2010 Bordeaux Tasting Notes from Pomerol & St. Emilion offer early vintage look

[Jeff Leve]

The 2010 Bordeaux wine harvest is already rumored to be another strong Bordeaux wine vintage. While it’s still early, this first look at 2010 Bordeaux wine from Pomerol, St. Emilion and a few wines from the satellite appellations is a small preview of what’s to come.
I’ll be in Bordeaux in April and will have the chance to barrel taste several hundred 2010 Bordeaux wines which will provide a strong overview of the vintage.
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Based on what I tasted and heard about the vintage, you can read interviews with close to 40 different producers on their 2010 harvest here: http://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/category/feature-articles/2010-bordeaux-wine-harvest-news/ 2010 will be different than 2009 in substance and style. The wines are ripe, alcoholic and more acidic. They will feel brighter and have more freshness, but they will lack the flesh and sensuous textures found in the best 2009. The wines will be more tannic, demanding a lot more time in the cellar before coming together. It’s my guess that the best wines from 2010 could end up being the Cabernet Sauvignon based wines from the Medoc.

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The elephant in the room is, what prices will the wines sell for? At this point, no one knows. It depends in part on what happens in the world over the next few months with the economy, in the Middle East, Japan etc. Assuming there is no disaster, my guess is, the wines will not sell for less than 2009.

Young wines mature at a rapid pace. It will be interesting to monitor how the vintage is developing as the wines will show much better when I return in the summer, than they will during the April tastings. With that in mind, why do they hold the tastings in April? That’s a topic for another day. While that will probably never change, it’s an interesting discssion worth having over a nice Bordeaux wine, or two.
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These notes are based on wines that had just finished maloactic fermentation. And in a few cases, some of the wines had not even finished their maloactics.


2010 Barde Haut - From a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, scents of licorice, chocolate covered black cherry and espresso are easy to find. Luxurious and mouth filling, with a minor touch of heat in the otherwise long, fresh, licorice and ripe, black plummy finish are thehallmarks of this St. Emilion wine. 91-93 Pts

2010 Bon Pasteur – This is the home estate of Michel Rolland. The wine opes with black cherry, coffee, black raspberry and 5 spice aromas which lead the way to a round, soft, sweet, licorice, espresso and dark cherry filled Pomerol. 91-94 Pts

2010 Clos des Jacobins – With the assistance of Hubert de Bouard from Chateau Angelus, this property keeps getting better, one step at a time. Earthy, pepper, herbs, plums and coffee aromas catch your interest. The soft, round textures, freshness and vanilla infused black raspberry finish is a pleasure to experience. 90-93 Pts


2010 La Dauphine - Deep in color, with oak, licorice, floral, chocolate and dark berry scents pairs well with the wines round textures and sweet black cherry finish. 89-91 Pts


2010 Clos Dubreuil – Dark purple in color, with licorice, smoke, coffee, earth and spice filled aromatics gets even better with the wines decadent palate fee and chocolate covered, dark, black cherry finish. 92-94 Pts


2010 Clos L’Eglise - With its deep purple color, the wine greets you with a massive dose of chocolate, flowers, black raspberry and vanilla scents. Mouth filling, rich and intense, this opulent beauty ends with a long, fresh, deep, blackberry and licorice sensation. Malolactics had just finished a few days earlier. It is possible this Bordeaux will go up in score as it develops. 94-96 Pts

[Jeff Leve]

2010 Fleur Cardinale – With its deep color, the wine opened with licorice, earth, cassis and blackberry liqueur aromas. Full bodied and filled with ripe, juicy fruit, with plush textures and a long, licorice, blackberry and chocolate finish, this offers better richness and intensity than the 2009. 92-95 Pts

2010 Fombrauge - Minerals, coffee, cassis and spice aromas open to dark berry, cassis and fennel aromas. Some tartness was discerned in the finish. 89-91 Pts


