Bordeaux 2011 Primeurs: Pessac-Léognan
Every time I go to Bordeaux for the primeurs my programme of tasting changes. This year the Pessac-Léognan syndicat tasting came early, a heaving, sweaty affair (doing nothing to suggest a lack of interest in the vintage – but subsequent tastings of other communes were certainly more muted affairs this year) hosted by Château de Fieuzal. In fact, after Sunday’s négociant tastings (which should not be overlooked, as in fact I tasted an incredible number of wines there) the commune of Pessac-Léognan was my first concentrated tasting of the vintage. And, unlike the communes of the Médoc where you have to work quite hard to gather up tasting notes for all those estates that are just too important to participate in the respective UGC tastings, here just about everybody participates. Even a representative of Smith-Haut-Lafitte, recently inaugurated in the Parker-100-point club, took his place behind their stand, ready to pour their wines. It is only the wines of Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion that won’t be found here (hardly surprising), but these can both be picked up in one go during a visit to either property. The visit is not a brief one these days, as the Dillon estates now market quite a sizeable portfolio which includes not only two red and two white grands vins, but also two red second wines, a single white second wine common to both properties, and for the first time this year the wines of their new outpost in St Emilion. Previously known as Château Tertre-Daugay, this was my first chance to taste the wines of this property, now rechristened Château Quintus. Naturally, though, I will be saving my thoughts on that wine for my St Emilion report; right now let’s stick with Pessac-Léognan.
Pessac-Léognan 2011: The Red Wines
My introduction to Bordeaux 2011 described the difficulties experienced during the warm and dry weather that marked the earlier and later months of the 2011 growing season, especially when compounded by the mini-heatwave in June which damaged those grapes that were exposed to the sun’s rays. Jean-Philippe Delmas conceded that neither Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion were unscathed in this respect; come harvest time the ripeness of the fruit was very heterogeneous. Each individual bunch of grapes bore a mix of green grapes (where the damage had retarded the ripening), grapes that had been burnt and shrivelled by the sun as they waited for full physiological ripeness to arrive, and also some rotten grapes. All of these trouble-makers needed to be selected out in order to leave only the ripe and healthy fruit. Much of this was achieved by hand, in the vineyard and the cellars, but for only the third time Jean-Philippe also rented an optical sorter.
