Each year, when the UGC circus roles into town, they bring approximately 120 wines with them. I must confess, this is something of an estimate, as I've never bothered to count. It no doubt varies a little year from year, as the UGC membership may change (more of that under my Pauillac report) or for whatever reason a château may simply not be able to send a representative one year, but I will settle on 120 wines as a realistic and representative figure. It is a one-day tasting event, and for some reason it only fills six hours of the day, this year beginning at 10am and finishing up at 4pm sharp. Entry at the start of the day is strictly controlled (there is no way of slipping in early, unnoticed - believe me, I've tried) and the end of tasting is enforced by the staff at Covent Garden, where the tasting is held. There may be ten or fifteen minutes of 'extra time' between official close of tasting and all the bottles having been packed away, but then that's it. Finished. Go home.

And so that gives us all six hours to taste. I think this is worth bearing in mind when you read reports from critics made on one-day tastings such as this (not just this one, but any tasting). How many wines in a day? How many hours? Because if the critic in question purports to have tasted everything at this tasting, then at a rate of 20 wines per hour (based on my 120-wine estimate) that means each wine received just three minutes of the critic's time. That three minutes includes finding and pouring the wine, sipping and spitting, and scribbling or typing time. And of course, it's only three minutes per wine if we skip lunch of course. A saunter upstairs mid-tasting for a leisurely bite to eat, with a complementary glass or two of Bordeaux to wash it all down, soon erodes into our precious tasting time.

I have never attempted to taste everything at the UGC tasting in London, precisely for this reason. I'm very happy to take advantage of that extra time at the end of the day, but my target is still somewhere between 70 and 80 wines, in other words a tasting rate of 12-13 wines per hour, giving each wine about five minutes. It's not ideal (as 'ideal' would be many hours with each bottle, preferably a whole evening, consumed with a meal, wine's original purpose, perhaps with Eva Green or Angelina Jolie as company) but this is how wine is assessed, by everyone from big name critics such as James Suckling or Jancis Robinson down to minions such as myself.

Pessac-Léognan: The Wines

Acutely aware of the time demanded by each wine, and of the importance of the vintage, this year I altered my approach to Pessac-Léognan. By 'altered' what I really mean is that I omitted the white wines, and concentrated purely on the red. That doesn't mean that I do not appreciate the white wines, under-rated little wonders that they are, but I felt I would rather dedicate a few more minutes to the red wines of this great vintage. As a result I have just ten notes here, taking in some of the top properties of the commune. Looking back at my en primeur report on the 2009 vintage in Pessac-Léognan I see I focused quite heavily on the septet of wines produced by the Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion properties, both red and white. As Prince Robert of Luxembourg hasn't seen fit to join the UGC for some reason, this tasting allowed me to home in on the other estates, those that can (to some extent) still be purchased without ownership of a multi-platinum American Express card, or a second mortgage.

Bordeaux 2009, Pessac-Léognan

Quality across the board here was excellent, and indeed this is the case across the whole of Bordeaux for this vintage. But there are always ups and downs, some wines that do well (or not so well) within the style of the vintage, whereas there are some that seem to transcend the vintage, expressing greater purity than I thought possible. In the latter group is my favourite wine here, Domaine de Chevalier, which I remember tasting during the primeurs at Smith-Haut-Lafitte, hosts for the UGC Pessac-Léognan tastings for the week. I don't pretend to have a memory for every wine I have ever tasted; despite the claims of some critics I believe this to be an impossible feat except perhaps for those with Asperger's Syndrome, who don't tend to revel in the complex and indefinable delights of wine anyway. So when a wine sticks in my mind there was usually something notable, and in the case of the 2009 Domaine de Chevalier it stood out as a beacon of red-fruited purity among a sea of rich, creamy, black-fruited wines. At two years of age it still stands apart from the crown, not so much in flavour but in its sense of purity and finesse; there's no doubt this is one of my top tips for the appellation.

The ever-resplendent Haut-Bailly put on a superb show, leading the pack of high-quality wines with a style different to that of Domaine de Chevalier; here the aromas are darker and more spiced, the palate powerful, dense and exotic. And yet, and this is true of a number of other wines but seems especially pertinent to the Haut-Bailly, it still has that Graves composition, light-footed and taut, elegant despite the weight. On the same rung of the quality ladder was Pape-Clément, this being a vintage that suits the style here I think, for once the sheer weight of the fruit, laid in heavy velvet drapes over the structure of the wine, are enough to cope with the rather serious application of oak. Honourable mentions should also go to Malartic-Lagravière, a wine which has been creeping up in terms of quality over the past few years I think, closing the gap between itself and the more frequently touted names of the appellation, and also La Louvière, a potential source of quality and value.

One other wine that stood out during the primeurs was de Fieuzal, a wine that was as black as night. In nature colour acts as a warning, and wines that are inky black - especially from a cool climate region (no matter how warm or remarkable 2009 was, this remains true) should also set alarm bells ringing. More on this in my St Emilion write-up. In the case of de Fieuzal, when tasted during the primeurs this wine oozed richness and sweetness, and seemed loaded with sweet tannins. I thought it potential very good indeed, but tasted at the UGC in London although the colour seemed less exceptional, the wine now feels loaded with charcoaly oak and the tannins feel a touch more dominant and extracted. There is still a good wine here, but it seems to have lost the finesse of the appellation to me, in favour of power and force. It's a relatively new style for de Fieuzal that I have only noted in the last couple of vintages, and - although this is certainly a very good wine - I think there is still work to be done here. (16/11/11)

Pessac-Léognan 2009: Tasting Notes

Tasted in London in October 2011. Click to locate stockists.