2010 – La Riviere Aria was a discovery for me. Thank you to to Bill Blatch from Vintex for introducing me to it. It was the first time I had tasted this wine. Froma blend of 86% merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, with vines averaging 40 years of age, the wine sported a deep color. Floral, boysenberry aromas, a rich mouth full of ripe, black fruit, chocolate and boysenberry jam makes this a very tasty offering from Fronsac. I’m not sure what this costs yet, but chances are, this will be a good value wine to seek out. 90-92 Pts


2010 Magrez Fombrauge - With its inky, jet black color, this exciting wine says hello with oak, licorice, chocolate, black cherry and blackberry aromas. Mouth coating, paced and stacked with a lot of intensity, this rich pure wine stains your palate with multiple layers of licorice, chocolate and dark plums. This wine has the potential to score higher as it develops. 95-98 Pts


Bordeaux negociant, Jeffrey Davies and The Wine Geeks, Tristen and Kyle are up to something. I was too busy to find out as I wanted to taste as many was as possible, which led me to the Pomerol made by Alain Raynaud.
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2010 Le Moulin – This Pomerol opens coffee, blackberry and plum scented wine offers a medium/full bodied that finishes with coffee and dark berry sensations. 90-92 Pts

2010 Patris – From close to 90% merlot, this small 9 hectare, St. Emilion vineyard produced a wine with notes of tobacco, black raspberry and earthy aromas. Medium/full bodied, the wine finishes with a nice black cherry sensation. 87-89 Pts


2010 Rol Valentin – Coffee, truffle, cassis, plums and licorice scents fill your glass. Silky in texture and more concentrated than the 2009, the wine ends with floral, plum and fennel flavors. Thanks to investments from the new owners and the efforts of their consultant, Stephane Derenoncourt, this Bordeaux wine from St. Emilion is becoming a property to watch. 91-93 Pts

[Christer Byklum]

More acidity and tannins tells of a cooler vintage, and then higher alcohol tells of a warm vintage? Why and how did this happen?

[Philippe Larche]

That happened because
- we had little rain (roughly same level like 2005) = berries were very small an concentrated
- we had warmth,...but not canicle, so we had no peak in temperatures
- nights were very fresh, which helped keep very good sanitary conditions and good acidity

[BENOIT TROCARD]

Thank you Jeff for these great comments and this very good analysis of the 2010 vintage. Yes this vintage is more austere than the 2009 but with tremendous density and hih level of tannins. You atre very right when you say that it will take longer to come tiogether in the bottle but I am sure that this 2010 is one of the great Bordeaux vintage. When you tasted the samples, most of the St Emilion on clay and Limestone wre still under Malo-Lactic fermentation as this was a very late vintage but also because the high concentration in tanins, alcohol and ph. It seems to be a good sign, isn't it? benoit

[Jeff Leve]

Benoit... Thank you for joining the board and posting. For the chateau you own, Clos Dubreuil , can you compare 2010 with any previous vintage? It's not like 2009. Is it closer to a year like 2005?

[Alex Stone]

Jeff

Thank you for posting your reviews. James Suckling wrote that Mouton felt 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux was similar to 1928 and 1929 Bordeaux. Do you think that is a fair comment?

[BENOIT TROCARD]

Jeff, it is hard to compare, you are right, it can not be closed to the 2009 as after the ale storm not all the plots were in the blend. I think that in therms of tannins it is much closer to 2005 but with more mouthfeel, concentration, complexity and fruits. For me this vintage is a good blend inbetween 2003, 2005 and 2009 : Fruit, Tannis, sweetness. But as you all know none vintage is similar 100% to another...2010 is realy unique and I am glad that we have succeed in producing an even better wine in 2010 than in 2009 and 2005. benoit

[Steve Webb]

Your point about why taste in April is interesting. The reason perhaps is commercial with everything geared towards a good marketing period in advance of the French holiday season. Certainly there were a few worried negociants last year when everything dragged on for so long!

