MARGAUX AOC-tasting - GRAZ/Austria
Restaurant/„Wirtshaus“ (inn) LAUFKE/Graz:
We were 21 persons (incl. some couples) with 16 series of 4 glasses each. The idea of the tasting was to have at least one vintage each of all the 21 classified growth in the Margaux appellation, with some additions. This was already spoiled early on – because of TCA …
Of course the classification is – especially in Margaux – quite outdated, except the Premier Château Margaux … with many underachievers … so it´s for historical reasons only.
However there were some nice surprises …
All wines have been opened 5-6 hours in advance, and carefully decanted app. 10 min. before serving.
We had a great 4-course menu in between …
My notes are necessarily short because I was busy … the points are mine, but quite conservative, the group voting comes after each flight …
1st flight:
(1) Château Dauzac (5th GCC) 2010: very youthful, modern, deep fruit but still structured, promising (90p)
(2) Château Ferrière (3me GCC) 2014: heavily corked one second after pulling the cork at home. As a substitute I took the only younger Bordeaux standing already upright in my cellar: **(2B) Ch. Quinault L´Enclos 2003 (St.Emilion) **, fully mature and a crowd-pleaser, nice, easy (89p)
(3) Château Kirwan (3me GCC) 2005: intense ripe fruit, elegant, structure still quite noticible, long, (92+p)
(4) Château Brane-Cantenac (2me GCC) 2006: all about elegance and balance, less concentrated than Kirwan, but much more accessable and elegant, very good now (91p)
Group: (1) only one point in front of (3)
1st course: beef tartare/ handwhipped butter/brioche
(picture taken a bit too late)
The corked Ferriere 2014
2nd flight:
(5) Château Prieuré-Lichine (4me GCC) 2002: quite masculine due to the style of the producer and the vintage, very Cabernet Sauv., lacking any charme now, but powerful (89p)
(6) Château Desmirail (3me GCC) 2000: lighter, softer, red-berried fruit, fully mature, slightly lactic, (87p)
(7) Pavillon rouge (du Château Margaux) 2000: full ruby-red, saturated, complex and delicate, seductive, (91p)
(8) Château Lascombes (2me GCC) 2003: full berry-fruit, soft on the palate, spicy, really complex, (92p)
Group: (8), then (7)
2nd course: braised beef cheeks/peas/celery
3rd flight:
(9) Château Pouget (4me GCC) 1985: This and the following wine are from the same owner/producer – and afaic made in the same building, not known for high quality over the years.
The wines were very similar, the 2nd ever so slightly darker and fuller, the Pouget a shade lighter and with a tiny dry edge in the finish. I do think eventually it had a tiny cork taint (would have been 88p, but NR)
(10) Château Boyd-Cantenac (3me GCC) 1985: As written above same stable/same vintage, a bit rustic, but traditional Bordeaux, cedary with a good flow, interestingly the crowd liked both – and this was the winner, (89p)
(11) Château Rauzan-Gassies (2me GCC) 1999: slightly brighter (!) than (9/10), quite rustic, old fashioned, earthy, a bit dry finish, but was loved by some tasters … (?) – (87p)
(12) Château du Tertre (5me GCC) 1999: full but bright red, quite soft, fully mature, slight lactic touch, but very good (89p)
Group: (10) - then (9). This flight was very much appreciated by the group, hard to understand for me … in contrast to the following flight which imo was definitely better, but less liked!
4th flight:
(13) Château Cantenac-Brown (3me GCC) 1989: full mature red, a bit earthy, round with slightly dry edge, nose not fully expressive, could have been very slightly corked (?), (88p without TCA?)
(14) Château d’Issan (3me GCC) 1989: cedary, brighter, mature orange red, a bit of herbs and tea, elegant, I liked it (90p)
(15) Château Cantemerle (Haut-Medoc - 5me GCC) 1989: fuller, finer, better definition than 13+14, quite long (93p)
(16) Château Marquis de Terme (4me GCC) 1989: darker berries, spicy, full and round, long and satisfying, (92p)
Group: (16) then (15) … the interesting thing was that the group did not like this flight as much as the previous one … I though the opposite, here we had what could be the typical Margaux-character
3rd course: lamb/ragout/savoy/duxelles (mushrooms)
5th flight:
(17) Château Malescot-St.-Exupéry (3me GCC) 1975: quite bright orange-red and soft, balanced with supporting acidity, complex but not very long (87p) (on opening almost dead, 6 h later a good wine)
(18) Château Durfort-Vivens (2me GCC) 1975: similar colour as (17), slightly more grip, also real class and longer, but very mature, very good for old-wine-lovers (89p)
(19) Château Marquis-d’Alesme-Becker (3me GCC) 1979: on opening a bit suspicious, retasted after 3 h corked, so I opened a substitute (19B)
(20) Château Giscours (3me GCC) 1975: fuller colour, still remains of tannins, balanced acidity, quite old fashioned powerful with persistence and strong finish, (94p)
(19B) Château La Lagune/Haut-Medoc (3me GCC) 1983: was open only 2+ h, less expressive, full mature colour, classy, good grip, long finish, (91p)
Group: (20), then (19B)
This was the usual „old-wine.flight“ – all bottles had a good fill of top to upper shoulder, all 3 sound bottles were far less interesting on opening, the Malescot close to dead, but all improved immensly over 5+ hours (incl. the TCA)
6th flight:
(21) Château Margaux (1er GCC) 1983: on opening saturated mature colour, seemed velvety and almost seemless, great expectations, but at the tasting it proved to be slightly but noticable corked, what a pity, would have been the best of the tasting with points in the upper 90ies.
(22) Château Palmer (3me GCC) 1983: much brighter colour, really voluptuous but soft, wet underwood, very elegant, even Burgundian, just enough structure with great balance, (96p)
(23) Château Palmer (3me GCC) 1989: darker ruby, spicy, green olives, mushrooms, great persistence, still potential (97p)
(24) Château Rausan-(Rauzan)Ségla (2me GCC) 1990: fuller darker red, fragrant, still a bit plummy, even chewy, very long, had great competition with the Palmers (95p)
The corked Ch.Margaux was a sting in the flesh, but the rest were a treat, simply great wines.
group voting for the last flight: 1989 Palmer in front of 1983 Palmer …
dessert wines (brought by participants):
(25) Graacher Domprobst Riesling Spätlese 2016 (Mosel)/Willi Schäfer: typical younger seemless German Mosel Riesling
(26) Dorsheimer Burgberg Riesling Spätlese 2006 (Nahe)/Schlossgut Diel: slightly more grip/acidity, very good
(27) Hochheimer Hölle Riesling Spätlese 1995 (Rheingau)/Franz Künstler: darker but less sweet, nice
(28) Cadillac Cuvée Particulière 1995 (Cellier de Graman): the sweetest, Sauternes style, very good, but the German guests – who have brough the Rieslings – prefered those.
dessert: rhubarb/raspberries/yoghurt
(forgot to take a pic, sorry)
Summary: we didn´t detect a really typical Margaux (AOC) style like we had in out St.Julien tasting 2 years ago, but all were typical Medoc Cbernet Sauvignon-wines, maybe the typical lead pencil of a Pauillac was missing, also the velvety of the St.Juliens … Cantemerle/La Lagune fit in perfectly (they are not far away to the South). Some really nice and outstanding wines, but the excitements were in the last flight.
btw: The FOOD at Laufke was exceptional … heavily recommended !!!
