Articles

Bordeaux 2016 Revisit
9.5 stars
24 August 2019

I tasted many Bordeaux 2016 wines in the summer of 2017, and I was persuaded it’s a great vintage for the decade. Thus when the opportunity to re-taste some Bordeaux 2016, I did not hesitate to sign up. After the wines developed in the bottles for roughly 2+ years, it’s a good revisit to see how it progressed.

Below is the margaux appellation rating, only d’Issan I’d say it’s decent effort, and I was very disappointed that Giscours was downgraded severely after only a short 2 years apart. Hard to say what the reason is, perhaps a poor bottle, as I noted Giscours was sourish and lean on the body in 2019, while just 2 years ago it was very ripe and very forward.

Flight of Margaux
d’Issan 9.25/10
Lascombes 9.25/10
Rauzan Gassies 8.5/10
Kirwan 8.75/10
du Tertre 9/10 rating remained the same as 2017
Giscours 9/10 downgraded from 9.5/10 rated in 2017
Brane Cantenac 8.75/10

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St Emilion
La Gaffeliere 9.5/10 Very good effort here, impressive
La Tour Figeac 8.75/10

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I must give credit to Beychevelle. I tasted it in 2017 after the wine was barely bottled 3 months old. In 2017, I really detected the fruity and chunky fruit style, with very refined oak. In 2019, the wine has become more evolved, almost cooked stewed fruits, very ready, very forward, and best of all, very pleasant to drink. Beychevelle 2016 has improved leaps and bounds.

St Julien
Lagrange 9.75/10
Beychevelle 9.5/10 Was upgraded from 2017 rating of 9.25/10
Leoville Barton 9.5/10
Branaire Ducru 9.25/10
Langoa Barton 9.0/10

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For Pauillac, these are wines that I’ve tasted, and I was so impressed with Pichon Lalande 2016 that I gave a perfect score for it! The nose was so elegant, along with chunky fruits and wooden crates, very addictive. Body, a sip and I fell in love with it, lovely, soft and feminine, super quality! I can see this lovely wine outshining many others in 30 years time, I hope I’m still alive to taste it and verify the accuracy of my scores by 2049!

Even the Reserve de la Comtesse didn’t fail to impress me. Even though the body was slightly hollow, not as compact as the big brother, it still give a very good flavour, and extremely value for money in terms of Quality Price Ratio.

Pauillac

Pichon Lalande 10/10
Reserve de la Comtesse 9.5/10
Croizet Bages 9.0/10

Meursault Perrieres Tasting Summary Report
9.25 stars
17 August 2019

I hosted a blind tasting of Meursault Perrieres tasting at my place, as there isn’t too many chance to taste many producers of Meursault Perrieres. Obviously the style varies according to winemaker different interpretation of how to produce a good Meursault Perrieres, and there’s no generalization of the style, some producers shine, some shy. I also wanted to find out why they’re only rated as premiere cru, as you know, Meursault highest rating is only a premiere cru, and there isn’t a grand cru rating at all, not even arguably the best Meursault Perrieres producer Coche Dury.

Attendees quickly submitted their bottles, and I quickly rounded up 15 bottles of these gems. There were quite a few bottles that’s totally blind to me, although I knew the majority of the labels. Save for writing a long essay on these bottles, I’d list them down now for your reference:

Flight 1
Yves Martenot 2014
Henri Boillot 2013*

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Flight 2

Bouchard 2004
Joseph Drouhin 2011*
Francois Mikulski 2009
Bouchard 2006

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Flight 3

Robert Ampeau 1993*
Nicholas Potel Selection 1992 (late release)

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Flightt 4

Comtes Lafon 2006
Comtes Lafon 1999*
Comtes Lafon 1988

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Flight 5

Pierre Morey 2003
Joseph Drouhin 2007
Michel Bouzereau 2008
Comtes Lafon 2009*

Those marked with asterisk * are wine of the flight. Wine of the day is arguably between Comtes Lafon 2009, followed closely by Comtes Lafon 1999, and a distance apart being Joseph Drouhin 2011.

Summary
While it was fun to fish out the top 3 producers in this tasting, with regrettably an absence of Coche Dury, I wouldn’t think a superstar producer should be representative of the whole appellation, so I would say Comtes Lafon is really a consistent producer for Meursault Perrieres.

I also would not argue this appellation should be a Grand Cru, they’re definitely above average wines and certainly addictive to drink them, with great floral and richness, and a tinge of orange rind from most wines, plus a touch of minerality, but they can’t really compete with the Grand Crus of the Puligny Montrachet stars, it somehow lacked the finesse, elegance and balance of Montrachets, Batard Montrachets or Chevalier Montrachets.