Pedesclaux 05, Lafon-Rochet 04 and Haut-Bages Libéral 09 vs Les Mémoires 2012

To cheer us all up during lockdown N°47, or however many there have been so far, I’ve been delving into some mid-table Bordeaux CCs. I kept a glass of each back to try with a remaining glass of Les Mémoires (Roches-Neuves Saumur-C) and it proved to be a really interesting experiment - well, for us, anyway! All four bottles cost roughly the same, so it was a fair comparison.

Pedesclaux - Pauillac - 2005

Very much a grumpy teenager on the first night - closed and mute at first, it needed two or three hours in the decanter. Not really typical Pauillac aromas, this had spices, even a little mint. The attack was quite big and thick, leaning towards blackberry rather than the classic cassis flavours, with citric fruits mid-palate enveloping blackberry and at last a hint of cassis.
Last night, the cassis had emerged fully and it was really rather good. It still needs time, but unlike many 05s, it is at least accessible.

Lafon-Rochet - St.Estephe - 2004

This did the opposite - slightly fraying at the edges on the first night, it was much firmer and deeper last night. Lovely elegant flavours of cassis and spices but with hints of tartness. Although more convincing yesterday, we had the impression that the 40% merlot was starting to show its limits.

Haut-Bages Libéral - Pauillac - 2009

This will never be a classic Pauillac but it is certainly improving with age. Raspberry and vanilla aromas, then blackberry with just a little tobacco. The flavours are mainly blackberry and especially raspberry, a little cassis coming on the finish. Typical or not, this is a very enjoyable wine - I like the way the fruit is developing - it will never be sticky and cloying.

Tasting the three Bordeaux together, the Pedesclaux surprised us by being the more impressive of the three, although the HBL had a lot more lithe charm.

But the real surprise came when we compared all three with the Mémoires. The latter’s nose was an immediate winner - fresher, fruitier, more focused. In the mouth, the flavours do taste more cramped than the others, but so much crisper and purer. We noticed some sour cherry we hadn’t picked up the first night we had tried it. The only Bordeaux to hold a candle to it was the HBL, which tasted a lot richer than on its own, but it couldn’t compete with the Mémoires’ fruit. I thought that the Bordeaux would show greater depth - not at all, the Mémoires just had a different kind of depth.

I hadn’t tried anything like this before, and just a few years ago, it would never occurred to me that a Loire red could perform so well - which considering that 2012 is not a particularly good vintage, was even more impressive.

Anyway, it was fun - the next time, I shall do the same using a Clos Du Jaugueyron, since I’m keen to see if my theory of cross-pollination with Roches-Neuves holds up.

if any of you are still hesitating about trying Loire reds, don’t!

Pedesclaux has had some rave reviews from Decanter, especially the 05 and 09 vintages.

I think Pedesclaux flies under the radar of many.

At $65-70 the 2016 Pedesclaux is a tremendous bargain imo. I have loaded up on this one. Merlot heavy for Pauillac.

2005 was the Pedesclaux that beat the Ist Growths in a Decanter panel tasting, if I remember well. It’s hard to see why today, but it’s still a nice wine. If you’re lucky enough to come across a good bottle, 2000 can be surprisingly good, even better than the 05 in fact. But with any Pedesclaux before the new ownership, bottles were a total lottery. I actually had a case of 2000, which I bought EP because it was on offer at 9 euros a bottle - 5 out of 12 were good.

My second favorite Brit has finally coming around!

Partly thanks to you, Grand Master! Well, entirely concerning Les Mémoires after your 2014 write-up.