Paulliac En Primeur - 2013 Vintage

Vines at Chateau Lafite

Chateau Lafite Paulliac 2013
Ahh Lafite. The Belle of Bordeaux. I have been thinking for a few weeks now to boost my student budget by setting up outside the gates and charge for photographs. Each time I drive past there is always at least four or five people (yes usually they are Asian tourists) getting their proof of visiting the household name. Unfortunately, even weeks of camping outside wouldn’t allow me to even afford one bottle of the wine.
The first and still to this date the only wine from this label that I have tried. A blend (sort of) of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Merlot. There were a few wines that didn’t give a Guernsey to the Merlot this vintage and result it quite noticeable. Rich dark fruit aromas with good intensity with no noticeable under ripeness. The palate is medium bodied to full bodied with a muscular feel about it. Tannins are ripe and extremely fine, and along side the dark fruit and acidity, provides great balance of flavours. The finish is long and intense however focuses itself slightly on the side of the palate in that wine textbook term they call the ‘doughnut’. 93+ Points

Carraudes de Lafite Paulliac 2013
A blend of 64% Cabernet Sauginon, 29% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot. Dark cassis fruit drive this intense wine (vintage and context to other wines considered). Its almost there on the ripeness, but there is a slight stalky edge and greenness that lets it down. Acidity pokes out a little but I guess that is to be expected when tasting EP. Tannins are fine and persistant but with a slight chalkiness about them. A good wine, but would I spend the money? 90 points

Ch. Duhart Milon Paulliac 2013
Tasted alongside the Lafite stable. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot.  Strong dark fruit aromas with a hit of green capsicum and fresh tomato. Medium intensity and body and with a similar under-ripeness to the Carraudes. A nice wine from a great label. 89 points

Latour

Paulliac by Latour 2013
The third wine of Chateau Latour and priced similarly to most 2nd growths. Like the other wines out of Latour, it is not available En Primeur.
Dark, blue/black fruit on the nose with flicks of capsicum. Medium bodied in weight, but the fruit seems slightly diluted. This being said, the fruit does not have the bitterness of over extraction and presents as very fresh. Black currant is there from start to finish and the tannins structure is fine and delicate. 88 Points

Les Forts de Latour 2013
Latour’s second wine and one of the wines the market really chases after. Great complexity on the nose with more aromas of spice and earth than its baby brother. The wine is well poised and rather linear with defined cassis an plum fruit held together by ripe and structured tannins. Finish is powerful and long. 91 Points

Ch Latour 2013
Now for the real deal. Tasted along side the second and third wines at the Latour compound. It really does feel like a compound with its guarded entrance and big boom gate. Driving towards the tasting room down by the river, you pass both the Chateau and the tower that features of its label.
The most aromatic and dark fruited wine of the vintage. Dense, firm, muscular and powerful while still being medium bodied. A real stand out. Tannins are fine and velvety and hold throughout the finish. Everything is in the right place. 95 Points

Ch Pontet Canet 2013

This was tasted at the Chateau itself with Alfred Tessaron and his super hot niece Melanie.The guys from Berry Brothers & Rudd were also with us and made for good banter.

At the time of tasting, I thought this was my favourite wine of the vintage. It was unpretentious, honest and ultimately a really pretty wine. Pontet-Canet was the fist Chateau to release its pricing in the campaign prior to anyone even tasting the wine and it saw no drop in price from the year before. This was seen as a bit of a middle finger to the market and premonition for pricing strategies to come.