Pessac-Léognan: Red Wines

Château Carbonnieux 2009: Sweet and slightly smoky fruit on the nose here. Certainly a firm, lightly toasty barrel influence also. An elegant style on the palate though, perfumed and yet with a very good density, fresh, and well filled out. In the middle there is a good showing of crunchy tannins, with a full, spicy, sandalwood-tinged layer of fruit. Plenty of firm acidity. It all leads into a strong, grippy finish. Very attractive, although in a firm and robust style. A good effort for Carbonnieux though. 16.5/20

Domaine de Chevalier 2009: This is exotic and spiced on the nose, with many of these elements reflecting the presence of a seam of finely grained, toasty oak. The palate is full and balanced, elegantly composed, very firm and taut, with a stony element to the fruit despite the richness of the vintage. This wine breaks the mould here; it is taut, full of finesse, with a fine and grippy structure. Nevertheless it has a very impressive weight and definition, with savoury fruit complexity coming in alongside. Very impressive, a wine that has thrown off the sweet shackles of the vintage to show some really individual character. 18.5/20

Château de Fieuzal 2009: There are few wines you experience where the colour sticks in your mind, especially when encountered at fleeting tastings, but the 2009 Fieuzal was as black as night when tasted en primeur. Here the colour looks much more in keeping with the other wines. There are some densely concentrated, sweet black fruits on the nose, honeyed by an application of oak. The palate is soft and rich on entry, in keeping with the vintage, before a massive extract comes in through the midpalate, the wine marked by dense, heavy, dark tannins which dominate the finish. This is a wine of extract rather than finesse, but there is still a freshness to it. Fieuzal does seem to have a much more 'forced' style to it these days. There are certainly some good points here though. 17/20

Château Haut-Bailly 2009: Dark, slightly earthy on the nose, spicy, with a dense, dark suggestion of concentration. There is a bright and firm substance to it on the palate, the wine showing a very bold, tightly compacted character, tense and rather reticent rather than the softer flesh or grippy weight found in some wines tasted alongside. Highly polished, taut rather than fleshy, with great power behind it, this is savoury, dense and forceful. It manages to combine Graves composition with a weighty, impressive backbone. It could be great, but it will need many years. 18.5/20

Château Larrivet-Haut-Brion 2009: Dark fruits here, spicy oak too, perhaps rather straightforward but at least clean and expressive. Some oak notes are no doubt contributing to the more spicy side of the wine. Quite a soft style at the very start, supple and weighty, with an ashy, tobacco-tinged character through the middle, possibly tannin-derived to some extent. There is plenty of supple flesh here, but there is acidity too. This is rather a grippy and robust wine, and should give some pleasant drinking if the tannins integrate nicely. 16/20

Château Latour-Martillac 2009: Dark and concentrated fruit here, more prominent than the oak elements which play a supporting role. A supple, rich and polished style on the palate, again hiding the tannins exceptionally well. They are here though, and on looking a little harder I can sense the considerable grip they give to the middle of the wine. Although there is plenty of grip here there is substance too, and certainly acidity, and so there is no component that overly dominates, if taking into consideration the age of the wine. A good, structured, spicy length. Really promising potential here. 17.5/20

Château La Louvière 2009: This is showing some lovely typicity even at this early stage, as alongside the supple layers of fruit and barrel-notes there are also some ripe, sweet, earthy and tobacco-tinged elements. Supple, fresh, stylish, with the typical flesh of the vintage through the midpalate covering the structure of the tannins, which have a faintly charcoaly weight once you dig down to them. An attractive wine which will doubtlessly be under-rated by many and give some fine pleasure in future years. 17/20

Château Malartic-Lagravière 2009: Rather sweet and perfumed fruit here, almost with a confected note, along with a spicy, honeyed edge. Quite an admirable texture at the start of the palate, that sweet and lightly dried-fruit character coming though here, with a ripe tannic core and fresh acidity. A really nice weight and extract to this wine, not over-done, well-judged, and with good balance of the various components, segueing nicely into a puckered finish of ripe tannins. An attractive wine. 17.5/20

Château Pape-Clément 2009: A really appealing nose here, with a layer of honeyed oak (this is Pape-Clément, after all) but it seems well matched by a reserved but evident layer of fruit. Attractive, balanced, a touch creamy but not with the force that you can sometimes find from this château. There is an elegant edge to the creamy fruit, and a lovely backbone of ripe tannins behind it as well. Overall it has more harmony than many other wines on show here today. A delicious style, well structured in the finish, but in a reserved, grainy fashion rather than anything more robust. An excellent result. 18.5/20

Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte 2009: Perfumed and as expressive as always, dark berries alongside the red fruits with a blacker, darker, riper rather than crunchy streak. A really supple character on the palate, a good substance but there is also a fleshed-out weight to it, a core of grippy tannins, and a fresh seam of acidity cutting through it. The tannins do have rather a robust feel to them, and on a second taste they clearly have a slightly drying effect on the palate, dominating the finish too. This has been worked quite hard, but there is plenty of promise here. 17.5/20