Tasting Report: 2009 Bordeaux

Best Ever: 2009 Bordeaux?

The 2009 vintage is the greatest modern vintage of our time for Bordeaux. Believe in the hype.

Over the last five months, I have traveled to Bordeaux twice and retasted 2009 barrel samples of the top 50 or so wineries, and I have been blown away how the wines have improved. “The wines keep getting better and better,” says Alfred Tesseron, the owner of Pauillac’s Pontet Canet, one of the stars of the vintage – and I have to agree.

I began tasting 2009 Bordeaux in March 2010. The reds show amazing intensity with opulent fruit and ultra-ripe tannins, yet they remain fresh and crisp at the same time. It’s that contrast in structure that defines great Bordeaux. The dry whites are also excellent as are the sweet wines.

It’s not by chance that the usually conservative Christian Moueix, whose family owns such wine estates as Petrus, Trotanoy, La Fleur-Petrus, Hosanna, Magdelaine and others, calls 2009 “the vintage of his career.”

Granted, the top wines are insanely expensive. It’s hard to believe that people around the world – many in the Far East -- are willing to spend up to $5,000 a bottle for some 2009s such as Petrus. Most of the first growths are selling between $2,000 and $1,000 a bottle. Second growths, such as Ducru-Beaucaillou and Cos d’Estournel, are trading for about $280 to $350 a bottle.

I kept reminding myself that it’s only wine, and it’s their money. But I have to wonder how much of this is bought for investment and how much is for consumption? That’s another blog.

The excitement for me with 2009 will be finding all the lesser-known wines at great prices. That’s what Bordeaux drinkers should focus on this year when the less famous 2009s start arriving on the market.

I will be in Bordeaux numerous times this year to discover the gems for $15 to $40 a bottle. I will also be tasting the big name 2009s in December. These will begin arriving in bottle on the market in 2012.

I remember all the great values in 2005, 2003, 2000 and older vintages. It’s going to be fun. In fact, I still have some beautiful 1989 crus bourgeois that are drinking beautifully now. I drank a delicious 1989 Lafon Rochet for lunch today and it showed beautiful character of Indian spices, dried dark fruits and forest floor. It was balanced and refined, with delicate fruit. It was really fresh.

The 2009 vintage is a year that anyone who loves Bordeaux is going to want to have a few bottles or cases of these tremendous wines in their cellar.

The following wines were tasted from barrel in Bordeaux. The scores represent ranges with a plus sign, such as 93+/100. It means a wine shows the potential to be 93 points or more out of 100 points when it is finally bottled.