Bordeaux day two - The rollercoaster continues

After the peaks of Monday there was a pretty scary descent into the right bank UGCs. Let’s focus on the positives. Gazin and Conseillante are very good and Clinet continues to improve its style. The St Emilion tasting was altogether forgettable, except for some notable absences. The Nicolas Thienpont wines were nowhere to be seen (yields are so low at these estates, they decided to pull out of the Union tasting), so it was back in the bus for an unscheduled tasting at Pavie Macquin. Larcis Ducasse was surprisingly subdued, but Pavie Macquin and Beausejour Duffau are both quite striking. We bade farewell to the right bank and programmed the sat nav for Pessac Leognan.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg and Jean-Philippe Delmas greeted us at La Mission Haut Brion. A draconian selection has meant that for the first time they have bigger yields for the whites than the reds. The reds are both rather grand and the whites are drop dead gorgeous. Delving deeper into the commune we found a delicious Domaine de Chavalier a glossy Smith Haut Lafitte and some lovely dry whites, most notably: Malartic Lagraviere and Picque Cailliou. However, the UGC tasting was not plain sailing - many of the reds were charmless or worse…

On to Margaux. The new cellars, designed by Norman Foster are under construction so we tasted with Paul Pontallier in what is apparently France’s largest privately owned orangery. It certainly is a mighty fine building and a suitable place to taste a very refined and graceful flight of wines. At neighbours, Chateau Palmer, by contrast, we found something more voluptuous, sexy and juicy. There was also time for a quick visit to Clos des Quatre Vents. Luc has sold the estate to a Chinese company, but stays on to lend his considerable knowledge. The CD4V is charming and elegant, but lacks the depth of recent vintages. We also tasted a quite unique Chinese icewein from near the North Korean border made by the new owners of Clos des Quartre Vents! In short, it has been a day of peaks and troughs…