I was fortunate to be able to attend the Union des Grands Crus tasting of the 2009 Bordeaux in Los Angeles in January of this year as a guest of Balzac Communications of Napa, CA. With all of the hype surrounding this vintage, with Mr. Parker handing out 18 100 point scores and with seemingly evryone jumping on the bandwagon, I decided to put some time between the tasting and committing my notes to paper so as to minimize the effect on my reflections and ultimate purchasing decisions.
Having said that - Wow! these are some very impressive wines indeed, most deserving all of the superlatives being handed out. However, not all stood out and not all are deserving of the big chunk of your wine budget needed to find their way into your collection.
As far as the wines most likely to make it to my own collection, I left the tasting believing that overall the St. Julien's showed the best but have much more in the tank for continued improvement. Looking back the wines with the highest percentage of cabernet sauvignon were clearly the wines I was drawn to, in my mind affirming that this is indeed a vintage where cabernet sauvignon is the star. In particular, Ch. St. Pierre was absolutely gorgeous, perfectly balanced, blackberry and cherry fruit held in check by beautiful tannin structure and with ample acidity. The "Leo's" are also delicious now but with great aging potential. Ch.Leoville Barton is a real stunner, again a wine with 70% cabernet sauvignon, classically styled, and it is just very hard to see how this wine could be better. Ch. LaGrange released what just has to be the best third growth ever produced, tasting more red fruit and notes of earth/cedar, and again in perfect balance and a finish that you are glad seems to go on forever.
Wines I would pass on - not many but there are some and only in expectations that their prices will be swept upwards with all of the buzz over this vintage. Ch. Greysac - perfectly decent but at a likely $25 a bottle it has lots of competition in that price range. Ditto Ch. Beauregard, enjoyable enough but greatly overshadowed by just about every other wine there.
Lastly - my sleeper pick is Ch. Kirwan, another third growth, i know, I know, only 45% cabernet sauvignon but very pretty and not overly ripe but restrained red fruit, pure and precise, some spice and cedar notes, seeming the quintessential Bordeaux blend that all California Meritage's would do very well to emulate.
P.S. - don't forget to pick up some Sauternes from this vintage, and one that is very drinkable now is the Ch. Suduiraut.
