Important Update From the Founder
Read message >
Académie des Cinquante Tasting and Dinner with the Académie du Vin de Bordeaux
Restaurant Entrepot, Amsterdam, NL
Tasted March 5, 2023 by Xavier Auerbach with 377 views
Introduction
An event to confirm and strengthen the ties between the Académie du Vin de Bordeaux and the Académie des Cinquante. The tasting was also attended by a good number of young Dutch sommeliers. All wines directly from the participating Châteaux.
Flight 1 - Tasting (36 notes)
Red
2003 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. The warmth is noticeable, but the wine has not suffered, harmonious and generous, light structure, completely ready.
2 people found this helpful
Comments (1)
Red
2005 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Masculine and structured, well managed tannins, firm and covered in flesh, youthful but just on its plateau of maturity.
3 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
95 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Marvellous purity in the fruit expression, excellent balance, generous but very precise, beautiful oak integration, a stunning wine.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2003 Château Lynch-Bages
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Hint of currants, the warmth is noticeable, firm tannins are a bit dry.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2005 Château Lynch-Bages
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Still firm and youthful, quite firm extraction, tight and dry finish.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2009 Château Lynch-Bages
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Fruit is rich and ripe but fresh, there is a lot of phenolic extraction but the balance and fruit are there. Needs time.
5 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Ripe and generous, velvety, tannins enveloped in flesh, lovely balance, deep and spicy.
7 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2010 Château Smith Haut Lafitte
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Ripe fruit, firm tannins, fresher style than 2015 but less accessible.
3 people found this helpful
Comment
White
2019 Château Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Ripe and fresh, beautifully pure expression, mild pyrazines and subtly tropical fruit, barely visible oak provides grip on the finish.
Red
2015 Château Gazin Pomerol
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. This is a beautiful wine, clearly expressing its terroir and its vintage. Generous and elegant, with papery tannins and a lovely freshness, flowers, just starting to develop some truffly evolution.
Red
2005 Château Gazin Pomerol
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Firm but elegant, still youthful, lovely tertiary evolution, tannins need more time to resolve but they are ripe, long and flowing finish.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2018 Château La Louvière
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Very successful in this warm vintage, ripe fruit and spices but hot jammy or baked at all, firm but velvety tannins, lovely freshness, marries weight and elegance, good substance on the finish.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2013 Château Prieuré-Lichine
91 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Elegant, light on its feet, fully mature, well managed, precise wine making.
Red
2015 Château Prieuré-Lichine
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Corked
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2009 Château Prieuré-Lichine
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Powerful, spicy depth, velvety texture, firm but moderate extraction, had balance and freshness. Starting to drink well.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Corbin Michotte
91 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. The Cabernet-Sauvignon is noticeable, a little old fashioned, needs food.
Red
2006 Château Corbin Michotte
91 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Classic style, slightly dusty, mature but fresh and lively, well balanced.
Red
2010 Château Corbin Michotte
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Glossy fruit, dusty tannins, noticeable cs influence, nice balance, youthful, good length.
Red
2005 Château Léoville Barton
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Confirms recent impressions, is starting to mellow.
3 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2006 Château Léoville Barton
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Sturdier tannins than the 2005 at the moment, good fruit and lovely precision.
4 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2016 Château Léoville Barton
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. A beautiful composition, everything in the right place.
5 people found this helpful
Comments (1)
Red
2006 Château Langoa Barton
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Very similar in style to the Léoville-Barton, perhaps not as complex.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2009 Château Langoa Barton
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Un régal. One of those rare wines that is charming in all stages of its life.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Langoa Barton
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. A cracking Langoa, generous and precise, serious and structured but accessible.
3 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Chasse-Spleen
91 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Sturdy, slightly earthy, generous, harmonious and supple but serious and structured.
Red
2016 Château Chasse-Spleen
92 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Very similar to the 2015 but a bit more fresher and more floral, feels more energetic.
3 people found this helpful
Comment
White - Sweet/Dessert
2005 Château de Fargues
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. A real classic, pure and balanced, power and finesse.
White - Sweet/Dessert
2009 Château de Fargues
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Very rich, tropical fruit, marvellous botrytis, acidity to match.
Red
2015 Château Phélan Ségur
91 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Solid, generous, nice and fleshy, oyster shells, ripe fruit, hint of evolution, good weight and length.
2 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2016 Château Haut-Bailly
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Fresh and elegant, silky texture, flowers and spices, hint of earth, perfect weight, long and flowing.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2010 Château Giscours
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Fresh, spicy, marvellous freshness and energy, muscular but elegant, real drive and length.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
2015 Château Giscours
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. More generous than the 2010, power and elegance, impresses every time I taste it.
10 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2018 Domaine de Chevalier
93 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Very precise wine making here, ripe and sweet fruit but there is a sense of elegance too, very refined tannins.
8 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2009 Domaine de Chevalier
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. Classic Domaine de Chevalier, with more power and extraction than usual, but with fleshy fruit to match, and it does not lose its sense of elegance.
6 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
2005 Domaine de Chevalier
94 points
Walkaround tasting, brief note. A classically composed Chevalier, cassis and cedar, tobacco, firm tannins but with enough fruit to last the course. Early maturity.
Flight 2 - Dinner (11 notes)
White
2013 Domaine de Chevalier Blanc
93 points
Magnum. Elegant, fresh, pure and precise, a chiselled wine.
1 person found this helpful
Comments (1)
White
2018 Château La Louvière Blanc
92 points
Magnum. Very different from the bottle tasted at the UGCB tasting in 2021. Generous, lovely ripe fruit, soft but fresh.
Red
2019 Château de Ferrand
92 points
A blend of 83% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc. Lovely balance and weight, everything in the right place, well made.
Red
2004 Château Haut-Bailly
93 points
Double Magnum. En pleine forme, delicate, elegant, papery tannins, no greenness, lovely length.
Red
2012 Château Léoville Barton
92 points
Magnum. Bright, elegant tannins, precise, transparent, light in style but energetic and minerally.
4 people found this helpful
Comment
Red
1999 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
93 points
Magnum. A great success in this unheralded vintage, fresh and delicate, elegant, harmonious, a forgotten vintage that was excellent in the southern medoc, so gentle and delicate, still energetic, un grand charmeur.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
Red
1995 Château Phélan Ségur
92 points
Magnum. Youthful, mature, lively, delicate aromas and flavours, oyster shell nose, gentle spice, gentle tannins, fresh and with a lovely evolution. A wonderful, mature Saint-Estèphe.
Red
1990 Château Giscours
91 points
Double Magnum. Extremely delicate even in this grand format, fragrant, almost Burgundian, supple amd sweet, fully resolved tannins, hint of spice, long and gravelly finish.
1 person found this helpful
Comment
White - Sweet/Dessert
2015 Château de Fargues
94 points
Magnum. Marries elegance and concentration, superbly pure botrytis, effortlessly balanced.
Red
2001 Château Gazin Pomerol
93 points
Magnum. A superb vintage for Gazin, very alluring in an understated fashion. At perfect peak in this larger format.