Bordeaux 2011 at Ten Years: Tasting

Both the 2011 and 2012 vintages were difficult to place in their youth, and while neither has provided any great excitement since, this tasting was certainly a welcome opportunity to revisit at least some of the wines from the first of these two vintages at ten years of age.

Listed below are thirty-or-so tasting notes on wines from this vintage. While my scores may appear rather parsimonious, in truth I felt many of these wines surpassed expectations. From rather befuddled beginnings they have evolved into wines rich in dark fruits and maturing flavours of tobacco pouch and macerated olive. Many have largely resolved structures, although some still show a rather prominent grain of less-than-elegant tannins.

Thus many of these wines are drinking well now, although a number of them do exhibit the potential for further development in the cellar. With perhaps one exception, none positively demanded they be left alone to sleep for another five or ten years, which is what I would expect from Bordeaux at ten years. This approachability at this stage clearly reflects the lesser character of this vintage which, in a league table of the last two decades in Bordeaux, would earn a fairly lowly ranking from me. I suspect, though, thanks to the likes of 2013 (and maybe one or two other dull vintages), it might just escape relegation.

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