Vintages and Taste

Recent columns have suggested some futures purchases of fine Bordeaux wines. It is getting a bit late to refer to 2005 buying as futures, but it is still possible. As with all wine buying, the consumer should carefully consider how far his wine dollars will go. Sometimes, the best buys are well made wines in vintage years that are not considered to be very top vintages. In such years, the winemakers may have been unusually generous in declassifying their grapes, for example, only leaving a small percentage of grapes for the grand vin, thereby increasing its quality.

            Your wine retailer should know about this. If he does not, your own research on line can supply some answers. In the process, you should be asking other questions as well. What exactly was the weather throughout the vintage? Beware the hype that always comes with a new vintage. There is, after all, a product being sold. We were told, for example, that because of the record heat in 2003, that year was necessarily a good one, in Bordeaux as elsewhere. Why? The record heat actually meant that a very few well placed wine estates, starting with Chateau Haut Brion, were able to call in their grape pickers early and harvest the crop at dates not seen for over a century. Other estates had to scramble to get the crop in, and they all did not succeed. Those which did produced some good wines, but it remains to be seen whether the fruit of that year will last very long in the bottle. If not, the wines will lack balance in the long run.

            That was certainly true, even in the short run, for Alsatian wines, which were not worth the money for the most part. It was said, however, that the Chateauneuf du Papes produced in 2003 were an exception, as their generally deep roots were able to tap reserves of water despite the record heat. From my samplings, this appears to be true. (One should, however, continue to avoid the 2002 Chateauneufs.) And of course, for wines that are fruity and meant to be drunk quite young, like Beaujolais, the 2003 vintage was excellent, as I am sure the 2006 will be.

            For I fear that the 2006 vintage may well resemble 2003. Last year also saw record heat, this time in July rather than in August, as in the 2003 vintage. The wines should therefore be approached with some caution. Extreme heat is just not a very good thing for wines that require a certain balance. In some cases, as notably with the Pinot Noir grape that produces all fine red Burgundy wines, the grapes are rather thin skinned, and excessive heat simply ruins the grape. That means ruined wine, despite the hype.

            And so, I wonder about some of the hype that has attended the launching of the 2006 Bordeaux vintage. They are expensive, although a far cry from the excellent 2005 wines. And I fear that we continue to hear about “blockbuster” wines, with “gobs of fruit, bursting with flavor,” as though what was being produced was jam rather than wine. One reads in one such overwrought offering that the St. Julien Chateau Branaire Ducru, for example, is “a deep ruby/purple hue (which) preceeds a perfumed nose of boysenberries, black cherries, minerals, spring flowers, and a hint of pain grille in the background.”

            Well, now. Is that really a wine that is being described? What one misses in all this is a suggestion of balance, and how it may develop. And the slight hint of chocolate that has been a giveaway for Branaire Ducru in blind tastings for years seems to be missing. Have they changed the formula and balance that made the wine so excellent? One does wonder.

            The same may be true, alas, of the 2006 Chateau Pontet Canet, a fine fifth growth in Pauillac, which is now said to be “backward, concentrated (and) monstrous in the mouth with huge flavor concentration, extremely high tannins, and significant extract.” I suspect that something is going on here, as winemakers may be adjusting their product to a perceived market demand rather than producing the finest wine possible from their terroir. The 2006 Pontet Canet is now said to resemble its neighbor, Chateau Mouton Rothschild. It was always a well made wine in the lighter style, actually slightly resembling its closer neighbor, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, at a fraction of the price. That seemed to fit the property and the integrity of the grapes produced over the years. I hope that its distinctive taste has not been altered, to resemble so many other wines. That would be a shame, as something distinctive would have been lost.

            The point of fine wines, of ourse, is enjoyment. Drunk at the right time, which is of course variable, will show your wines at their flavorful best. I am not at all convinced that deep wines, if that is the current taste, will mature well, or if they do, that such wines will reward the consumer many years from now. Some of the very finest wines, such as the Bonneau du Martray Corton Charlemagne grand cru and Chateau Lafite Rothschild, are justly valued precisely because they are not huge wines, but light, subtle, and full of flavor. Mozart, not Wagner.

