36 Bordeaux wines from 2009, part 2

In this post, I will review some of the wines tasted. I start with the right bank. The wines from St. Emilion showed particularly well.

Chateau Bellefont Belcier was my favorite from this bracket. The purity of the blackberry fruit is beautiful. The wine has depth, but is very polished and elegant (97 points). Chateau Magdelaine was also excellent.
A complex wine with berry flavours and fragrance. There is minerality in this wine, cedar and cigarbox. The wine is soft initially, with a fine tannin structure (96 points). Chateau Frombauge has a similar profile. It also shows violets and spices. The finish is slightly hot (94 points). As mentioned in the previous post, Chateau Pavie is a massive wine. Oak and tannins currently dominate the fruit core. The wine is quite acidic and astringent (92 points). I rated Chateau Quinault L'Enclos and Chateau La Dominique less highly. These wines are less well balanced, with partly jammy fruit and abrasive tannins (91 points).

Avoiding overripe fruit was the major challenge in 2009. This is obvious in the tasted wines of Pomerol, where some wines tasted jammy, narrowly avoiding over-ripeness. Chateau Bon Pasteur was my favorite here. Mulberry flavours deliver a good mouthfeel. The wine is concentrated, weighty and fleshy with a lot of oak. I found it quite balanced with attractive tannins, dancing on the tongue (94 points). Chateaus Bourgneuf, Mazeyres and L'Hospitalet De Gazin suffered from very ripe or dried fruit (91/92 points). In contrast, Chateaus Lafleur Gazin and La Pointe showed quite a bit of leafy characters, possibly as a result of a large Cabernet Franc component in the wine (91/92 points).

Some gems can be found in other, less prestigious appellations. A real find in this tasting was Chateau Villars from Fronsac. This appellation is also on the right bank, west of St. Emilion. This wine shows beautiful berry fruit and also some earthy characteristics. The wine is balanced with good weight and length, although perhaps a bit broad in the mouth. It finishes with firm tannins and the best bit: it is really cheap (93 points).

The higher rated wines are all quite approachable now. They are elegant and let the fruit speak. I think you could drink them very well in two to three years. They have great balance and will easily live for 15 to 20 years.