2008 Bordeaux pre and flowering

At last the sun is shining in Bordeaux after a very wet spring. The vines are about two weeks behind normal with the lack of sun and wet conditions but so far the infant light green leaves are healthy and growing.  Lot of greenery and vegetation which will be trimmed back in time during ‘le rognage’. 

Most of the soil is gorged with water however so all it will take is a hot, sticky few days and mildew may start. This forms a white powder on the underneath of the leaf. This small mushroom feeds on vegetation (and grapes later in the year) reducing the vine’s ability to photosynthesize, produce sugars and feed itself. Leaves dry out if left too long. It is important to be vigilant and spray with fungicides before the vine suffers from the effects of this fungus.

What is next in the vine’s life?

Vines have all been pruned some time ago (in advance of the sap coming up from the vine’s roots), buds have burst and crunched up leaves like the tight hands of a newborn have slowly unfurled to reveal light green and pink hues. The next most important phase of the vine’s life will be the flowering which happens in June. The period of flowering from the onset through to the end helps to indicate the date of harvest and sometimes how uniform the maturing of the grapes will be. Traditionally this was said to be 100 days from the start. With later harvesting to benefit from riper tannins, this is now sometimes stretched to 115 days depending on the year’s climate conditions and the vine’s terroir.

The potential of the year, in terms of how many grape bunches can be produced, is actually set during the summer of the year before. The effects of the wet and mild summer of 2007 is not only having its effect on the wines produced in the autumn of 2007 but also 2008! Let us hope that we do not have a repeat of last year and hope for 2008 to be a sunnier one. The sun is still shining outside so keeping fingers crossed…

2008 Poor Flowering: Cold periods during the flowering period meant that flower setting was poor and not uniform. Vines suffered from ‘coulure’ and ‘millerandage’ which serves as a natural and early ‘green harvest’. Could reduce yields somewhat.

2005 Bordeaux – Union de Grand Cru Tasting

The third edition ‘Le Weekend des Grands Amateurs’ Bordeaux on 17th May

What a wonderful relaxed tasting which just goes to show how open Bordeaux is becoming. The members  of the Union des Grands Crus are used to this though showing their wines, chatting about the vintages and the breakdown of grape varieties in that year’s wine and little stories they remember.  Great wines and everyone, punters included, were chatty and friendly. Lot of foreigners. Even met a couple of restaurant owners from Tel Aviv (restaurant was named after a famous Hebrew poet – Teshernihovski) over specially for the weekend.

Tasting of about 118 Bordeaux properties who all belong to the Unions des Grands Crus (www.ugcb.net) held at the spacious H14 (not so spacious with over 1000 people tasting) overlooking the Gironde River on the Quai de Chartrons in Bordeaux. Each property showed two vintages of their wines; the excellent 2005.

2005 Vintage Update

2005 was a very hot year which produced excellent quality wines often given 10 of 10 as a vintage. The combination of good fruit maturity (due to the abundant sunshine and high temperatures) and good acidity levels (from the cool nights) gave wines of excellent quality on both left and right banks (Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot). Tannin levels reached record breaking levels (particularly Cabernet Sauvignon) but were able to ripen successfully in the sunshine and become ripe. Berries were small as the spring was dry when berry set occurred. This resulted in very good juice to skin ratio and attributed to the high level of polyphenols and anthocyanins (high levels of tannins and colour).

Outstanding Properties 2005

St Emilion

Chateau Beausejour Becot, St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe

Chateau Canon-La Gaffeliere,  St Emilion Premier Grand Cru

Chateau Pavie Macquin, St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classe

Pomerol

Chateau La Conseillante

Chateau Petit Village

Pessac-Leognan 

Domaine de Chevalier 2005 Blanc: Creamy oak and lemon flavours. Very refined but powerful. A different level to Carbonnieux and de Fieuzal. Aromatic and fresh but seemed to be a little restrained at the moment.

Domaine de Chevalier 2005 Rouge: Still showing the purple hues of youth. Restrained style again,not exuberant but promising lots in the future. Unctuous and elegant with good firm structure.

Chateau Malarctic-Lagraviere 2005 Blanc: clean and fresh with lots of aromatic citrus flavours. High levels of acidity match the richness of the fruit. Powerful.

Chateau Malarctic-Lagraviere 2004 Rouge: Very smooth wine with a lot of different flavours of red fruits and wood. Very together.

