During the past month I have attended three in-depth tastings at Decanter magazine, covering wines and vintages that are just now coming onto the market. These tastings are of course blind, but the vintage and appellations are known, so comparisons are fairly tight. The tasters are drawn from specialists in each region, always a smattering of Masters of Wine (MWs), and wines that have received an average of 18.5 and above on the 20 point scale - a Gold Medal ranking in the Decanter World Wine Awards - are re-tasted by the group a final time to make sure they really deserve the 5 star award.
The first tasting was Medoc Cru Classés from 2006, with only two chateaux, Leoville-Las Cases and Ducru-Beaucaillou, being absent. General opinion was that many of the wines, after more than a year in bottle, were still a bit green with tannins that will take time to blend in. I remember it being described as "classic" during the early tastings, and certainly it is very Médoc and certainly charm is not its strongest point. Of the 5 communes, Pauillac was voted the best, confirming that 2006 is a Cabernet year. In the Haut-Médocs, my favourite was La Tour Carnet; for Margaux, both Château Margaux itself and Rauzan-Segla made the final round, as did Dauzac to our surprise, while I also liked Prieuré-Lichine, Lascombes, Malescot-Saint-Exupery, Brane-Cantenac and Durfort-Vivens; Saint-Julien, normally my favourite commune, was less appealing, with only Léoville-Barton getting my good marks; for Pauillac, Lafite, Mouton, Pichon-Longueville and Pontet-Canet made the final round, while Latour, which I found rather forward, did not. My other choices were Haut-Bages-Liberal and a much improved Lynch-Moussas; finally in Saint-Estephe, both Montrose and Lafon-Rochet showed well, with only Calon-Segur disappointing (probably a poor bottle).
My view is that while the reputation and prices of the 2005 Médocs continue to rise, those of the 2006s will not.
The next tasting covered the 2007 southern Rhône reds, with 11 wines from Beaumes de Venise, 45 from Vacqueyras and 51 from Gigondas. This vintage has been raved about, with quotes like "the best in 50 years", yet in the opinion of John Livingstone-Learmonth, the great Rhône guru, it was still "work in progress". John's benchmark is STGT (soil to glass transfer), and he is firmly against over-extraction and new oak for these Grenache-based wines. Although the Beaumes de Venise were homogeneous, with my top marks going to Château Redortier and Domaine de Cassan, none made the final round, which featured two Vacqueyras and four Gigondas, and there will be many more just below these. There is no doubt that 2007 is a year where quite superb wines have been made, but you should still pick and choose.
The third tasting was of 2007 Meursault, with an extraordinary 187 wines over two days, the tasters each tasting half the wines, but still clocking up almost 50 wines a morning. There were 34 "villages" wines, 70 "villages + climat" and 83 Premiers Crus. I have never, ever, had such an education in Meursault. 2007 Burgundy whites are better than the reds, for the Chardonnay ripened after a very cool summer, yet kept its acidity. Our view was that the villages wines were good, not great, the villages + climat a definite step up and in the Premiers Crus, Genevrieres hardly put a foot wrong, with four wines in the final six, while the less well-known Poruzots surprised us all with its excellent structure. There were dozens of fine wines for drinking over the next five years, but you will have to look at the results in Decanter to see what they are.
The first tasting was Medoc Cru Classés from 2006, with only two chateaux, Leoville-Las Cases and Ducru-Beaucaillou, being absent. General opinion was that many of the wines, after more than a year in bottle, were still a bit green with tannins that will take time to blend in. I remember it being described as "classic" during the early tastings, and certainly it is very Médoc and certainly charm is not its strongest point. Of the 5 communes, Pauillac was voted the best, confirming that 2006 is a Cabernet year. In the Haut-Médocs, my favourite was La Tour Carnet; for Margaux, both Château Margaux itself and Rauzan-Segla made the final round, as did Dauzac to our surprise, while I also liked Prieuré-Lichine, Lascombes, Malescot-Saint-Exupery, Brane-Cantenac and Durfort-Vivens; Saint-Julien, normally my favourite commune, was less appealing, with only Léoville-Barton getting my good marks; for Pauillac, Lafite, Mouton, Pichon-Longueville and Pontet-Canet made the final round, while Latour, which I found rather forward, did not. My other choices were Haut-Bages-Liberal and a much improved Lynch-Moussas; finally in Saint-Estephe, both Montrose and Lafon-Rochet showed well, with only Calon-Segur disappointing (probably a poor bottle).
My view is that while the reputation and prices of the 2005 Médocs continue to rise, those of the 2006s will not.
The next tasting covered the 2007 southern Rhône reds, with 11 wines from Beaumes de Venise, 45 from Vacqueyras and 51 from Gigondas. This vintage has been raved about, with quotes like "the best in 50 years", yet in the opinion of John Livingstone-Learmonth, the great Rhône guru, it was still "work in progress". John's benchmark is STGT (soil to glass transfer), and he is firmly against over-extraction and new oak for these Grenache-based wines. Although the Beaumes de Venise were homogeneous, with my top marks going to Château Redortier and Domaine de Cassan, none made the final round, which featured two Vacqueyras and four Gigondas, and there will be many more just below these. There is no doubt that 2007 is a year where quite superb wines have been made, but you should still pick and choose.
The third tasting was of 2007 Meursault, with an extraordinary 187 wines over two days, the tasters each tasting half the wines, but still clocking up almost 50 wines a morning. There were 34 "villages" wines, 70 "villages + climat" and 83 Premiers Crus. I have never, ever, had such an education in Meursault. 2007 Burgundy whites are better than the reds, for the Chardonnay ripened after a very cool summer, yet kept its acidity. Our view was that the villages wines were good, not great, the villages + climat a definite step up and in the Premiers Crus, Genevrieres hardly put a foot wrong, with four wines in the final six, while the less well-known Poruzots surprised us all with its excellent structure. There were dozens of fine wines for drinking over the next five years, but you will have to look at the results in Decanter to see what they are.
