Dear The Tasting Note. I wish to pass comment that your last blog post, "When the magic has gone", did not indicate that its content was anything other than a report on the Hungarian Grand Prix. I felt that most of the article was dedicated to the career of Michael Schumacher and gave no indication that it would eventually become about Vin Santo. Please, for those of us who are not interested in motor racing, could you stick to the facts and write about your experience of wine and not have some silly link to a sport I don't care about. Yours sincerely....
I thought that this being a wine blog would be enough to indicate that wine would be coming the reader's way at some point during the article, but never let it be said that I shy away at the face of criticism, here is my factual report on four wines from Bordeaux.
The first wine was the 2005 Chateau Labadie from the Medoc. A Cru Bourgeois, this wine has a strange bottle. Although this 1.290kg product is in a traditional bordeaux style bottle, it has an almost oily look to the bottle and a slightly grippy texture - almost non slip. The label itself is proper old school Bordeaux, nice and cluttered with lots of swirly writing, gold trim around the edge, proving that it is a luxury product and it has a picture of the chateau, that looks like a two up two down building. The cork is fine, but has a lot of little notches on it. As is the norm with French wine, there is no barcode on the label, but it does have the picture that bans pregnant women from drinking it, just above the alcohol level, which is 13.5%. £12
The 2005 Chateau du Pavillon Haut-Gros-Bonnet, from Canon-Fronsac, is a slightly heavier bottle, which shows that it is a quality wine, tipping the scales at 1.370kg. This bottle doesn't have the oily sheen of the Labadie, and the label is much less cluttered. There is the gold, red and black colouring on a white label, but it looks a lot more neat - without going down this new minimalist route that a lot of Chateaux are doing. They proudly proclaim in big, red writing that it is bottled at the Chateau (they appear not to have noticed that everyone bottles at the Chateau now and so only put it in tiny writing on their bottles), and they have a minimalist line drawing of their Chateau, which appears to have a wigwam outside. This wine is 14.5% alcohol, and I assume that because of the lack of the sign banning pregnant ladies, that someone with a bun in the oven can drink as much of this as they like. What impressed me the most though, was the quality of the cork. Beautifully smooth, with very few imperfections, and it reminds me of a cork from a wine far more expensive. £13
The third wine I tried was the 2004 Chateau de Lamarque. This Grand Vin de Bordeaux is from the Haut-Medoc and everything about it screams class. Weighing 1.3kg, this 13% wine bans women from drinking it, like the Labadie, but that is where similarities end. Instead of red, black and gold, the Lamarque has BLUE, black and gold, with an intricate drawing of the grand, fortress like Chateau. There are two shields on the bottle, resplendent in blue, silver and gold, and there is some ornate gold swirly bits around the name of the wine that is very posh. I'm also pleased that this wine, whilst staying traditional in it's cluttered label and old world appearance, doesn't go for swirly writing too much, favouring having "Chateau de Lamarque" in block capitals. This cork is the ugliest of the lot, with lots and lots of bobbly bits. £16
Finally, 2004 La Fleur de Bouard, a Lalande de Pomerol, is anything but traditional. Owned by Hubert de Bouard de Laforest (co-owner of Chateau Angelus) since 1998, this wine has a modern looking label, with a quill pen like font on parchment paper. There is the obligatory gold crest, but some grey and (amazingly) a back label with a barcode. Upon further reading, I realise this is because it was supposed to be shipped to America, where they obviously require these things. It has the surgeon general warning that drinking alcohol when pregnant is a bad idea because it will result in birth defects, and that you shouldn't drink alcohol and then drive a car or operate machinery. I've never had the inclination to have a glass of claret when operating a pneumatic drill, but it is good to know that I shouldn't do it should that urge overcome me. The wine is 13.5% alcohol, and is a relative lightweight, coming in at the same weight as the Chateau Labadie. £22
There we go. I hope that this is a factual and precise article on four wines from Bordeaux that I tasted. If you are interested in knowing what the wines tasted like, click on the links below.
2005 Chateau Labadie
2005 Chateau du Pavillon
2004 Chateau de Lamarque
2004 La Fleur de Bouard
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