Bordeaux Futures 2005: ninth report

Château TROPLONG MONDOT Pauillac GrowthsNinth Report (April 12, 2006)TROPLONG MONDOT 2005: 100 With Château Margaux, Troplong Mondot is my favourite wine of the vintage. I do not tire of tasting it in every possible way, on every possible occasion: at the château, amongst other crus of Saint-Emilion or at private tastings. Never has it failed to render all its remarkable qualities. Highly coloured but also very aromatic, pure and complex, it evokes cherry liqueur and raspberry liqueur, and sometimes roses, depending on the freshness of the sample. Entry is a moment of pure pleasure and could be mistaken for that of Château Margaux due to the resemblance of its pulpy finesse, the ever elegant and never casual inner concentration. The density is remarkable. There is a great complexity of flavours. The aromatic style evokes the South, but not too much. The remarkable touch caresses and melts, and then the wine, tannic and deep, comes to end long, strong and never intrusive. So much charm and so much substance! Marvellous sapidity. It slips down on its own and excites only one desire: to drink over and over again. This is the alliance between the lusty strength of coffee and the gentle voluptuousness of love. Fabulous! Yield: 30 hl/ha. Blend: 90% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.7° alcohol (which are not felt). TPI 95 – pH 3.75 – TA 3.1 (against 2.8 for the 1990). Production: 65000 bottles.PAUILLAC GROWTHSBATAILLEY Pauillac Cru Classé 89 - 91 The colour is an intense dark crimson red. Beautiful deep nose of liquorice and tar. The mouth is rounded, very fruity and juicy, without the fabric I found in it in mid-mouth in 2003 and 2004. It shows itself at the finish with a lovely aromatic length. Delicate tannic grain. BELLEGRAVE Pauillac 87 - 88My best score given to this wine as a future. The colour is lovely, the nose somewhat lively but the fat in the mouth impressive. The lovely finish is flavourful and fruity with mellow tannins. CARRUADES DE LAFITE Pauillac 88 The wine is mellow, tender, fruity, cocoa, but also fresh, and advances in the mouth fairly gracious and agreeable. There is a trace of tannin. It is very good. CLERC MILON Pauillac Cru Classé 92My best score given to this wine as a future. This wine offers an unprecedented suavity and a subtly sappy fat. I relish so much sapidity in mid-mouth. The nose is really mellow, very fruity, but also very fresh. The wine advances like a conqueror in the mouth, flavourful, strong and long. This is beautiful work. It is the most elegant Clerc Milon ever seen. Blend: 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, 39% Merlot, 1% Carmenère, 1% Petit Verdot. 13.4° alcohol. Philippe Dhalluin thinks so much that he can still improve the precision of this wine that a new fermenting vat will be installed at Clerc Milon in 2007. The teams working on this estate are different from those at Mouton. There now exists a competitive spirit between them which can only be beneficial to the quality of the three estates.COLOMBIER MONPELOU Pauillac 87 I have never found such fat and such finesse in this wine before. The fruitiness is pure and the tannins well integrated. Good corpulence. A success. CROIZET BAGES Pauillac Cru Classé 83 The colour is dark red and of medium intensity. The nose is fruity, somewhat animal and simple. The mouth lacks taste and body. D’ARMAILHAC Pauillac Cru Classé 89 - 91 My best score given to this wine as a future. I have never found this wine so refined! There is the effect of the vintage and that of Philippe Dhalluin who brings a vision of a more nuanced tannic presence. A wine with cherry fruitiness and a rather hedonistic silky texture. Nothing in common with the rather casual strength of 2002. Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 29% Merlot, 1% Petit Verdot. 13.2° alcohol. DUHART MILON ROTHSCHILD Pauillac Cru Classé 90 A coloured wine. The nose is neat, intense, fresh, very fresh, delicately smoked, with a note of cedar. It is the pulpiest Duhart Milon that I know. It enters the mouth with grace and velvetiness. It is mellow in taste and fresh at the same time. Straight, strong, with a trace of cocoa, slightly exotic, it ends long and sappy. A very, very lovely wine. Plenty of taste and pleasure. FONBADET Pauillac 86 Since 2002, this cru has a fat unknown in it until then. It is the same in 2005. The consistence is good. This said, the finish could last longer. GRAND PUY DUCASSE Pauillac Cru Classé 87 The colour is claret red and crimson, of medium intensity. The nose is fruity, smelling nicely of cherry and cocoa. The taste is delicious, delicately creamy, delicately cocoa, delicately fruity and smelling of cherry. However, the corpulence could be better. On the other hand, it does not have firm tannins and even ends aromatic. A careful vinification, it seems to me. Maturing will tell us more. GRAND PUY LACOSTE Pauillac Cru Classé The comment will be published in a next report. HAUT BAGES LIBÉRAL Pauillac Cru Classé 87 - 88 The colour is dark crimson red. The nose is fresh, floral and very fruity. The mouth is agreeable, combining the suavity of the vintage on entry with firmness in the second part. The finish is a tiny bit austere. Normal length. HAUT BATAILLEY Pauillac Cru Classé The comment will be published in a next report. LA FLEUR PEYRABON Pauillac 88 - 89The estate has made a qualitative surge forward since 2001. All the vintages surpass 2000 thanks to more subtle tannins. In 2005, the colour, the nose, the fruitiness, and then, in the mouth, the taste, the texture, the fleshy envelope put their signature to one of the best vintages of the estate. Beautiful sappy length, full of fruit. The juicy aspect of this wine and its delicate tannins put it on the same level as a Cru Classé. Patrick Bernard has a lot of ambition for this estate and he is realising it. A success. LATOUR Pauillac Cru Classé 95 Very lovely colour. Fresh, fruity, pure nose. It is flawless, but I do not find the suave note which enchants me from other estates in this vintage. I have the same perception in the mouth where the body is perfectly constructed, the fruity freshness exemplary, but the finish slightly more tannic than in 2003 and even in 2004. Lovely length in the aromas. An extremely classic wine. I wondered if it would not have gained from a later harvest. Maturing will show us what happens. 