BORDEAUX, France — By far my most dissapointing day at the Bordeaux primeurs was the Thursday tasting of Pauillas, St. Estephe and St. Julien at Lafon-Rochet.
I felt Pauillac was the region that was caught most obviously chasing after the high “Parker” score by manipulating its wines to achieve greater concentration in this challenging vintage. The number of unattractive wines with harsh, dry tannins clearly exceeded what I found in the other districts of Bordeaux.
Many of those who elected to simply take what nature gave produced thin wines with no mid-palate. Drinkable but not profound in any way.
One of the most disappointing wines was Lynch-Bages, which was a surprise because this Chateau has been a bellweather of consistency over the past quarter-century. I suspect something went seriously wrong at Lynch-Bages, for its sister winery, Ormes de Pez, made one of the most mediocre wines I tasted all week.
There were other surprises, such as Leoville Poyferre (91 points) outperforming Leoville Barton (88 points), and very disappointing efforts by La Lagune (79 points) and Brainaire-Ducru (80 points).
Still, as in every other region, wonderful wines were made despite the erratic weather. Those I would recommend include an outstanding Lagrange (93), de Larque (93), Grand-Puy-Ducasse (91), Lafon-Rochet (91), Lynch-Moussas (91), Beycheville (90), Citran (90), Gruaud-Larose (90) and Talbot (90).
Of course, these wines are extremely young and have many more months of evolution in barrel before they go into the bottle, so many of the scores may require an adjustment of two to three points in either direction before they arrive in the U.S. in another couple of years.
Prices on these wines are subject to much speculation, with many producers hoping for a 15 to 20 percent increase over the 2005 prices. I see resistance to that from the U.S. market and predict most of these wines will sell on “futures” for less than the 2005 vintage.
Photo: Journalists taste Pauillac, St. Estephe and St. Julien “blind” at Chateau Lafon-Rochet.
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