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Bordeaux 2010: Pauillac

Have you ever found yourself in a minority? A situation where your voice and opinion doesn't seem to resonate with those of your peers? Where you seem to be swimming against the tide of opinion, your friends and colleagues enthusiastic and positive, whereas you wonder to yourself what all the fuss might be about?

These are the thoughts that circled around my head during the primeurs week, as we left out final Pauillac appointment before we made our way over to the UGC tasting. The barrel sample we had been poured had been a massive wine, richer in Merlot than most, brimming with tannin, and not displaying some of the exquisite finesse other Pauillac cuvées had shown. I felt uneasy about it; it reminded me somewhat of the 2008, a wine which I tasted twice as a barrel sample and which seemed fine on those two occasions, and yet once in bottle it tasted like a disjointed, alcohol-rich tannin liqueur. Had I been habitually over-rating this wine, I wondered? Did it deserve the plaudits it had received? With regard to the 2010 just tasted, all my peers certainly seemed to think so.

The First Growths

I think we should put this as yet unidentified wine to one side for a moment. To focus on this wine at the very opening of this review of 2010 Pauillac would suggest that this commune has problems in this vintage. And it does not; you may find here some of the most remarkable wines of the vintage, wines which excite and enthral, not with power and opulence as they may have done in 2009 (although there is no shortage of substance in 2010, especially in the likes of Latour), but with great purity and finesse. And speaking of Latour, this seems like as good a place to start as any. Especially as, although I did not quite have the existential, near-out-of-body experience that washed over me as I tasted the 2009, this is a stellar Latour which combines intense, brooding power, the sign of ripe Cabernet Sauvignon which dominates the cuvée at 90.5% of the blend, with a delightful if rather recalcitrant perfume. Unusually for the commune and vintage, the Cabernet concentration here is a little down compared with other recent years - but it is important to note that at Latour, Frédéric Engerer is starting from a much higher point than anyone else in the commune. Where most wines would tend towards 50-80% Cabernet Sauvignon, in recent years Latour has sat at 93-94%. It is difficult to go much higher!

Latour may be my favoured Pauillac first growth in this vintage (I am not drawing comparisons with Margaux, Haut-Brion or any honorary right bank firsts here), but the tense and inward-looking composition of Lafite-Rothschild also held my attention for more than a minute or two. It was, I think, the most difficult of the Pauillac trio to get to grips with. It starting off unyielding and taut, and in truth it never really unfolded during the entire time that I fretted and fussed over it. Nevertheless in the mouth it did reveal something of its inner workings, eventually showing just how much finely polished tannin there was deeply buried within the wine, albeit only with much gentle coaxing. Like almost all the great Pauillac cuvées in this vintage it is heavily dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, at over 87% of the final blend. The final château in the first growth triumvirate is of course Mouton-Rothschild, and it is a unique Mouton in that it has, at 94% of the final blend, the highest proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon ever to have been seen here. The remaining 6% is all Merlot. As I often find it this year's Mouton is a broad, provocative wine; it washed over the senses with an alluring come-hither air. But to be critical I didn't find in it the depth of structure and the concentration of flirtatious Mouton spice that I found in the 2009, and I am afraid my palate leant more towards the controlled intensity of Latour and Lafite in preference to Mouton. But with all the hedonic appeal this wine displays, I am sure it will get absolutely the highest score from some quarters.

Before moving onto wines that we might acquire without selling a spare organ (a kidney would be the obvious choice; unfortunately I don't think there is much of a market for adrenal glands or gonads, and I'm struggling to think of anything else that comes in pairs, beyond lungs) I should give a nod towards the second wines (and third where appropriate) of this Pauillac ternion. Les Forts de Latour is an impressive effort, and I was also struck by how close in quality the third wine, the Pauillac de Latour, was in comparison. As my note below indicates, I initially included it in my shortlist of good value wines....that was before I did my price checks of course. A very good wine, but not necessarily very good value. Carruades de Lafite is another very decent effort, despite the inclusion of a large percentage of Merlot in the blend, although I am not about to argue that the quality - no matter by how much it has been aggrandized - is sufficient for the heady price that this cuvée will no doubt demand. Nevertheless, I think the team are aware that there is an imperative requirement for quality here. Finally, there is Petit Mouton, another sterling effort but again I think the price will be a restrictive factor. (20/4/11)