TN's - 1995 Bordeaux tasting + 1 Bordeaux Blanc

[Phil Shorten]

1999 Ch. Haut-Mazieres – Blanc
AC Bordeaux
£6

Clear bright honeyed yellow gold. Clean mature nose of lemon, lime and cumquat. Slightly metallic. On the palate, full bodied, rich, honeyed but dry, quite creamy with touches of quince and lemon rind. Slightly toasty. Undoubtedly substantially, if not 100% Semillon, quite fat, but not unpleasant. Drinking at its peak.

4/7

1995 Ch. La Tour de By – Cru Bourgeois
Medoc
£10+

Clear bright medium plum red. Clean earthy nose showing some development, blackcurrant and leafy touches. Dry, medium bodied, ripe blackfruits, firm fine grained tannins. A decent Cabernet driven wine drinking at its peak.

4+/7

1995 Ch. Cantermerle – 5eme Cru Classe
Haut-Medoc
£20+

Produced in the Haut-Medoc just outside of Margaux, but is it Margaux in style? Clear bright medium plum red fading towards the rim. Clean nose, still youthful, showing ripe redcurrant, plum jam, slightly leafy, oak is indicated by “pencil shavings”. Palate-wise, dry, medium bodied, vanilla from the oak hits one first, followed by figs and red plum. For my palate, it lacks punch, though would undoubtedly be better if served with food.

4/7

1995 Ch. Lucie – St Emilion Grand Cru
£20+

Across to the Right Bank to taste a wine that is only a St Emilion Grand Cru, but has supposedly come to attention in recent years. Colour is much the same as the preceding wine; bright plum red, slightly faded at the rim. The bouquet is youthful, driven by ripe dark berry fruits together with a touch of charry oak and pencil shavings. Dry, medium bodied palate showing good ripe fruit in the dark plum and briar vein, with a pleasant rounded finish. A good wine, the 10% Cabernet Franc perhaps being more prominent than I may have expected.

5+/7


1995 Ch. Labergorce-Zede – Cru Bourgeois
Margaux
£20+

Back to the Left Bank and the supposedly “feminine” wines of Margaux. Clear bright medium to deep violet in colour. Clean complex bouquet of tar, violets, plums and blackcurrant, together with a touch of menthol. Dry, medium bodied, decent fruit intensity in the blackberry/blueberry vein, finishes with ripe creamy tannins. One dimensional at the moment, but this wine as substantial room for improvement. Leave for 3+ years.

4/7, but rating may improve with time.

1995 Ch. Talbot – 4eme Cru Classe
St Julien
£30+

Clear bright medium to deep plum red. The nose is youthful, showing blackcurrant, dark plum and mocha/coffee grinds. Dry, medium bodied, very silky palate, showing its class, ripe dark plum fruit comes to the fore flowing on to velvety dark chocolate. Very good now and will only improve further over the next 5-10 years. My wine of the night.

6/7

1995 Ch. de Sales
Pomerol
£20+

Clear medium ruby red, faded at the rim. Clean developed nose – quite earthy and vegetal. On the palate, dry and mature – past it in fact – faded fruit (figs and tobacco) and slightly dried out vanilla and nutmeg oak. Definitely past its best; could have been interesting 3 years back, but I suspect it was quite a heavily oaked wine to start with.

3/7

1995 Ch. d’Armailhac – 5eme Cru Classe
Pauillac
£25+

Clear bight medium to deep ruby. Youthful fruit driven bouquet of blackcurrant and blackberry, touches of violets. Dry, medium, almost verging on full bodied, good fruit intensity in the same character as the bouquet, the oak has integrated and tannins have softened somewhat, but this is a wine that needs more time to develop complexity on the palate.

5/7


1995 Ch. Montrose – 2eme Cru Classe
St Estephe
£40+


Clear bright deep crimson, the darkest wine of the night. Clean youthful bouquet that simply screams Cabernet Sauvignon (the cepage is 65% CS, 25% M and 10% CF), a tad leafy, blackcurrant fruit and licorice. Dry, medium bodied, lots of black fruit on the palate. Frankly, the wine is a tad simple at the moment, but thatÂ’s because it is a baby and needs at least 8+ years to start strutting its stuff. In conclusion, very good, but needs time.

4-5/7 but rating is likely improve with time

In conclusion, this was a most interesting and educational "tour of the appelations" from a good vintage. IMHO, 8 years post-vintage provides a far better opportunity to taste and evaluate these wines than out of the barrel or after they've just been bottled. In their youth, I find the tannins so ferocious and impenetrable that it can be difficult to get a real assessment of the wines and the quality of the underlying fruit.

As it stood, we tasted 2 wines that were at their peak, the La Tour de By and the Cantemerle, one that was past it (Ch de Sales). All of the others demanded at least another 3 years cellaring, some 10 years plus, which speaks for the cellaring ability of good red Bordeaux wines from a good vintage.

I have always questioned the value proposition of Bordeaux and I have to say that this tasting did nothing to change that perception. Sure, the likes of Montrose can be ethereal stuff, but you've got to look at the price tag as well. The Chateau Talbot was my wine of the night, but at £30+ (probably double that when you translate it to Australian prices) it would want to be good as well. Good as it was, I would struggle to say that on a dollar for dollar or pound for pound basis, it is dimensionally better than some of the better wines from Coonawarra and Margaret River.

Cheers
Phil