Pauillac! Bordeaux Series Part II

In our last Bordeaux tasting we visited Pauillac. I wanted to give this region a go because it is considered by many as the top of Bordeaux in quality. Three of the Five Premier Crus are from here, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Latour, and Mouton Rothschild. We had five excellent wines from the region all very different. Pauillac is made up of larger land holdings than other Bordeaux appellations. This gives us wines that through the course of the growing season ,wine making, and final blending, show a broader range in aromas, flavors and even styles compared to other regions. I found these wines differed from each other far more than the St. Emillion wines.

1st with 21 pts. Chateau Carruades de Lafite, 2002 , ~$40

This was a great wine, very new world in style compared to the others, Lots of fruit up front but also showed some crayon, chocolate, and floral characters. As the wine opened up I found an intriguing licorice and mint character developing. Definitely more fruit driven but good structure. The wine showed a polished character that many of the others didn't have. This may be because it is the second label of the famous Chateau Lafite Rothschild. The person who brought this wine got it at an incredible $22. Another person brought the same wine and paid $45, this is more in tune with what I have found online and other retail stores. Definitely one to look out for. A great value!

2nd with 25pts. Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste, Grand Cru Classe, 1999, ~$40

Another great wine but completely different. This was more old world in style and showed it's age very well. Showing some brick red edges on the glass and the nose showed some leather and stink from the bottle but opened up to some beautiful cocoa dust, tobacco, bacon and pepper flavors all wrapped in a blanket of cherry tart. The body was still oozing a velvety texture and flavors of sour cherries, white chocolate and sweet tobacco. The finish was nice and smooth and as long as the everlasting gobstopper. I loved it and rated it #1. It was definitely opened at the right time and maybe even 6 months past its prime.

3rd with 26pts. Chateau Clerc Milon, 2003, ~$45

Right behind 2nd place, this wine brought floral characters of rose petal and violets, sweet alcohol came through on the nose making the wine seem even more ripe, may be because of the very warm 2003 vintage. The palate was nice and full with a long finish. Lot of big tannin and a juicy, jammy mouthfeal, very well balanced.

4th with 34pts. Chateau Gran Puy Lacoste- Lacoste Borie, 2004~$30

5th with 39pts. Chateau d'Armailhac, 2004~$30

6th with 44pts. Chateau Pontet Canet, 1998 ~$40

San Simeon Pinot Noir, Monterey 2005

This is another great value from San Antonio Winery out of Los Angeles. Yeah, I said the City of Angels, and they actually celebrating their 90th anniversary. Not many other wineries in CA can claim that! I reviewed another of their wines, the 2002 Heritage, which you can see by clicking here. As with the Heritage this is a very good wine with good value. Another great offering from San Antonio Winery. This Pinot comes from vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, and Arroyo Seco AVA, both nice cool climate Pinot Areas and the wine spent 10 months in French oak barrels.

Color: Bright, crisp color, violet hues with deep purple core.

Nose: A tickle from some of the 14.1% alcohol but has a good pinot nose and a good dose of red fruits, dark cherry, strawberry, and sweet clove come to mind. As it opened up the oak became more prevalent but still gave loads and loads of fruit.

Palate: Nice acidity and fruit up front with a warm finish. Ripe fruit prevails but a bit weak on the mid palate. The finish follows with some nice raspberry jam flavors and brought a helping of "I want more".

Overall: A good wine and excellent value at $18. One of the better Pinot Noirs out there under $20. The problem is availability. The wines are hard to find outside of California but if you live in the right state, you can buy them online at the San Antionio Web Site.

Molly Dooker, Two Left Feet, 2006

Molly Dooker is THE hot brand from Australia right now. It is produced by Sarah and Sparky Marquis of the famous Marquis-Phillips brand. There are a number of wines under the Molly Dooker label including Merlot, Shiraz, and Verdelho. They all carry interesting titles and labels like this blend, Two Left Feet. It is made up of 68% Shiraz, 17% Merlot, and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and the ABV is a whopping 16%. The back label explains that "Molly Dooker" is an Aussie term for a lefty, and apparently both Sarah and Sparky are Molly Dookers. Maybe they also have Two Left Feet.

Color: Very Dark, deep purple core, dark crisp edges, tall thick legs rising up the glass.

Nose: Chocolate, coconut, cherry cola, cotton candy, very sweet, warming alcohol.

