraction. Good for medium-term 88-90 point potential.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Gruaud Larose
Walk around tasting. Also on the lighter, more elegant side but with good length and an expanding finish. Good+ potential if this puts on enough weight, 88-91 points.
Red
2017 Château Lagrange (St. Julien)
Walk around tasting. Dense black fruit with good weight, but just too firm for the level and quality of fruit, with a nearly coarse finish.
Red
2017 Château Langoa Barton
Walk around tasting. A success in this vintage. Enticing aromas show ripe and robust black cherry and plum. Firm but showing a clear path to balance, most notably on its finish. I think this will come together nicely, but am not certain. 87-90 point potential.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Léoville Barton
Walk around tasting. Very good aromatic start with black cherry and berry and savory spice and tobacco. Similar flavors, just not as rich as the nose seems to have implied, but maybe it's the very firm tannins taking charge. Good+ potential, 89-91 points.
Red
2017 Château Léoville Poyferré
Walk around tasting. Big, dense and chewy, this easily manages to showcase ripeness with background spice. This also manages to retain more balance than most, but seems a bit oaky today. Also very good 89-91 point potential
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Talbot
Walk around tasting. Good spice aromatics with elegantly styled black fruit, clearly on the lighter side. Medium concentration on palate as well, but overall good balance helps. Good medium-term drinker, with 88-90 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Clerc Milon
Walk around tasting. Good black fruit with reasonable weight, but not for the level of tannins start-to-finish. Little pleasure now. Will need plenty of time.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Grand-Puy Ducasse
Walk around tasting. Slightly lean black fruit with good weight, spice hints, and nicely persistent. Good length as well. 89-90 point potential.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Walk around tasting. Good black cherry and plum, clearly firm, yets retains balance with good length. 89-90 point potential.
Red
2017 Château Lynch-Bages
Walk around tasting. Big, powerful and very dense. Not particularly accessible or balanced for now, but that's Lynch Bages, but clearly good 90-92 point potential.
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Comment
Red
2017 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron
Walk around tasting. Also with reasonably good weight and better balance than most 2017s. Spice hints of nuance. 90-93 point potential, base don how much weight and nuance evolves here.
Red
2017 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Walk around tasting. Also medium/good weight, with fairly firm structure that is more pronounced than I would prefer for the level of fruit. One of the better wines of the day, but I hope for more from Pichon Lalande. 90-91 point potential. Others liked this more.