After a disappointing 2021 Southwold, 2015 Ten Years On brought hope of some delicious, varied and approachable wines at a range of prices to reignite some love for Bordeaux from the tasting group. We were 19 in total, including writers Neal Martin, Lisa Perrotti-Brown and Jancis Robinson; 10 of us are Masters of Wine. We tasted just under 120 wines blind in a marathon day of reds, with two sweet flights to finish.
The 2014 Ten Years On group met in early February, hot on the heels of 2020 Southwold. I had high hopes for this tasting, expecting it to unearth gems – particularly from the northern Médoc – that have been underappreciated and undervalued since their release. The structured wines of this vintage were hard to get into from barrel, and came at a low ebb of interest in primeurs after the high prices and quality of 2009 & 2010, the over-priced 2011s and two vintages that struggled to see much interest in 2012 and 2013. Despite this the classically-styled vintage had admirers, particularly in Saint Estèphe, Pauillac and Saint Julien, where Cabernet Sauvignon was able to get ripe but retain its cooler climate edge. At ten years old, the hope was that the tannins and fruit had now started to knit together, offering throwback wines that had strong bones and enough fruit flesh. We tasted over 100 of the top names, spread across the red appellations of Bordeaux, together with highlights from Sauternes. Critics Neal Martin, Julia Harding MW and Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW were in attendance, together with buyers from the UK trade. As usual the room was roughly half Masters of Wine.
A little over a decade ago, Prince Robert of Luxembourg and the Dillon Estates bought Tertre Daugay - a Saint Emilion property with prime vineyards - and renamed it Quintus (as the fifth estate owned by Domaine Clarence Dillon). The estate has grown over time to include the vines from L'Arrosée in 2013 and, more recently, Grand Pontet. The cellars, vineyards and team have been overhauled, bringing expertise, experience and dilligence to the property in an effort to make Quintus one of the great wines of the right bank.
Nestled in the heart of Pauillac on Bordeaux’s left bank, Chateau Pontet Canet, the overachieving Fifth Growth, has been striving to make wines of the highest quality, reflected in consumer and critical acclaim, since the turn of the century. Last month Melanie Tesseron, General Director of the Chateau, came to visit Farr Vintners and lead a masterclass through 10 vintages of Pontet Canet and explain how the team are moving the wine forward to new heights both in the vineyard and the winery.
I was very privileged to be invited by proprietor Bruno Borie to a magnificent tasting of Ducru Beaucaillou in which every year that he has made was shown - as well as some examples of older vintages of this great 2nd growth Saint Julien. This is a property that has made consistently good wines for decades but under Bruno’s leadership the quality here now often touches that of the First Growths.
. Last Friday we conducted a fascinating experiment at Farr Vintners when we served, in a blind tasting, the same wine from two different bottles – one with a screwcap and one with a cork. The result was remarkable, with none of the ten tasters spotting that we were actually tasting the same wine! Before we reveal the results here’s a bit of history...