On a serious note I did find last year that tasting in April put some wines at a disadvantage. In Sauternes, for example, Rayne Vigneau had been blended months ago while Climens was still in barrel. Some had prepared sample cuvees well in advance while others literally blended the night before we tasted.

The most important tastings are when the wines are finally bottled, ideally at least six months after bottling. Last April we tasted the 2007s alongside the 2009s just after they were bottled and many obviously suffered as a result. A subsequent tasting a month or so ago yielded completely different and much more complimentary results.

[Hamish Wakes-Miller]

Without demeaning this thread.....I do like the image mentioned above by Benoit.....an 'ale storm'. This seems very appropriate for St Patrick's Day!

[Hamish Wakes-Miller]

The debate about whether the first week in April is the optimum time will run and run. As Steve mentioned many of the Sauternes are in a totally different stage of production. However the alternatives are difficult too. Jan-March would be too early, whilst Malos are still happening (and the weather can be bleak in Bordeaux!). May could be OK, but it is the beginning of the Holiday season and travel can be difficult. June/July August are holiday months. Autumn is harvest!
The whole intention of the Primeur tastings is to get a snapshot of the quality of that specific vintage. I think April is fine. But I genuinely believe that points/ratings should be treated carefully for barrel samples. The true quality will inevitably be in the end bottle....but this is too late as the Chateaux owners will already have banked the money that they generated from selling 'futures'.

[Jeff Leve]

I've been tasting Bordeaux wine in June for the past several years. Those two extra months allow the wines to gain flesh out and gain a lot of complexity. When you think about it, the April tastings are a recent invention. Prior to 1982, there were no official tastings. In fact, formal futures campaigns did not exist at the time.

While Bordeaux has only been sold as futures to merchants for hundreds of years, there was no rush for merchants to buy the wines before 1982. It's hard to imagine, but prior to 1982, it was difficult for consumers to buy futures. Most of the big British merchants did not offer them. By tradition, most merchants sold the wines after they were bottled and available for consumers to take home, or place in storage.

That all changed with the 1982 vintage. My best guess is, a big part of the reason the futures campaign is held in May/June is to allow for the merchants and owners to take their summer vacation.

[Michael Allen]

Mr. Leve,

Thank you for sharing your notes. From what I have read on the internet and now on your website with the post from Mr. Derenoncourt, I am excited about the wines. The big question is, will I be able to afford them? Does anyone have any information to share?

[mustafa camlica]

That happened because
- we had little rain (roughly same level like 2005) = berries were very small an concentrated
TANNINS MUST BE VERY HIGH. NEAR 100 IPTs SHOULD BE COMMON.
- we had warmth,...but not canicle, so we had no peak in temperatures
HIGH ALCHOL COMES FROM HIGH BRIX AND HIGH BRIX IS A RESULT OF PERFECT WARM. PERFECT WARM MEANS DAILY HIGHS ARE LESS THAN 32 DEGREES CELCIUS.
- nights were very fresh, which helped keep very good sanitary conditions and good acidity
LOW NIGHT TEMPERATURES MEAN HIGH ACIDITY. IF NIGHT TEMPERATURES GO BELOW 15 DEGREES YOU WOULD HAVE HARSH TANNIN PROBLEMS THOUGH.

OK, NOW WE UNDERSTAND THE VINTAGE. BUT, NOBODY TALKS ABOUT THE FRUIT LEVEL OF THE VINTAGE. WHERE IT IS? IS IT MISSING? IS IT LESS THAN 09, EVEN 08?
FRUIT COMES FROM SUNSHINE.
HOW MANY SUNNY HOURS BORDEAUX DID RECEIVE BETWEEN VERASION AND HARVEST?

[david shaw]

Shoot me down everybody, but i think tasting raw samples of wine in April is pure folly. Bordeaux properties can well afford to show off their produce around June time..at least the malo will be complete and wine more together. But then the negociants need to get on the hard sell and shift the volume/ future sales before the lull of July and the annual shutdown of August. Old habits die hard.