Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

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Posts Tagged ‘2008’

Bordeaux 2008 at four years: St Emilion

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

I think St Emilion has made a good fist of 2008. There’s plenty to enjoy in a lot of the wines if you can get past the winemaking in some cases – unless you’ve a fondness for treacle and liquorice. The best here are full and generally have plenty of fruit and no shortage of ripe tannin. There are quite a few who seem to like to make their wines super-ripe and super-reduced – wines of staggering concentration without regard for drink-ability – though the modesty of the vintage has largely kept things in check.

Bordeaux 2008 at four years: Pessac-Léognan

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

This was without question the most exciting commune for reds at the 2008 MW Institute tasting. The same was also true in 2007. The wines are structured but have depth and complexity and overall feel pretty attractive and tasty. With one exception, unlike the other Left Bank appellations, there wasn’t the sense here that the wines were in retreat. Rather the wines seem to be developing well in this vintage. So if you were looking for an appellation to stock up with then do look at 2008 in Pessac-Léognan. The prices are still reasonable, the wines look good, some are drinking nicely already, and they have the structure and depth to take a bit of age.

Bordeaux 2008 at four years: Sauternes & Barsac

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

In 2008 Sauternes and Barsac were not generally seen as having had a great year. It’s the first chance I’ve had to taste this vintage and the nine wines shown at the MW Institute tasting were better than expected overall. They had sweetness and fruit but perhaps did lack zip [acid] and that creamy botrytis stamp of the great years. That said I really enjoyed Chateau Climens, Chateau Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Chateau Rieussec. Chateau Suiduiraut looked very good indeed. Chateau d’Yquem was difficult to evaluate on the basis of the small sample size given but it had great length. Still I was a lot more excited tasting the 2010 vintage in Sauternes and Barsac at the UGCB a week later. More on that wonderful vintage for red, white and sweet white shortly.

Bordeaux 2008 at four years: Margaux

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

As you’d expect given the diversity of terroir in the Margaux appellation in 2008 things are more heterogeneous than in St Estèphe, Pauillac or St Julien. Once again the wines were a subdued bunch and only a handful sang on the day at the MW Institute 2008 tasting. Quite a few felt over-extracted relative to their fruit – this was surely not the vintage to be turbocharging – and neither does it play to the commune’s strengths, the beauty and elegance that mark the finest wines.

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