Archive Releases
3 June 2010
The superb Grand Cru Saint Emilion, Château Barde Haut is available in tiny quantities @ £245.00 IB per case... I wholeheartedly recommend both the wine and (for once) can't grumble about the price!
Robert Parker awards a whooping 93-95* (The asterisk signifies when Parker thought a wine had the finest potential of all the offerings he had ever tasted from that estate in nearly 32 years of barrel tasting samples in Bordeaux) "A tiny crop of 18 hectoliters per hectare (the result of the mid-May hail damage) lead to an opaque purple-colored, richest, most concentrated, biggest Barde-Haut made to date. A blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, the 2009 possesses an intense bouquet of mulberries, boysenberries, charcoal, toast, and graphite. Extremely full-bodied, thick, and viscous with good freshness and definition as well as sweet, but high tannins, this beauty can be enjoyed over the next two decades"
Jancis Robinson "Dramatic and delicious"
Neal Martin "This has a very seductive nose, pure red-berried fruit, well integrated creamy new oak, very fine definition with kirsch, cranberry, wild strawberry and cedarwood. Just a little gas on the entry, a full-bodied, very tannic, sinewy palate, very powerful with layers of black, cedary fruit, in fact, more akin to a Left Bank than a Right Bank wine. Well balanced but very primal, almost broody at the moment. Grippy finish"
NB: The 2005 (93 Parker points) is trading @ £300.00 IB per case...
Sadly, it's a similar story with Château Haut-Batailley which is available @ £280.00 IB per case – The same price as the "physical" 2005. I appreciate that some properties have produced wines comparable or better to their 2005 consequently, justifying the same price or a slight hike however, Haut-Batailley's 2009 isn't and therefore makes absolutely no sense to buy!
Moreover, Parker awards (88-90) which is the same score as their 2008 (the 08 is better in my opinion too) and is available @ £210.00 IB per case...
One main advantage of buying "En-Primeur" is to purchase the wine at the opening release price as the "bottled" product will usually cost more – A clear fact that they've missed this year. I think that some Château owners' need to pay a tad more respect to their customers!
Unfortunately, the campaign is still agonizingly slow – We may be lucky to see the first and second growths during next year's En-Primeur campaign If we continue at this rate! Really, what on earth are the Bordelaise hoping to achieve apart from seriously annoying wine merchants?
Chateau Sociando-Mallet was curiously released late last night. Their 2009 was pleasant however, it does not warrant a lofty price tag of £310.00 IB per case particularly as the "physical" 2005 is available, ten pounds cheaper! Needless to say that we can't endorse this purchase.
However, we do endorse the delicious Château Potensac, which we are delighted to offer @ £180.00 IB per case or £170.00 IB per case if 2 or more cases are purchased. Potensac is under the direction of the Delon family who are much better known for the ownership of more celebrated estates especially Léoville-Las Cases.
Neal Martin awards 90-92 and describes their 09 as "A blend of 48% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon and 14% Cabernet Franc with 7.3% vin de presse, delivering 13.9% alcohol, this has a ripe blackberry nose with raspberry, kirsch, a touch of cassis and cedar, all cloaked in warm alcohol. The palate is full-bodied with ripe, slightly chewy tannins, very good weight, certainly more complexity that recent vintages, well defined towards the finish and coping with that alcohol adeptly. This is a better Potensac than in recent years but still a little "conservative" in style"
Jancis Robinson awards a handsome 17.0 "Very deep crimson. Minerals and great ripeness. But very much restrained by a corset of structure. Great lift and pzazz. Not at all a country wine, not too chewy. But very serious. This has a really long term future".