2009 UGC TASTING
30 Jan 2012
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Inside the 2009 UGC Tasting in LA
The 2009 Union des Grand Cru Bordeaux launched it’s first North American tasting in Los Angeles this month (January 20th/2012) at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. The picture perfect Los Angeles day showcased an extraordinary vintage of Bordeaux.
Having attended the ‘en Primeur’ Barrel tastings in Bordeaux 15 months prior, it’s exciting to taste the wines out of bottle in the hopes that the wines deliver everything that they initially had promised. It’s safe to say that the 2009’s will deliver a superb drinking experience for the patient consumer.
With almost 100 wines being showcased, and only a few hours to taste through, some of the huge stand-outs that were presented included Leoville Poyferre, Pichon Longueville Baron, & Lynch Bages on the left bank; Clinet and la Conseillante in Pomerol. Some very fine dry whites were presented which reflected a more opulent style. Domaine de Chevalier Blanc was superb, but Carbonnieux Blanc should present some of the best value in whites for the money. As for the Sauternes line-up, Coutet, Suduiraut and de Fargues presented very fine wines with beautiful balance, and definition.
The 2009 vintage is definitely a hedonistic one – ripe and concentrated with a tendency to show higher than usual levels of alcohol, and many illustrate a more ‘new-world’ style. The top wines of the vintage are concentrated, layered and complex, and we can only hope to experience them when they reach maturity at which point they’ll prove to be worth every penny they commanded when we bought them.
Ron Van Vlaardingen, The Wine Club's Bordeaux Specialist, at the tasting
- Posted by Ron Van Vlaardingen, Santa Ana
