November 27, 2022 - My wealthy buddy broke this out as we watched an Arsenal game on the box for Saturday night – a red triumph on and off the field. Rich, silky, complex, and brimming with earthy black cherry. Very fine vino that slides down effortlessly. God, I could drink this with every home game quite happily.
November 23, 2022 - Ten Vintages Haut Bailly vs Mission HB: Preamble: All wines tasted blind in 10 vintage flights (1994-2015). To every flight one random third wine from Pessac Leognan added (2x Haut Brion, 2x Smith, 2x Pape Clement, 1x Branon, 1x Luchy Halde, 1x Carmes, 1x Chevalier). All wines opened a few hours before consumption but no decanting.
Some findings:
1) Haut Bailly outperformed Mission (5 vs 4 wins, 92.5 vs 90.5 average). 2) Haut Bailly is a rather structured wine which seems to shine bright in ripe and warm vintages, without any form of excess ripeness or extraction. 3) When done right (05/15), Mission eclipses Haut Bailly with its depth and delineation , but several vintages showed a bit too ripe but especially with the alcohol not well masked (09/10). 4) Pessac wines usually need quite some air to open up. In this setting (no decanting), most wines needed a lot of swirling to fully open up and will need more cellar time. 5) The best wines today were Haut Bailly 09 (96pts) & 10 (95pts) and Mission 05 & 15 (95pts).
TN: Not as bad as the 2009 (rated 84pts) but the well-structured, fine wine with quite fresh fruit is overshadowed by lots of unintegrated oak and a with alcohol showing. It might be a phase or the bottle isn’t good enough but this bottle was a clear miss.
October 22, 2022 - NYWE 2022: After tasting well over 100 wines on this day including many wowzers like 2010 Haut Brion, 2002 Ridge Monte Bello, Masetto, Unico, etc. this impressed me the most. Aromatically beautiful with black cherry, wood spice, and earthy appeal. Dark fruited, spicy, and perfectly framed structure. Excellent texture and so well integrated. Shows sophistication and breed while being just plain delicious. Years to go and upside, but singing even now. Wow!
September 19, 2021 - 96/10 side by side. Many of the same flavor markers as the 1996, just in a more primary and voluptuous package. So much delicious fruit makes for a fun early peek, but this will be far better in 15+ years after the wine integrates, sheds baby fat and lets the nuances shine. Upside from here.
December 16, 2020 - Bottle was OK but closed- Needs longer decanting
June 29, 2020 - Bordeaux 2010 - 10 Years On - 61 Reds: Bordeaux 2010 after 10 years. 61 reds, mostly big names, tasted blind. Average score 92.1 and lower than the more open and charming 2009 vintage last year (93.4). A few observations: A) It’s not yet the harmonious, complex, classic, clean vintage. Especially the masculine appellations of the left bank need at least 5 more years to just open up, potentially longer to soften. B) Left bank trumps right bank thanks to less detectable alcohol, cleaner lines and the two best wines of the vintage (Mouton, Margaux). C) Pomerol shines bright with many strong wines which can all mask the high alcohol levels (best AOC slightly ahead of Pauillac). D) As in 2009, there are several right banks already past peak, incl. big names (Duffau Lagarosse, Ausone). All in all, 2010 is a very good vintage with pockets of greatness but today 2009 shows more open and hence complex. More information, top and worst 10 list, appellation rankings from five participants in the story link.
TN: The nose is fairly muted and never really opened-up. On the palate much more expressive with sweet dark and red fruits, some nice earthy and oak-derived aromas, a mineral backbone but with the intriguing sweet fruit at the core. A lot of fun to drink with good mid-palate concentration and all embedded in a fairly fine structure which will only improve with time. Points deducted for the almost non-existant nose and the quite short finish. This would have needed a long decant and/or 10 more years to come around. A controversial wine with a some of the group liking it a lot but more don’t liking it at all (an me somewhere between these two groups).
Decanting: At least 8 hours in the decanter is advised.
Group average: 94.8
Group rank: number 12 out of 61 wines
(shared with Pontet Canet, Pichon Baron, Branon)
June 21, 2020 - Grand Bordeaux 2010 ten years on tasting; 6/21/2020-6/22/2020 (Fribourg): Big Bordeaux 2010 2-day horizontal hosted by a private collector. My 3 main takeaways from the vintage were 1) more frequent perception of heat, 2) a slightly stronger left bank and a less consistent right bank, 3) while in general it is still too early to pop the 2010s, wine selection is key as some appear to be in decline already, especially on the right bank. The top wines were Mouton (99), Margaux (98) and VCC (98). The biggest positive surprise was Clos Manou (95). Biggest disappointment was Pape Clement (86). More details and complete tasting overview included in the tasting story.
Tasting notes:
Black cassis, a bit liqueur-like, some heat on the palate, dense but in a heavy-handed way and not very exciting overall. Should also mention that in the few minutes we could follow this in the glass this was already improving in great strides - but didn’t come close to greatness. La Mission and Haut Brion were my low light among the two wines on the left bank. Interestingly noticeable alcohol was already an issue with the 2009. Maybe just much more bottle aging required here, but I am not entirely convinced that this will do the trick.
March 28, 2020 - Wow. Rocks, rocks and more rocks with maybe some fruit and spices thrown in there. Such a regal wine. I could keep my nose in the glass for hours and just keep to myself. It’s wines like these that remind of the magic that is French Cabernet and Merlot. Sensual, ridiculous texture. You take a sip, and never mind. The sip takes YOU. I love wines that really mess with ones’ sense of being. This is one of those. I have a feeling this wine will be immortal. Drink when and how you’d like. Just enjoy it.
March 29, 2018 - PDQ96+
June 28, 2017 - Second taste from a Coravin'd bottle one year later. The nose shows no noticeable effect of tapping this a year ago. Still loaded with youthful, developing blackberry, cassis, graphite, smoky cedar, with some earthiness and leather. However, the black fruits dominate for sure. A year later the high acids and tannins are more integrated (possibly hastened by the Coravin). Still very dusty and fine. Very nice, but this wine could (should) age for years.