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An Update on Château Coutet, February 2010

This year's trip to the Bordeaux primeurs was marked by a new experience, an evening spent in the company of proprietors, winemakers, journalists and buyers at the Soirée Ban du Millésime. This celebratory slap-up meal at the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Bordeaux is an annual event, and this year our dinner was accompanied by a plethora of wines, including Ducru-Beaucaillou 1995, Smith-Haut-Lafitte 2003 and Lynch-Bages 1998, to name just three. Not a bad way to mark the passing of yet another week of primeurs tasting!

There were many fine moments during the course of the evening, the epicurean highlight undoubtedly being the setting of a new personal record on number of oysters consumed, all of which were washed down rather nicely by a glass or two of Pessac-Léognan from the 2007 vintage. But from a more cultured viewpoint I particularly enjoyed my first sight of the welcoming committee, a gathering of Bordeaux proprietors looking resplendent in the ceremonial robes of the Commanderie du Bontemps. The majority of these garments were a very regal hue, a deep claret red, although in a handful of cases they were a fabulous golden colour instead, the former the producers of red wine and the latter for Sauternes. There, clothed in the latter, was one increasingly familiar face; it was Aline Baly (pictured left, flanked by two of her Commanderie colleagues), of Château Coutet.

Aline Baly is the new face of Coutet. Anyone who has attended a tasting of the wines of Château Coutet will be familiar with the Baly brothers, Dominique and Philippe; always happy to pour, dynamic and filled with cheery fun, the two siblings brightened up many a tasting. Then all of a sudden it was Aline that you would find on the Coutet stand, sometimes with an uncle in tow, now more frequently alone. And you can find her everywhere it seems; Coutet, embodied in Aline, can now be found on Twitter, Facebook, Pipl and Linked-in, backed up by blogs, twitter feeds and fan-pages. French-born but American-educated (and with a blend of the two accents to prove it), a graduate of Bucknell University and then the Kellogg School of Management, Aline is bringing a new vigour to the marketing of Coutet's wines. This property, which dates back to at least the 13th century although its origins are probably much older than that, is one of the first - if not the first - Bordeaux estate to fully embrace social media and Web 2.0.

The notes below are not from wines tasted at that dinner (which have already been written up and are online), but from a tasting of wines led by Aline in London earlier this year; she is just as proficient at pouring the wines, a much more traditional method of marketing, as she is at networking it seems. There were just three vintages on show; I was planning on augmenting this showing with a few wines from my own cellar, but in two cases the vintages I had to hand - 1998 and 1989 - were already included, so my only contribution is an opinion on the 2005 vintage, as I recently acquired a number of half bottles. (11/8/10)

An Update on Château Coutet - Tasting Notes

Tasted in February 2010. For more on this estate, including all my relevant tasting notes, see my Coutet profile. Click to locate stockists.

Three vintages tasted with Aline Baly in London.

Château Coutet (Barsac) 2006: Beautifully fresh citrus fruits on the nose, pure and aromatic. Great substance here, really quite a fat texture, but underneath it all a minerally-chalky seam, giving a fresh and vibrant feel to it. Lovely substance leading into a sweet-sappy finish. Long. For the vintage I think this is very impressive. 17+/20

Château Coutet (Barsac) 1998: More exuberance on the nose than I expected here, with marmalade richness from the botrytis and elements of smoke. Not so expressive on the palate, although it certainly has an appealing sappy and substantial character. Perhaps not the vigour and definition of a truly great vintage but this wine still has plenty of character and a fine seam of acidity giving it lift and life. Still fairly raw and primary at present though; it needs time. 16.5+/20

Château Coutet (Barsac) 1989: I have plenty of this vintage in the cellar, but what harm tasting it again with Aline Baly? A fabulously deep, burnished hue. Dense and minerally on the nose, and with a lovely soft and sappy presence on the palate, with the density of fruit and pure grit of a great vintage. The aromas and flavours of roasted oranges, quince and smoke. A superb wine with a long life ahead of it yet. 18.5/20

The 2005, tasted at home.

Château Coutet (Barsac) 2005: From a half bottle. The first of a large consignment recently added to the cellar; I will be drinking this for years! Mid-gold hue on inspection. The nose has elements of marmalade, bitter oranges, apricot and certainly the richness of botrytis. Fabulously rich, honeyed, impressive, full and broad and densely sweet and compact. Still quite primary but with deep fruit complexity, with notes of almonds. This will drink well for a very long time, but I think I will leave it for a few years before I open another. Very long. 18+/20