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Under Parker's 'Magical 20' Spell

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Letter from Junior...
Our lovely colleague Martin Lea has gone East to head up BWI's new Hong Kong office. We have managed to squeeze an update out of him after several frenetic weeks. Hong Kong is clearly a fantastically exciting place for a (relatively!) young man to build a new life. Good Luck Martin!
It’s only been three weeks since I moved to Hong Kong, and what a crazy and exciting three weeks it’s been! First the opening of the BWI Hong Kong office and our fantastic BWI Hong Kong launch party with Chateau Margaux then the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair and then the tasting to end all tastings...
This week I had the great pleasure of attending one of the most eagerly anticipated tastings of all time, Robert Parker's 'Magical 20', which focused solely on the much heralded 2009 vintage. 
Robert Parker was full of praise when he initially reviewed the wines in 2010, but they have now been bottled and many experts were wondering whether they were going to live up to the original hype. The answer is a resounding YES!
This was the first time I had personally been in Parker's company and I found the way he spoke about the wines fascinating. I left the tasting feeling as though I had experienced something very special and I can honestly say that the wines far exceeded my expectations. In short, these wines will turn out be legendary.
Here are just a few of Parker's quotes on the vintage which I’d like to share:
"These wines are better than any First Growth made in the 50s or 60s."
"I am thrilled with the way the wines have tasted and the elegance and tannins are better than I remember them in barrel."
"All of these wines are of First Growth quality" 
"This is the greatest tasting ever of young wine"
"If you have access to these wines, buy them"
I have to say, I agree with him.
You can click here to take a look at the 'magical' 2009s that I tasted yesterday, along with comments Parker made as he tasted the wines. Parker did not re-score the wines, so I have included his original En Primeur scores. I have marked the score I awarded each wine in the final column. Of course, we have really competitive offers for these wines, so get in touch either with me or with my colleagues in the UK if you are interested in seeing what all the hype is about. 
You can also check out the tweets I posted throughout the tasting - @martinlea78 - I could have done with an extra pair of hands as I was trying to record every comment from Mr P on my laptop, tweet and taste the wines at the same time - thankfully I didn’t spill any!
If I had to pick my wine of the tasting, what would it be? Well, it is a tricky one, but I would have to say Cos d’Estournel. It loved it when I tasted in Bordeaux last year, but since then it has added some more weight and nuance and it is really now showing its exuberant class - a very strong candidate for a 100 point rating. This was closely followed by Pontet Canet, which could easily pass as a First Growth. If I ever taste a more impressive line up of wines side by side, I will swim from the Island to Kowloon!
So what happens now that the who’s who of the wine world has left Hong Kong and the dust has started to settle? It’s time to get my feet under the desk, get on with the job and, at the weekends, start exploring this fantastic city which I can now call home….
More from me in the Far East soon!
Cheers,
Martin
martin [at] bwi.hk

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