Bordeaux 2007 at Two Years: Pessac-Léognan
The white wines of Pessac-Léognan were perhaps the greatest hope for the vintage outside of Sauternes, and so perhaps I shouldn’t have left it until halfway though the tasting until I approached them. A handful of proprietors were already all poured-out, and so I was unable to revisit Domaine de Chevalier and de Fieuzal, in both cases a great shame. Perhaps the proprietors should bring another bottle or two?
Nevertheless those wines that I did taste confirmed that this was a good vintage for the white wines of the region. Bouscaut surprised with its lively, fresh accessibility, Malartic-Lagravière also showed well, but it was the final duo of Pape-Clément and Smith-Haut-Lafitte that stole the show, and not for the first time either. The two wines are completely different in terms of style; the former showing high quality fruit always with a thick layer of oak, the latter having a richer depth of fruit, rounder and sweeter, with much more subdued oak influence. When tasted during the primeurs I found a slight preference for the former, but on this tasting the quality was very comparable. Which one you should acquire depends very much on your feelings about oak in this style, and when you want to drink the wines; Pape-Clément needs to be cellared for longer than Smith-Haut-Lafitte I feel.
