Bordeaux 2013 Primeurs: Haut-Médoc Tasting Notes
South of Margaux there are a number of properties worth investigating, particularly at the cru bourgeois level. I did not taste many of these during the primeurs, but will get round to doing so once the cru bourgeois wines of the 2013 vintage are released in bottle, as I have done recently for the 2011 Cru Bourgeois and 2010 Cru Bourgeois wines. This is perhaps a more sensible time to review such wines; there is really no need to bother with en primeur purchases with cru bourgeois châteaux, especially in a vintage such as 2013. Indeed, in 2013, there is almost certainly little point buying anything at the en primeur stage at all, regardless of status.
Alongside a raft of cru bourgeois estates the remaining two cru classé châteaux are also to be found here though, and these are worth reporting on now. The tasting of Château La Lagune was for me the most instructive and educational, although I am quite sure it did nothing to tell me whether or not this is a wine we should be buying. Because of the rather ‘late’ nature of the vintage the wines here have not yet been blended, and as a consequence proprietor Caroline Frey (pictured) decided not to show an unfinished (or possibly even experimental) blend. Instead, they offered a tasting of four principal components of the wine, akin to the manner in which Bérénice Lurton offers a barrel tasting at Château Climens in Barsac.
