2009 Bordeaux - how are they doing?

The En Primeur campaign for Bordeaux Vintage 2009 saw high prices, huge demand and praise that ranged from fulsome to hysterical. On the 18^th October 2011 came the opportunity to taste the finished wines at the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux tasting at Covent Garden.

Broadly, the wines seem to be fulfilling that early promise. It’s worth considering why they might not. 2009 was not a shoe-in (or, at any rate, less of a shoe-in than 2005). The blissful and long summer dominates the memory and vintage reports, but the hail of spring, and the drought of that summer, brought challenges. Ripeness is a many-splendoured thing, and while sugar levels soared (potential alcohol of 14% was commonplace) and acidities fell, phenolics in skins and pips came along worryingly slowly. The skill was in extraction, and in thereby avoiding the danger of highly alcoholic wines of moderate acidity and hard, coarse tannins.

At this stage (and it’s still very early days for 2009) Saint Emilion seems less successful. I admit I like a bit of a struggle in my wine, and have a relatively high tolerance for austerity. Even so, I found many Saint Emilions heavy on sweet fruit and thick tannins and light on tension and pace. Some burned with alcohol and pined for acidity. The lively wines really stood out: Château Canon, Château Larmande and La Tour Figeac (with a big dollop of fragrant Cabernet France) were all fresh, balanced and sleek. Grand Mayne was pure, balanced and delicious now. Larcis-Ducasse, Troplong Mondot and Pavie Maquin were like a trio of buff Chippendales at a philosophy convention. I couldn’t help myself from checking them out, but the pleasure they give is of the guilty sort.

There were many good wines to enjoy in Margaux, with sleek textures, refined tannin and pure fruit. Perhaps this vintage has taken a little of the nervy gracefulness off the commune character, but it has definitely gifted the wines a relaxed, juicy charm. Labégorce is totally delicious now, and offers great value. Rauzan-Ségla was the standout, and tingled with the tension of a really fine wine.

Pomerol shared a little of the difficulties of Saint Emilion, but also delivered probably my best wine o the tasting, La Conseillante. This wine is a beauty - elegantly seductive and graceful withal.

Saint-Julien and Pauillac looked great. There are some heroic wines in Pauillac. Pichon-Longueville is tense and dense with decades of life coiled up in a very refined structure. Saint Julien is more exuberantly scented, but there is still serious, age worthy structure here. Léoville Poyferré drapes scented, cool-running fruit over its massive frame, and comes out dancing. Those mid-range and sometimes rather dutiful Saint-Juliens have had a cracking year: both Saint-Pierre and Talbot were deliciously hearty, juicy and satisfying.

I didn’t make it to Pessac, Sauternes or the lesser communes (pace, Moulis et al), but I heard much appreciation of both.

This celebrated vintage is indeed exciting, intense and full of pleasure. If it is a little less consistent than, say, 2005, it is nonetheless both serious and of very broad appeal. Devotees of the right bank should be a little more selective, but all wine lovers should have some of these joyous, perfumed Bordeaux in their cellar.

For BWI's current offers on Bordeaux 2009, please visit our website: www.bwiltd.co.uk