Chateau de Camensac held the UGCB Haut-Médoc tastings

The top estates here have been great buys in the last few vintages. 2009 especially is an exciting vintage for the Haut-Médoc. I’m afraid it’s hard to get terribly excited about these wines in 2011. The best are lively, sappy wines, but even at a discount, you’re probably better paying more for the 2009s and 2010s still on the market. The highlights are clearly Chateau La Lagune, very much worth considering if the price is right [and way better than most efforts in Margaux too] and Chateau Belgrave which is also usually good value.  Chateau Citran, Chateau Beaumont and Chateau de Camensac have also made pretty good wines, along with Chateau La Tour Carnet, if you can get past the lifted Magrez style. The big disappointment here is Chateau Cantemerle. It may come together but why bother?  There’s still a lot of their extraordinary 2009 on the market for just a few quid more.

Reasonable efforts here in this mediocre vintage but I wouldn’t rush out to buy any of these over their wines in 2009 or even 2008. Lightish wines and lightish in flavour – I’m not sure they will never ditch their angularity or tannin.

Chateau Cantemerle is terrific in 2009

2009: Unbelievably delicious Bordeaux like Chateau Gloria above

Don’t panic, rest easy. For those who invested heavily en primeur in Bordeaux 2009, either for their drinking pleasure, or to make a bob or two, I think your money’s safe. In Octover 2001 130 of Bordeaux’s finest chateaux, members of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, turned up as they do each year at London’s Royal Opera House showing their most recently bottled vintage. I don’t know about you but with all the hype and price controversy that surrounded this vintage on release it seems 2009 has been around for ages, certainly a lot longer than 24 months. Widely praised by many as one of the finest ever Bordeaux vintages, now that it’s finally in bottle, this vintage is still a delight. Never has there been such joy drinking young red Bordeaux at this age, nor for that matter its fabulous sweet Sauternes and Barsac. The whites from Pessac-Léognan and Graves, whilst maybe not having the freshness and delicacy of say 2010 or especially 2007, have generally developed well into big, full, spicy whites.