Bordeaux 2010 at Two Years: Pauillac
The problem with reviewing Pauillac during the primeurs is that there are just too many first growths (and one or two cinquième cru châteaux with similar pretensions) to deal with. Alright, so in the grand scheme of things it’s not that bad a problem to be confronted with, so please don’t spend too long worrying about my predicament. I know you will be, but rest assured, I am learning to live with it.
Such vinous superstars, when present, naturally soak up a lot of the limelight, and push other châteaux into the shadows. It is perhaps useful for us to peer into these shadows sometimes, where we can find two super-second estates, and a number of other significant châteaux, most of which showed up in London recently for the annual Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux tasting of the most recently bottled vintage, in this case 2010. Just about the whole commune turned out, the obvious absentees being Château Latour, Château Lafite-Rothschild and Château Mouton-Rothschild. Oh, and Château Pontet-Canet of course, which now follows in the footsteps of these three first growths by refusing to participate in UGC activities and insisting you visit the château in order to taste the wine. I’m not impressed by this sort of unilateral withdrawal, as it adds yet another appointment to the endless round of visits when in Bordeaux. An already hectic primeurs week becomes just that little more crowded. Having said that, I did receive a card from the Tesserons wishing me a Happy 2013! recently, so I must try to retain that goodwill, and not complain too loudly.