            There is in fact an entire range of wines, from very light to huge (classically, a fine Gevrey-Chambertin from Burgundy, or a Chateau Latour from Bordeaux), with many stages in between. To remove many of those wines and overload one end of the palate seems a shame. For one thing, huge wines do not accompany many foods very well. At the end of the meal, with well chosen cheeses, fine. But serving huge wines with early courses would be like issuing chocolate bars with each course. They would ruin the palate.

            We recently experienced this, with wines that seemed to go quite well with the food selected. A 2005 Louis Michel “Les Vaillons” Chablis premier cru was a fine accompaniment to crab cakes. It was light and flavorful and balanced, not in the least oaky, a testament to Louis Michel’s decision to vinify his wines in stainless steel. We later enjoyed a 2001 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, a very different sort of white wine, blended and excellent, full of interesting flavors. It was not a huge, oaky wine, and it complemented the food.

            Two long cellared red wines were also enjoyed this month. One was a 1983 Chateau Lascombes, which was well blended, from a superior vintage year for the Margaux region. (I gather that the 2006 Chateau Lascombes has also now been “discovered” and is being hyped at double its price for comparable recent vintages. Possibly the estate has now been moved to a better location in Margaux, closer to the Gironde River? One doubts it.) This wine was not huge. It was well developed and flavorful, the fruit and strucure in nice balance. It didn’t knock you out. It complemented the food and the conversation. It was Schumann, not Wagner.

            The second treat was a magnum of 1982 Chateau Vieux Chateau Certan. Since it was a magnum, it tasted a bit younger than the Lascombes. It had flavor and taste and lasted through the meat course into the cheese course, where a fresh assortment of flavors engaged the palate, with the same wine. It was a reminder that excellence in wines comes in a number of dimensions.

            The 2005 Vintage, as I have written earlier, is also an excellent one in Burgundy and thankfully, temperature extremes were avoided. One may therefore expect for the most part wines with balance that will age gracefully. These wines are expensive, but not on the scale of their Bordeaux counterparts, by and large. I think this may be because the Burgundy classifications are not simple, and because Burgundian winemakers from sheer cussedness may have been better at resisting the blandishments of changing their wines in order to fit the presently fashionable tastes of some of their consumers.

            So, here are some suggestions. As always, check them out with your wine retailers. Let them know the style of wines that you prefer, or are curious about and would like to try. The suggestions are from the Mills Wine Store in Annapolis, Maryland, which has developed a fine consistency over the years in representing a good assortment of excellent wines. All are from the 2005 vintage, and all are predelivery prices. By and large, they are less expensive than the hyped  2006 futures prices for comparable Bordeaux wines. So you get more for your money.

            Henri Gouges Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Chenes Carteaux ($62.79); Girardin Pommard 1er Cru Les Grands Epenots Vieilles Vignes ($62.39); Mongeard-Magneard 1er Cru  Vosne-Romanee Les Petits Monts ($65.39); Girardin Beaunes 1er Cru Greves (($44.19); Rene LeClerc Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Lavaux St. Jacques ($57.15); Louis Jadot Volnay 1er Cru Clos des Chenes ($52.99).

            This six pack, set to mature in your cellar and be enjoyed 8-12 years from now, will set you back $345.30 plus change for tax. It reminds me of the six pack of white 1985 Bordeaux wines I bought in New York in 1991, for about that price. Each one of those Chateau Haut Brion Blanc bottles now brings $500 at auction.

            Speaking of which, here are three first rate 2005 white Burgundy1er Cru wines from Girardin, also available at Mills. They would give you the opportunity to compare some of the most excellent white Burgundy wines. You may end up ageeing that while Puligny-Montrachet still leads the flock, Chassagne-Montrachet is also first rate, while Meursault is an underrated classic. The wines are Puligny-Montrachet Les Pucelles (($89.99); Chassagne-Montrachet Les Caillerets ($61.59); and Meursault Les Genevrieres.

            For the high rollers, there are also of course many fine Grand cru wines available, both red and white wines. Don’t forget to invite us over for dinner when you open them!