I always look back at my En Primeur notes a few days before the Southwold Group tasting to reacquaint myself with the vintage and my early impressions. Spring 2021 was beset by more restricted travel due to COVID and we tasted samples in London, keeping to the socially distanced regulations of the time. The novelty had worn off from the experience with 2019 and I ended up with hundreds of open samples in my garage, wading through and tasting twice or three times where possible to get a full impression. Perhaps it was a combination of tasting away from the region and the manner in which the samples had to be drawn and shipped, but the 2020s were a little awkward to taste. The quality was clearly there but many wines were stubborn, firm or struggling to knit together, much in the mould of 2010s from barrel, though not quite as powerful in fruit or structure, high in alcohol or dark in colour. The wines were often profound, deep and vertical with great length and very measured ripeness. The vintage clearly had the potential to be great, though could it reach the heights of the stellar 2016 and 2019?
Our day on the Right Bank started with an 8.30 am appointment at Le Tertre Roteboeuf. This is always a favourite visit for us. The cellars here are reminiscent of Burgundy with their earth floor and damp walls. Francois Mitjavile is a charming, modest and welcoming host. The wines are pure, delicate and fine. His three wines in 2015, and our taste of Tertre Roteboeuf 2014, showed a perfect balance between ripeness and freshness. By contrast, the next visit was to the opulent marble palace that is Pavie. No expense has been spared at this newly promoted First Growth property that has the feel of a super-luxury five star hotel. The wines served here were all black in colour with alcohol nudging 15 degrees. Some of these could have been spread on our morning toast, such was their concentration. A teeth-staining experience! Next up were Ausone, Angelus, Cheval Blanc and Figeac. There’s no doubt that 2015 is a great vintage in Saint Emilion and Pomerol, something which is particularly evident at Cheval Blanc where they announced that the vintage is so good for them that they will not be making any of their second wine, Petit Cheval, this year. Virtually the whole production of this famous vineyard will go into the grand vin with just a small amount sold off in bulk.
The 12 strong Farr Vintners team are in Bordeaux this week to taste barrel samples of the 2015 vintage. We will be tasting over 300 wines over the next few days from this promising year for the region's red and white wines. With us for this trip, once again, is Master of Wine Derek Smedley who has tasted every vintage en primeur here since 1961. Derek is a human encyclopaedia of Bordeaux wines and vintages and gives our team a unique insight into the process of tasting en primeur.
2013 is a challenging year for the red wines of Bordeaux but a good year for the dry white wines and an excellent one for the sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac.
Today was spent on Bordeaux's right bank as we got to grips with Pomerol and Saint Emilion. 2012 is looking like a re-run of maybe 2001 - or even 1998 - at some properties here.
This morning was a great opportunity to conclude our coverage of the Médoc by attending the "Union des Grands Crus" tastings. First of all we tried the Saint Estèphes, Pauillacs and Saint Juliens at Phélan Ségur and then the Margaux wines at Labégorce.
We started the day with the three great Chateaux of Saint Estèphe - all of which have changed their management since this time last year.
Today was the start of the annual pilgrimage to Bordeaux for the Farr Vintners Sales and Purchasing team. Eleven of us assembled at Gatwick Airport for our flight to Merignac Airport. First stop was Chateau Rauzan Segla where John Kolasa and his team had assembled a huge line-up of samples from across the Bordeaux region for us to taste. There must have been well over 200 samples so it was a great chance for us to get familiar with the vintage.
Today was ‘Right Bank day’ and we headed off, bright and early, over the rivers Garonne and Dordogne with the hope of finding some welcoming Merlot flesh on the 2011 bones. Our first stop was the offices of Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix where Christian and his son Edouard greeted us warmly with some breakfast Pomerol.
Today we had to wake up while it was still dark and were tasting wine by 8.30 am. Don’t let anyone tell you that this job is like being on holiday! By 10 am (9 in the morning UK time) we had already tasted nearly 50 wines.
Today we have focussed our attention on the Northern Médoc and in particular the appellations of St Estèphe, Pauillac and St Julien.
Today the Farr Vintners tasting team assembled at Gatwick Airport for our annual trip to Bordeaux to taste the latest en primeur vintage. This year it's the turn of 2011 and after 2 monumental vintages - 2009 and 2010 - we have the feeling that this is going to be a hard one to get excited about.
Today we headed in a different direction - over the "Entre Deux Mers" and up to Pomerol and Saint Emilion. First stop was the headquarters of Ets Jean-Pierre Moueix where Christian Moueix and his son Edouard greeted us with an all-star Pomerol line-up (and their two Saint Emilions - Magdelaine and Belair Monange). What a cracking tasting this was with the wonderful, plump, yet perfectly balanced Moueix wines. Trotanoy, La Fleur Petrus and Hosanna were all outstanding and Certan de May (not actually made by them but part of their portfolio) is at the same level. The erudite and charming Christian Moueix told us that 2010 was a vintage that needed "under-extraction" not "over-extraction" and that he had gone to great lengths not to exaggerate the vintage's tannins. If only some of the Saint Emilion producers with their 15 degree headbangers had listened to these wise words....
Day three began with a trip back up to Pauillac and a visit to our friends at Lynch Bages. There was a very smoky and exotic Villa Bel-Air on show here and an excellent Ormes de Pez but - wow - what a Lynch Bages! I asked Jean-Charles Cazes for a reference point and he said that it was the best since 1989 and 1990. Daniel Llose - who started making wine at Lynch in 1976 - said that this 2010 was off the charts and that it is the most powerful young wine that he had ever tasted here. When we read James Suckling's review last week we thought that he might have got a little carried away with his score.....well he didn't.
The Farr Vintners team was up at the crack of dawn today for a slow crawl up the back roads of the Médoc to our 9am start at....Lafite. Talk about setting the bar high. We were only starting the day with the world's (well OK, China's) most demanded wine!
The Farr Vintners en primeur tasting team this year is the biggest ever with a diverse range of ages, palates and tasting experience. Our "two wise men" are here again to offer us their wisdom and knowledge. Derek Smedley MW tasted his first en primeur vintage in 1961 and Barry Phillips bought his first case of wine - Lafite 1953 - as an eleven year old schoolboy! Their expertise in tasting raw young cask samples is invaluable to the younger members of our team.