If any wine was to do it, I guess this was the one.  65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. Bio-dynamically farmed, and  a portion fermented in amphorae. The nose is elegant and perfumed with plush red fruits. The light-medium bodied palate is bright and soft with raspberry fruit doing the work. Some earthy nuances show through. Tannins are fine and silky and carry through the finish. A text book example of a feminine wine. More Burgundy than Paulliac, but a wine that is sure to gain respect as it ages. 94+ points

Ch Pichon Comtesse 2013

Another bad boy made of 100% Cabernet Sauvignon and does it show! They have just opened their new tasting room that backs right onto Chateau Latour and over looks Chateau Nuclear (the nuclear power station just across the river)

Dark, rich and muscular cassis fruit on the medium bodied palate. The tannins are delicate and very fine grained. I don’t have much past experience with Pichon Comtesse other than a few 1970s and 1980s examples for context, but I do like this style. Its modern and relies on the fruit rather than tricks. Honest, but clearly the ‘money-ball’ that went on in 2013 would have helped. 93 Points

Pichon Baron

Ch Pichon Baron 2013

The grander of the two Pichon estate. Huge turrets and a mirror/reflection pool making the building itself even more intimidating. If I could take one property to be my private residence, this would be it.

82% Cabernet Sauvignon and 18% Merlot. The fruit on both the nose and on the palate is redder than that of the Comtesse and comes across a little more forces also. Over extraction is evident, but is not as clear as in many of the lesser wines. 91 Points

Ch Lynch Bages 2013

Situated on the hill of Bages in the heart of Paulliac. Jean-Michel Cazes, owner of the estate, is one of the only French people who gets how to market wine. They have holdings well beyond Lynch Bages, but this winery is a great example of how he gets it. Go into the little village of bage (of which he owns all) and you get the idea. The ugliness of Paulliac is blocked by buidlings and leaves visitors to enjoy only what he has to offer. A top hotel, Michelin restaurant as well as a great bistro and of course, the gift shop. Do your tour (not many places do) and then exit through the gift shop. I love it.

72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. The nose is a touch dusty, but I get this from many Lynch Bages. The plum fruit makes up the core but has complex elements of graphite and spice. Oak present, but nicely in balance. Looks good to me. 91 points.

Ch Haut Bages Liberal

Good fruit concentration on the palate. The sweet raspberry cordial makes for a somewhat artificial flavor profile and doesn’t make you thing of classified growth wine. Tannins good and wine in balance. 87 points.

Ch Grand Puy Lacoste 2013

This wine is a favourite of many including me not only because of its quality, but also for its value. 

Nicely ripe red fruit characters are at the fore and there is a lovely freshness about it. The acidity is in balance and the tannins are both fine and ripe. The length is great, and combined with all preceding it, makes for an very enjoyable and high quality wine that is sure to be something special in the years to come. 91 points

Ch Grand Puy Ducasse 2013

The Chateau is located on the Quai de Paulliac, an area that looks a little bit like the Cote d’Azur if you were wearing brown sunglasses. I think it may be the only place in the world where ‘water views’ actually reduce land value.

The wine has good concentration of fruit flavours but has the alcohol sticking out a little. I like its persistence of flavours, but it lacks enough to get me really interested. 89 points

Chateau Croizet Bages 2013

58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Merlot. Plum is the elephant in the room with this one. Its extracted, out of balance, over oaked and drying on the finish. I am sure that it will become an OK wine, but it context, its just not in the league. 84 points

Ch Clerc Milon 2013

I need to learn more about this Chateau as the wines of theirs that I have tried, I really do love. Nice plum and cassis fruit presents on the palate. Its slightly dilute, but it is not overpowered by either oak or tannin. The finish shows the fruit carrying through until the end. 89+ points

Ch Batailley 2013

Run by the man himself, Fred Casteja, who showed me around his Chateau on my last visit to Bordeaux and opened up some crazy back vintages including 1961, 1970, 1982, 1996, 2000 and 2005. It was generosity that has left me with incredibly fond memories of this Chateau. 

The fruit is dark and nicely ripe. The oak is sweet and toasty and while a little high, is still attractive. The tannins are fine but a little sappy at this stage. 88 Points

Ch d’Armailhac 2013

Also owned by the Rothschild family and known in the region as the half Chateau due to its appearance of looking like half a building. Its small, interesting and so out of place its cool.

The nose opens with dark fruits aromas with subtle hints of spice, toasty oak and chocolate coming through. The palate shows the same fruits as on the nose but the oak that smelled balanced is a little prominent and results in a slightly bitter finish. 88 points