Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Pessac-Léognan Tasting Notes
Having visited Bordeaux after the harvest of the white grapes, and having tasted the just-fermented wines, seeing for myself the early indicators of good quality, there were not many surprises with the white wines when tasting during the primeurs. The real surprise cam with the reds.
Knowing that the Cabernet harvest was late, and that some estates rushed to pick based not on optimal maturity but on the arrival of rain, warm and humid conditions bringing an increased risk of rot, I was expecting to find lean, green or herbaceous wines, perhaps with rather hard, grainy, unripe tannins. In Pessac-Léognan, however, this wasn’t the case. The wines have a good substance at many châteaux, without the leanness in the midpalate seen in some other appellations. The fruit is fresh, and not green; there are notes of plums, cherries, occasionally the odd blackcurrant. It certainly leans to a fresher style, more reminiscent of slightly bitter fruit skins, red plum stones or dry red cherry pits, than the sweet flesh of a deliciously ripe fruit, but it doesn’t generally come across as green. What did surprise in particular was the tannin profiles of the wines; not only were these ripe, in many cases they were firm, chewy and leaning towards the robust; they had the feel of tannins from the skins of rather roasted grapes, from a warmer vintage. The August and September drought is being sold by the Bordelais as the vintage’s saving grace, but it seems to me that it has saved it in a rather coarse fashion when it comes to this appellation. These are not wines with the polished, sweetly ripe tannins of a great vintage; the character of the tannins here may be superior here to many in the more Cabernet-rich wines from the Haut-Médoc and Médoc, but they are not without flaw. Pessac-Léognan gives us some good reds this year, but not great reds. Perhaps only Château Haut-Brion will be able to stake a claim to greatness, although whether the atypical Merlot-dominant 2012 will please the palate of true lovers of the wines of this estate perhaps remains to be seen.
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