It started with a leg of lamb…

I’ve recently noticed the shape of wine bottles in our recycling bin changing – a seasonal shift perhaps. As the nights draw in and espadrilles have been replaced by wellingtons, my wine consumption has taken an Autumnal turn. The afternoons enjoying German Riesling and evenings sampling the delights of the Cote d’Or have given way to Sunday roasts and evenings in front of the fire getting reacquainted with some old friends.

As collectors have had their sights firmly on the best domaines in Burgundy, a once revered region has been languishing in relative obscurity. Bordeaux’s dominance and influence in the UK market has been rocked. Perceived overpricing and a weakening of demand from the Chinese market have hurt the reputation of this great wine growing region.

But when my father pulled out a bottle of d’Armailhac 2004 the other weekend to accompany a leg of lamb, my love affair with Claret was reignited. The 2004s are wonderful to drink right now. Domaine de Chevalier, Leoville Poyferre, even Haut Brion; all recent tastings have shown that this is a charming, accessible vintage to enjoy right now. But while the First Growths will dominate headlines and ensure the perception is that Bordeaux is still expensive, my recent forays into the cellar have proved quite the contrary. Bordeaux is producing some of the best value wines you can find anywhere in the world. Last week Mrs J and I drank four ‘little’ 2009s. Little in price perhaps, but certainly not in quality. Capbern Gasqueton is freshness personified, Calon Seguresque indeed. Chateau Villars is a big, impressive, Merlot dominated Fronsac, with bags of personality and ageing potential. While Villa des QuatreSoeurs is a classic, floral Margaux, so elegant and polished for a wine at this price level. My final encounter (for the time being) was the excellent Petit Bocq. This has real St Estephe minerality, lots of crushed stones, cooked meats and sweet berry fruit. One feels that this has a lot more to come, but that shouldn’t stop anyone popping open a bottle today. A feature of all these wines is their cashmere texture – the 2009s are decadent at every level. You can have so much fun with wines in this price bracket; if you have been wavering; these are guaranteed to restore your faith in the wines of Bordeaux.

Southwold under snow

Despite the freezing conditions, many of the great and good from the wine trade made the annual pilgrimage to Suffolk to re-taste the much vaunted 2009s.

This was the vintage of the century, a vintage that boasts 17 hundred point wines, so how do they stack up three and a bit years on? Well the first observation is the tannins. From barrel, these were almost undetectable. Most of our notes referred to silky, velvety tannins, mainly masked by opulent fruit. Today, the wines are quite obviously tannic. They have lost some of that hedonistic quality and have gained in structure. This all bodes well for long term storage, but may put impatient souls off...

Another surprise was just how big a gulf there is between the top names and the low-mid-range Clarets. vignerons and negociants declared 2009 to be a 'great', 'homogenous' vintage with quality produced from top to bottom. They are right, many of the smaller estates have produced their best wines in 2009, but from the evidence of this tasting, you cannot expect to obtain First Growth quality on a cru bourgeois budget. At the affordable level the likes of Gloria, Clos des Quatre Vents, Poujeaux, Roc de Cambes, Lafon Rochet, Langoa Barton and Haut Batailley all had very strong showings and offer very good QPR (quality price ratio).

Where the vintage becomes really interesting is at the very top echelons. These flights from both banks of the Gironde were quite exceptional. Duhart Milon, Latour, Lafite, Mouton Rothschild, Montrose, Ducru Beaucaillou, Las Cases, Cheval Blanc, Canon, Ausone, Eglise Clinet, Clinet, Le Pin, Petrus and Palmer all deserve special mention. I gave two 20/20 scores to Latour and Montrose and on another day I may have awarded Lafite, Mouton and Eglise Clinet the same accolade. Other estates worthy of a special mention include Domaine de Chevalier Rouge (£540/cs) and Grand Puy Lacoste (£575/cs). Both offer outstanding quality and punch well above their weight.

The final session was devoted to the whites. I have to admit, the 2009 Sauternes and Barsacs rather passed me by when we tasted from barrel. All the hype surrounding the reds swallowed me up and I feel I rather missed a trick. 2009 produced splendid botrytis and the wines display everything needed for successful cellaring: richness, density, complexity, freshness and balance. They are delightful wines, and whilst they will always play second fiddle to the reds, they should certainly not be forgotten. My highlights included Doisy Vedrines, Lafaurie Peyraguey, Suduiraut and Rieussec.

So in conclusion, the reds are shutting down. Apart from petit chateaux, I would suggest holding the 2009s for a minimum of five years to experience them at anything like their best. If there were any concerns that 2009s were not built for long-term storage, this tasting should dispel that theory; these are massive, structured, profound wines that will cellar effortlessly and give their owners years of pleasure.

*All the views in this blog are mine and they are not necessarily shared by the rest of the tasters.