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2000 Blanc

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2005 Blanc

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2001Rouge

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte 2005 Rouge

St Julien

Chateau Leoville-Barton

Chateau Beychevelle

Chateau Gruaud Larose

Chateau Lagrange

Pauillac

Chateau Pontet-Canet

Margaux

Chateau Rauzan-Segla

Chateau Brane-Cantenac

Sauternes/Barsac

Chateau Sigalas Rabaud

Chateau Coutet

Chateau Climens

 

Excellent Value and New Discoveries

Chateau Larcis Ducasse, St Emilion

Les Carmes Haut Brion, Pessac Leognan

Chateau de Fieuzal, Pessac Leognan

Chateau Pique-Caillou, Pessac Leognan

Chateau Cos-Labory, St Estephe

Chateau Chasse-Spleen, Moulis

Chateau Lafon-Rochet, St Estephe

Chateau d’Angludet, Margaux

 

Global Warming is helping Champagne – Louis Roederer

Cellar master Jean-Baptiste B Lecaillon of Champagne Louis Roederer presented the a range of Champagnes from this Grande Marque Champagne House. He talked to us of the effect of the warming up of the climate and the positive effect it has had so far on the cold, northerly Champagne climate.

CHAMPAGNE - a few interesting facts

There are only three cepages authorised; Pinot Meunier and the nobler Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Most of the vineyards of Champagne are planted with red grape varieties (71,5% – with 38,3% Pinot Noir and 33,2% Pinot Meunier)

Chardonnay makes up the remaining 28,2 % of vineyards planted.

Annual average temperature is only 10,3 C (trend is rising to 12C due to global warming with warmer winters rather than hotter summers

Non-vintage champagne must be kept for 15 months ’sur lattes’ (with autolysis of the dead yeast cells enrichening the champagne and adding complexity)

Vintage champagne has a minimum of 3 years ’sur lies’.

There are 15,000 growers and 200 wine merchants (who are responsable for 66% of champagne sales and 90% of exports).

338 million € sold in 2007 at the average price of 13,46€.

All grapes for champagne are harvested manually.

Price per kg of grapes is 5€ and you need 1.2 kg grapes to make a bottle of champagne so for a 13€ HT.

Each bottle of champagne it costs you 7€ for your raw materials before you have even begun!

Stocks represent 1,046 million bottles (for every bottle sold, there are 3,5 in store)

The domestic market is still the largest and represents 55% (188 million € but is decreasing). Average price per bottle depart 11,90€

Export market represents 45% (151 million € and is increasing). Average price per bottle depart 14,91€.

15 countries represent 85% export market

UK is the biggest export market for champagne (32% and growing)

2008 will see the region of Champagne’s third ‘delimitation’ of the Appellation (1st in 1908, 2nd in 1927). Currently the region has 34,000 hectares under vine. Bordeaux is approximately 121,000 hectares which has doubled in size since 1980.

Dom Perignon arrived in Hautvillers in 1669 when the wine of Champagne was famous but as a still wine based on Pinot Noir grape predominantly. It was the wine of celebration used at royal banquets (898 to 1825) all French kings since the first King, Clovis, were crowned at Reims cathedral) and also some papal celebrations (French Pope came from this region).

Dom Perignon is said to have first discovered refermentation in bottle by accident

1685 first cork was used in Champagne which provided the means to trap the bubbles in the bottle

 Tasting

1. Champagne Louis Roederer Brut, Blanc de Blancs

100% Chardonnay made up of only two villages Mesnil sur Oger and Avise. There are fewer bubbles (pressure of only 4 kg) in this cuvee to keep the roundness and softness of this 100% Chardonnay. A lot of bubbles gives an impression of agressivity which is not suited to this wine’s style.No malolactic fermentation to keep the fresh acidity. Dosage is 9 to 10 g of sucre/litre.

Light and elegant with plenty of both minerally (from the chalk soils) and fruity characteristics. Nose of fresh nuts and citrus fruits. Concentration of ripe fruit gives balance to its acidic vivacity. ‘Legerete’ is the key word.

2. Champagne Louis Roederer Brut Millesime 2002

2002 was a hot year in Champagne and produced good quality Champagnes. ‘Puissance’ is the key word with this champagen. 40% of the vine is vinified in wood. Pinot noir and Pinot Mernier are easily pressed in a vertical press. Chardonnay is more difficult due to its thiker skins so a pneumatic press is used.

Powerful spicy nose with toast and brioche. Caramel notes. Good wine for gastronomy and esprecially deserts.

More bubbles with this cuvee based predominantly on Pinot Noir (with only 30% Chardonnay). Grapes from four villages make up this wine. 

3. Champagne Louis Roederer Rose Millesime 2002

70% Pinot Noir and 30% Chardonnay make up this very, very pale rose wine. Strawberries and cherries on the nose. Very elegant rounded wine with high acidity and soft bubbles. Key word is “richesse”. Delicious.

4. Champagne Louis Roederer, Cristal Brut 2002

Cristal is only made in the best years and lasts for 15-20 years. Approximately a third Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay. This represents the best grapes from the best terroir. This wine was developed for the Tzar Alexander II in 1876 and has a clear white bottle. This 2002 vintage is very young and just released. The 1988 vintage is drinking well at the  moment. 

