Bordeaux 2009 Primeurs: The Top Ten
It isn’t everyday that you visit Lafite, Mouton and Latour in immediate succession, but for me March 30th, 2010 was one such day. Well, in truth I am using a little poetic licence here, because I did not really visit Lafite at all. This year’s tasting of China’s favourite wine was to be at Duhart-Milon, the fourth growth cru classé estate which has been in the hands of the Rothschilds since 1962. Allegedly this was because of building work at Lafite, but with hindsight I know better; determined to prevent me reaching Latour in time for my appointment, dark forces were working behind the scenes. Their plan was simple; relocate the tasting to Duhart-Milon (rather than the more familiar Lafite) which is located down a little-known backstreet in Pauillac, and the time wasted as I tried to find what must be the grandest warehouse in alll Bordeaux would see my schedule enter meltdown. The inevitable casualty would be my last visit of the morning, Latour.
But it was not to be; like a bloodhound I sighted Duhart-Milon almost as soon as I had arrived in Pauillac, and after a tasting of the three wines on show (Carruades, Duhart, Lafite) I was off to Mouton. Unbeknownst to me, this is where the plan to disrupt my day of tasting began to escalate to a truly heinous level. I was delayed in the antechamber at Mouton, along with a number of colleagues, innocent travellers and fellow tasters, no doubt whilst the plotters – whoever they might be – synchronised watches and checked their radios. I was relieved to eventually be released from the antechamber, but instead of being shown to a tasting room I was surprised to find myself taken outside and invited aboard a small white golf buggy.
