Bordeaux notes compiled by trade during tastings in Melbourne and Sydney in past...

These comments are a mixture of comments from attendees and tasting notes that people have sent to the distributor:
Is 2005 the greatest vintage ever as Big Bob Parker says………..maybe one day, but numerous people have stated that the 2001's at this stage almost rival wine for wine.

• 2007 Chateau De Fontenille Blanc, Bordeaux - quite a smart mealy European sauvignon. Well made, bright and fresh. The general opinion was that this is a steal at the price.
• 2006 Chateau L'Hospital Blanc, Graves - a delicious, textured smoky fairly classic Bordeaux Blanc. This is a good wine. Very well liked.
• 2004 Chateau Sainte Barbe, Bordeaux - this continues to impress at its price. A good juicy entry level Bordeaux with some nice grip on the finish. Excellent food wine and it is doing very well by the glass.
• 2005 Chateau L'Hospital Rouge, Graves - a nice wine with typical Graves elegance. For me, it is not my favourite of the line-up but some restaurants have put on by the glass and are very pleased with it so ……...
• 2004 Chateau Clos Marsalette, Pessac Leognan - a fresh, rich, spicy, moore-ish wine made by Stephan von Neipperg of St Emilion fame. This was well liked by many.
• 2004 Chateau Charmail, Haut Medoc - this is the sommeliers wine. They really liked it for its crisp crunchy style and the fresh acidity on the finish. This wine needs food.
• 2005 Chateau Gaudin, Pauillac - the first of the 2005's with its century + old label. Someone said it is now retro. But the wine is pretty interesting. Located between Latour and Lynch Bages at $45 it is very cheap. Full bodied with some typical Pauillac earthen characters, it is a chewy, textured wine in a slightly old fashion way.
• 2005 Chateau Clauzet, St Estephe - well liked and a very correct wine, this has rich classy fruit coating the long grippy finish. This will continue to just get better with time.
• 2005 Chateau Chasse Spleen, Haut Medoc - as always this was the crowd pleaser. Made by Claire Villars Lurton in the opulent style that is Chasse Spleen. Good structure and plummy, smokey characters this is delicious right now.
• 2005 Chateau Cantemerle, 5th growth, Haut Medoc - a classy wine. This demonstrates the 'back to form' that Cantemerle is now achieving. It shows rich ripe cassis fruit, toasty oak and is a quite a deep wine. Very good.
• 2005 Chateau Beauregard, Pomerol - this Chateau is really improving in leaps and bounds. The 2001 is absolutely delicious and this is pretty smart too. It is a typical rich plummy Pomerol, intense but not too much. It developed some nice chocolate characters with airing which seems to be a Beauregard characteristic. Lovely balanced wine and was certainly well liked.
• 2005 Chateau Canon, Premier Cru Classe, St Emilion - as expected a very refined elegant wine, true to the Chateau. It is rich spicy and quite fragrant with a savoury, meaty, luscious very engaging palate. A wine to go in the cellar.
• 2005 Brane Cantenac, 2nd growth, Margaux - a great advertisement for the vintage this has the hallmark Margaux fragrance and particularly the supple Margaux texture. Fine cassis Cabernet characters with a lovely touch of earthiness. We could see why this wine is rated so highly.
• 2005 Chateau Pichon Baron 2nd growth, Pauillac - this was probably the wine of the tasting, but for its price it should be. Typical Pauillac of a very high level - black fruit, intensely packed wine, exquisitely rich and engaging. Coffee, graphite etc etc this was one of the best wines I tasted in Bordeaux in May at the 100 Chateaux 2005 tasting. This is a super star. The 2001 Pichon Baron at half the price that we had last week is certainly up there too.
• 2005 Chateau Rayne Vigneau, 1st growth Sauternes - not a heavy botrytis year but a fine delicious wine. Well liked at the tasting and particular at the price. Honey and smoked almonds on the nose and somewhat buttery / caramel / toffee on the palate. A real drink up wine.
• 2005 Chateau Coutet, 1st growth, Sauternes - bright, more intense and rich. Honey and good acid freshness. This was well admired. A smart wine as one expects from Coutet.
• 1909 Domaine Sainte Croix Rivesaltes - well this was different. Being only bottled last year this is amazingly fresh and refined for a 99 year old wine. It shows the full Christmas pudding range of flavours and a definite hint of liquorice. Long elegant this certainly took everyone's attention. A strong point of these Rivesaltes is that they are oxidized from the winemaking process so a bottle is good for 2-3 months after opening.
  

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