I was lucky enough to attend the Sante Magazine Symposium held at the Equinox Hotel in Manchester, VT. With lots of advance program information I was able to select from all the great programs and focus on wine, especially wines from Spain and ways of training staff in wine service. As a huge bonus there was a tasting and retrospective on wines of Bordeaux, with tastings back to 1989.
This Symposium will take several postings to cover.
Today I'll start with the Bordeaux wines. Presented by Roger Bohmrich, MW, who is managing partner in Mellisima USA, it was a revelation in just how good great Bordeaux wines can be.
We started with the 2005 vintage tasting Ch. De Sales from Pomerol and Ch d'Armailhac
from Paulliac.The De Sales had intense but subtle red fruit aromas and plenty of fine ripe tannins. The d'Armailhac had a deep intensity of color with a slightly smokey tinged aroma and palette of dark fruits. Composed of 60% Cab Sauv, 29% Merlot, 10% Cab Franc and whopping 1% Petite Verdot, it displayed incredible balance and confidence that let us know it would be alive and well for many years.
From 2003 we sampled Ch. d'Issan from Margaux and Ch. La Fleur Peyrabon, again from Pauillac. The D'Issan was a rapturous black red color showing dense aromas of black fruits, oak and dirt. On the palette there were plentiful tannins and great structure. At 70% Cab Sauv and 30% Merlot, this wine is still in its infancy.
The Peyrabon exhibited a large nose of deeply ripe red fruits, spice and oak. The palette was lush, full and ripe with a promise of increasing complexity as the years pass.
Vintage 2000 was represented by Domaine de Chevalier and Ch. La Dominque.The Chevalier was a deep ruby color with a long finish and tannins just starting to drop out of the wine. The flavor was intense but with an almost transparent lightness of being.
Dommique again showed intense dark ruby color with vibrant dark red fruits on the nose. After eight years, the ripeness of the fruit on the palette was impressive.
Ch. Ducru Beaucaillou from St. Julien and Leoville Las Cases, its almost neighbor from St. Julien, were both impressive. Ducru was showing a slight garnet on the rim evolving from a deep red core. The nose displayed red and dark fruits, noticeable dark cherry and spice and licorice notes. The palette was expressive and beginning to resolve into a fully mature personality. The Las Cases was also going to brick red on the rim with a little less intensity on the nose than the Ducru. The tannins were evident in maintaining a wonderful, firm structure while displaying a remarkable purity of fruit. This wine is 65% Cab Sauv, 19% Merlot, 13% Cab Franc and 3% Petite Verdot.
What Mr. Bomrich showed the attendees was how truly impressive the wines of Bordeaux can be. Despite all the hype of the French wine trade going down the drain, so long as wines such as these are produced, Bordeaux with remain the benchmark for wine growing areas around the world.