Palate: Sweet alcohol, big juicy body that covers the whole palate, good spicy and long finish.

Overall: I think that this is a very exciting wine. I really love these full bodied, high alcohol reds from down under. I can't say that they have a place at every dinner table, maybe only with a big steak from the grill, but I can really enjoy this wine on its own. The wine just goes and goes saturating my taste buds with ripe fruit flavor. This wine was $20 at Whole Foods and I think it is a great value. Due to popularity it may be hard to find so grab it while you can. I give it an A!

St. Emilion Winetasting, Part 1 of the Bordeaux Series

Our first tasting in the Bordeaux series was St. Emilion. The town of St. Emilion is one of the most beautiful towns in the Bordeaux region if not all of Europe! I was there in 2003 and fell in love with the picturesque village surrounded by vineyards on all sides. St. Emilion sits on top of a hill with a large steeple in the center and a church underground beneath the steeple. Pretty cool. There are probably more wine shops per capita that any place on earth and there are even more little cafes and bistros. It is all rather touristy but you can't help but get caught up in the romance that is St. Emilion.

The main grapes used in St. Emilion in order of importance are Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Because of the temperate climate of the Atlantic Ocean, St. Emilion and the lower right bank stays cooler longer compared to the rest of Bordeaux. This is why Merlot, being an earlier ripening grape, is more dominant. Only in the warmest years does Cabernet Sauvignon ripen enough to be of use in the higher quality wines. The other factor that sets St. Emilion apart form the rest of the right bank is its heavy limestone and clay soil giving St. Emilion a bit more power to age than some of its neighboring appellations.

I will also quickly mention classifications in St. Emilion. They are different than the Medoc Classifications and I think are a bit better. Basically there are three levels: 1er Grand Crue Classes (split into A and B categories), Grand Cru Classes, and Crue Classes. For a good look at all of them click here. One of the things that I really like about the St. Emilion classification is that the wineries get re-classified every 10 years unlike the great Bordeaux Classification which has only changed once since 1855.

Okay, enough of the lecturing, lets get to the wines. We tasted 5 different wines and they are listed below in their group ranking. We tasted the wines blind, each of us ranking each wine 1-5. I added the scores at the end and first place was given to the wine with the lowest score.

1st with 25pts. Chateau Faugeres, 2004, $35

Very dark in color with a beautiful nose and a nice full body with a long finish. The nose showed lots of earthy truffle aromas straight from the pour and opened up to more dark red fruits. the Alcohol was prevalent although balanced well with the weight of the wine. Overall, a very nice bottle of wine that was finished faster than the others.

2nd with 28pts. Chateau LaCours, 2004, $15

Lots of fruit coming out of the glass with a good oak and dyacital, buttery character. The palate was left a bit flat but had some strong tannin on the finish and a good acidity.

3rd with 29pts. Chateau LaCours, 2003, $22

Not too much of a surprise here except I thought the '03 would come first. But both were similar wines but I think this one had riper fruit characters. Strong cherry and strawberry notes came through and the palate again had a good strong finish although leaving a to be desired on the mid-palate.

4th with 30pts. Chateau Sinard, 1995, $25
5th with 31pts. Cheval Brun, 2003, $30

So, the tasting went well, we had a good time and learned a little bit too. Look for the next in the series as we tackle Pauillac from the Left Bank!

Bordeaux Winetasting Series

The old tasting group has started up again with a bang! We are doing a series of tastings focusing on Bordeaux and exploring some of the regional differences that it has to offer. We started off with St. Emilion and will eventually move through Pauillac, Pomeral and Graves. The winners of each region will be tasted against each other in a final Bordeaux tasting. By doing this we hope to learn more about each region and how they differ from each other and even come up with a favorite Bordeaux sub-appellation.

Bordeaux Basics (Click Here to view map)

Bordeaux is the largest "fine wine" producer in the world and provides a standard of quality that many winemakers around the world try to emulate. The whole region is dedicated to wine from vineyards to restaurants, hotels, and tourism. All Bordeaux reds must be made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot, and Malbec. Carmenere is also allowed but almost never used because since Phylloxera it has rarely been replanted.

Bordeaux is split in to 3 regions by the Dardogne and Garonne rivers: The Right Bank, Left Bank, and Entre Deux Mers (between two seas). The whole of Bordeaux has 37 controlled appellations each defined by their differences in soil and climate, the main components of Terrior.