Visiting Ducru is always good fun. This year we were greeted with walls adorned with calligraphic tasting notes and vintage musings, the electric neon rabbit now living (and flashing) back behind a row of barrels. He gave us these words in their tubular tasting rooms, stood in front of one of his Keith Harings, on typically charming form and more than happy to talk about the pricing of these 2009s.
Friday 16 April 2010
Thursday 15 April 2010
Winemakers Series: Voyager Estate, the final installment
Posted by Julian Campbell, Buyer
Saturday 10th April 2010 As usually seems to happen we have had a slower couple of weeks waiting for all of the Cabernet blocks to fully ripen and we are now down to our final couple of days harvesting tomorrow and Monday. The Cabernet Sauvignon has followed a similar pattern to the Shiraz with lovely ripe flavours and perfect tannin ripeness at lower than normal sugar levels. The fruit is showing wonderful freshness and vibrancy with classic southern Margaret River flavours of cassis, mulberries and ripe red berries. The tannins are fine and ripe and, an indicator of the overall fruit ripeness, has been the woody development of the grape stalks and seeds. I do not recall a vintage where we have had such dry, crunchy seeds and, beautiful ripeness of the grape stalks with dry brown wood extending all the way to the bottom of the bunch. The overall fruit quality looks outstanding with all blocks performing to a very high level giving us a lot of exceptional batches to select from when we assemble the top wine.
The whites have all completed fermentation with the Chardonnay now in barrel for the next 12 months, and the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon components slowly being blended together.
The vintage has been our fourth very high quality season in a row which underlines the consistency of the Margaret River region and reinforces my initial perception of the region as a viticulturists paradise!
Steve James, Voyager Estate
Wednesday 14 April 2010
Bordeaux 2009: A truly great vintage but for great winemakers.
Posted by Julian Campbell, Buyer
2009 is an unparalleled vintage for Bordeaux. Whilst certainly not a year without blemish, the many successes in 2009 have made for some of the best young claret we have ever experienced. The seductive textures and harmony of these wines is what is so arresting. The finest examples of the vintage display an ethereal balance between highly polished tannins, multi-layered complex expressions of fruit, and yet, critically, a freshness and clarity to them which gives the wines a beguiling impression of power with grace. This is, in our view, a benchmark vintage for the region, and stylistically quite different to the recent vintages before it. But that does not mean all the estates succeeded. There are various reasons behind that but picking dates, as always, proved to be pivotally important. There are examples of over-ripeness, particularly in some of the merlot. This has meant that some wines in 2009 feel clumsy. There are also signs of over-extraction in certain estates, predominantly, though not exclusively, in the areas of St. Emilion and Margaux. Though with St. Emilion, it seems to be less prevalent than in previous years. Nor is success confined to the great Chateaux; we were delighted with many of the lower growths of the Medoc particularly, and there should be a treasure trove of these estates around Pauillac, St. Julien and St. Estephe which should prove to be the best value buys in 2009.
After an early and uniform flowering and bud burst, Bordeaux experienced some localised hail storms in May. This devastated estates in appellations as diverse as the Entre deux Mere, Lalande de Pomerol, Margaux and St. Emilion. Although the storms were violent, most properties escaped, albeit with lower yields, though some were severely affected. Early hail is preferable to autumn hail as it reduces crop size but thankfully has no real impact on quality. Summer arrived soon after the storms and stayed and stayed and stayed. 2009 was in fact one of the driest summers on record, but critically without the extreme heats witnessed in 2003. These conditions persisted into September and many vignerons became concerned about hydric stress rather than the more normal concern just before harvest time, rain. Thankfully there were a few refreshing showers at just the right moments to cool and invigorate the vines, and again this forms part of the style to the wines of 2009. An Indian summer without parallel saw daytime temperatures regularly exceed 25 degrees. However, night-time temperatures plummeted, which enabled grapes to maintain their acidity and consequently the wines their freshness.
So, blessed with near perfect raw materials 2009 should be brilliant from top to bottom. Well, sadly that is not the case. 2009 is a vintage with potentially record alcohol levels and ripeness, and these needed to be managed. The top terroirs and winemakers have excelled and produced concentrated wines with extraordinary aromatic complexity, while also maintaining an important freshness, texture and balance. Winemakers who forced this, or picked too late, have produced over-extracted, clumsy wines that lack excitement and class.
So this is a challenging vintage to summarise. The highs are stratospheric, though it is not as homogenous as 2005, particularly at the lower end. There are exceptional wines from all communes including an incredible showing in Sauternes and Barsac. In general, it is a vintage that most suits Cabernet, and yet the best of Pomerol is among the best of 2009. Although the wines are massively endowed, they possess a refinement and balance which is quintessential Bordeaux. We have spent hours discussing the velvety, silky textures and exquisitely crafted tannins which we tasted during our week. But I personally liked Frederic Engerer’s analysis on the style of 2009: the elegance of 2000, the power of 2005, but with a unique aromatic twist. It is that combination which makes these wines both original and compelling.
After an early and uniform flowering and bud burst, Bordeaux experienced some localised hail storms in May. This devastated estates in appellations as diverse as the Entre deux Mere, Lalande de Pomerol, Margaux and St. Emilion. Although the storms were violent, most properties escaped, albeit with lower yields, though some were severely affected. Early hail is preferable to autumn hail as it reduces crop size but thankfully has no real impact on quality. Summer arrived soon after the storms and stayed and stayed and stayed. 2009 was in fact one of the driest summers on record, but critically without the extreme heats witnessed in 2003. These conditions persisted into September and many vignerons became concerned about hydric stress rather than the more normal concern just before harvest time, rain. Thankfully there were a few refreshing showers at just the right moments to cool and invigorate the vines, and again this forms part of the style to the wines of 2009. An Indian summer without parallel saw daytime temperatures regularly exceed 25 degrees. However, night-time temperatures plummeted, which enabled grapes to maintain their acidity and consequently the wines their freshness.
So, blessed with near perfect raw materials 2009 should be brilliant from top to bottom. Well, sadly that is not the case. 2009 is a vintage with potentially record alcohol levels and ripeness, and these needed to be managed. The top terroirs and winemakers have excelled and produced concentrated wines with extraordinary aromatic complexity, while also maintaining an important freshness, texture and balance. Winemakers who forced this, or picked too late, have produced over-extracted, clumsy wines that lack excitement and class.
So this is a challenging vintage to summarise. The highs are stratospheric, though it is not as homogenous as 2005, particularly at the lower end. There are exceptional wines from all communes including an incredible showing in Sauternes and Barsac. In general, it is a vintage that most suits Cabernet, and yet the best of Pomerol is among the best of 2009. Although the wines are massively endowed, they possess a refinement and balance which is quintessential Bordeaux. We have spent hours discussing the velvety, silky textures and exquisitely crafted tannins which we tasted during our week. But I personally liked Frederic Engerer’s analysis on the style of 2009: the elegance of 2000, the power of 2005, but with a unique aromatic twist. It is that combination which makes these wines both original and compelling.
Tuesday 13 April 2010
Bordeaux 2009: Hew's Views ,The Right Bank
Posted by Julian Campbell, Buyer
Further thoughts on the vintage, this time the wines of Pomerol & St Emilion, from our Chairman Hew Blair...
Hew's Views: The Right Bank from Justerini & Brooks on Vimeo.
Monday 12 April 2010
Bordeaux 2009: Chateau Pichon Lalande
Posted by Julian Campbell, Buyer
The incredibly affable Gildas d'Ollone, happy to chat about the ease of the vintage and what it can be compared to, on a sunny afternoon, overlooking the vineyards.
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