13.35° alcohol - TA 3.4 – pH 3.7.LES FORTS DE LATOUR Pauillac 88 The colour is lovely and the nose a lot more mellow than the Pauillac, fruity, fairly sophisticated and fresh. The mouth is rounded and fat, with good corpulence. I miss, in the second part, the more exciting and suave touch which is the signature of the vintage. It is a classic Forts de Latour. 13.2° alcohol – TA 3.3 – pH 3.8.LYNCH BAGES Pauillac Cru Classé 91 The colour is a lovely dark intense crimson red but not black. The mouth is beautiful, fleshy and soft, full of fruit and freshness. The body is normal, and the wine develops straight, towards a finish of very good length. I find this length more impressive than the mid-mouth. This increases the score. LYNCH MOUSSAS Pauillac Cru Classé 90 The colour is a lovely deep crimson. The nose is delicate, fruity, mellow and fresh, with a trace of smoke, tar and orange rind. Entry is superb, ample and rich. The wine develops rich in mid-mouth with fat and thickness. The finish is tannic, but these tannins should fade during maturing. Very lovely length. I found a suavity here that is not present in Batailley. PAUILLAC 3ème vin du Château LATOUR Pauillac 87 Coloured, very fruity at the nose, this wine offers roundedness with taste, charm and a legitimate tannin at the finish. The construction is classic with no trace of overripeness. It is original in that it contains 40% press wine, including press wine from the Grand Vin. This gives it an unusual touch and could prove to be extremely positive during maturing. A bargain not to be missed. 12.95° alcohol – TA 3.3 – pH 3.75.PEDESCLAUX Pauillac Cru Classé 87 The colour does not have the depth of other crus and the nose does not seem to be refined yet. In the mouth, the fruit is there, but I miss a certain fat. On the other hand, the finish is long. Maturing will tell us more. PETIT MOUTON DE MOUTON ROTHSCHILD Pauillac 86 A delicious wine, very fruity, but principally, it has the aromatic note of its big brother, but not the flesh. The finish remains a hint tannic. Blend: 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc. 60% new wood.PIBRAN Pauillac 87 This wine is coloured and averagely aromatic at the nose. The mouth offers refinement in the tannic grain without weakness in the body. A delicate fat circulates in the mouth. Lovely length with plenty of taste. PICHON LONGUEVILLE BARON Pauillac Cru Classé 92 Crimson colour. Superb, very, very fruity nose. This is pure fruit juice. In the mouth, the impression of softness is confirmed (I have tasted it four times). This wine has been extracted with the greatest precaution, in which it resembles Lagrange or Léoville Las Cases. Very flavourful in mid-mouth, very aromatic, it melts and becomes impossible to spit out. Beautiful aromatic length. Nuances of ripe fruit matched with freshness. Long and strong at the finish. Maturing could reveal it somewhat more. PICHON LONGUEVILLE COMTESSE DE LALANDE Pauillac Cru Classé 94 - 95 For me, the latest vintages of 2003, 2004 and 2005 are superior to 2000. This cru cultivates elegance and little by little adds a maturity, a fabric and a density unknown before. If you miss out on the 2005, make sure to buy a bottle of the 2004. The fruitiness is superb, and the mouth offers a density I see little from this cru. The wine melts on the palate with marvellous balance. Rich but very ethereal, it ends refined and long with a noble tannic grain. A great success. Blend: 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot. 13° alcohol. pH 3.73 – TA 3.5 – TPI 68 (less than in 2004). When this cru has so much Cabernet Sauvignon in its make-up, it is the sign of a very great vintage. There are 65% Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2003 and 75% in the magnificent 1996.PONTET CANET Pauillac Cru Classé 90 The colour is a lovely deep intense crimson red. The nose is neat and aromatic, very, very fruity and delicate, lovely and pure. The wine enters the mouth gently, develops straight and occupies mid-mouth well. Very flavourful, very fruity, it ends sappy with nuances of incense which evoke Mouton Rothschild. Very lovely length. RESERVE DE LA COMTESSE Pauillac Second wine 86 - 87 This wine has a lovely softness of texture and sappiness. Caressing, aromatic, with a medium body, it ends with delicate tannins. Lots of immediate pleasure. I note that this second wine has been improving since 2002. ADDITIONAL HAUT-MÉDOCBERNADOTTE Haut-Médoc 86My best score given to this wine as a future. The wine has the pulp and the softness of the year. Rather rounded in the mouth, well constructed, it ends flavourful and long, while still tannic. Plenty of taste. I will be back with you tomorrow with my next report. Jean-Marc Quarin

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Bordeaux Futures 2005: ninth report

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