Fragrant nose and refined balance with high acidity and an etremely persistent finish. Dosage 10g/l sugar. Key word “expensive” at approximately 200€ per bottle. 

5. Champagne Louis Roederer, Brut Premier NV

This wine represents 70% of all Louis Roederrer production. It is made from 40% Pinot Noir, 40% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Meunier. It is made up of grapes from 40 different villages across the different regions and at least 5 different vintages. This is a non-vintage champagne and a maximum of 40% from the most recent vintage – the base year. This not indicated on the label. This enables the wine makers to maintain a consistent house style whatever the year of production. This champagne can be aged and is best consumed within 3-5 years of release.

Fresh yeasty fruity with elegance and finesse. Louis Roederrer look to produce powerful vintage wines but focus on finesse or their non-vintage champagnes. Many other Champagne Houses do the opposite. 

6. Champagne Louis Roederer, Millesime 1993

This is a collection champagne from Louis Roederer’s own stocks. Honey, melon and truffle flavours on this matured champagne which in the mouth is round and unctuous. This oxidative style is an acquired taste, but is sought after by some Grandes Marques Champagne Houses, such as Bollinger.

2007 Bordeaux Vintage Roundup

Overall Evaluation of the 2007 Wines: Those that could afford to do the work in the vineyard and severly select in the cellars produced fruity soft medium-bodied wines for earlyish drinking. Wines predominantly made from Cabernet Sauvignon were the winners this year over Merlot. The overall winners this year were the dry white wines and sweet wines.

What complicates the picture further is the strong euro against the dollar and pound. Prices are beginning to come out with Sauternes up in price (Rieussec a whopping 30% up on 2006 prices) and one or two reds such as Beychevelle down 5% on last year’s price despite good reviews showing a consciousness of the fragile markets. Costs were high this year for wine makers with very high labour costs in the vineyard.

Climate Evaluation 2007: Vey hot April followed by cold May meant that flowering was uneven. The summer was wet and temperatures were down on average. There was a lack of sunshine until the end of August when an Indian Summer saved the day.

Understanding what happened in the vineyards and why; The 2007 climate caused two main occurrences; excessive vigour in the vineyards with lots of vegetation and grape growth and uneven ripening. 

The cooler wetter weather meant that much care had to be taken in the vineyard to ensure that too much vegetation or grapes packed together did impede aeration and cause rot so there was much leaf plucking and grape thinning this year. With plenty of water throughout the growing season the vine was encouraged to grow vegetation and lots of grapes. Severe pruning at the beginning of the year, green harvesting and severe selecting in the chai was the route many wine-makers took this year in producing quality wines. Additonal spraying was carried out against mildew.

Uneven maturation of grapes between parcels was helped by ‘vendange vert’ (particularly grape thinning at veraison) but also meant that at harvest care had to be taken to pick parcel by parcel. In 2007 both the flowering and the veraison (changing of the grape’s colour) were drawn out and long (one does not always follow the other). This predicted an uneven ripening of the grapes which was indeed the case.

The lack of sun during the early summer, the high levels of rainfall and the appearance of the weaker Autumn sun had a varying effect on the different grape varieties. 

The quality of the early ripening Merlot suffered in 2007 because the normal stopping of the vegetative cycle which concentrates the grape’s components did not happen this year. Merlot tends to grow on clay soils which readily supplys the vne with water anyway. Normally this happens when the vine does not have enough water to continue growing its leaves and so shuts this side of its production down. When this happens the grape’s sugars become more concentrated and the level of acids in the grape start to diminish. The dryness of the summer around veraison normally makes this happen.

Due to the wet summer of 2007 this did not happen. There was a reduction of the weight of the grapes as the Merlot grapes began to mature.This concentration was due to loss of water as the grapes became dried out. As Merlot is early ripening the Autumn sun served only to dry out the grapes and through ‘passerillage’ or ’surmaturation’ in some terroirs. This does not result in the same quality of concentration of the grape’s sugars with a lackof fresh flavours and aromas.

In addition with the vine still putting energy into vegetative growth levels of malic acid in the grapes stayed high. The Merlots that did best this year were grown on soils that have a  higher ‘contraint hydrique’ ie cause water shortage sooner. The clay soils of the best terroir in Pomerol are so sticky and thick that they do just this limiting the vine’s access to the water that is there.

Cabernet Sauvignon is often grown on well-drained more gravelly soils where the ‘contraint hydrique’ (water stress) did happen this year despite the wet weather. The long cool growing season this year suited the late ripenig Cabernet Sauvignon. With the lack of sun the normally late ripening grape variety was even later but thanks to the Indian Summer the vines on the best soils were able to catch up, ripen their tannins and produce good quality grapes with complexity and smoothness.

Cabernet Franc too fits into this category. Ausone which has a high percentage of Cabernet Franc (50% o blend with Merlot) in its Cotes St Emilion vineyards was voted one of the top wines of 2007. 

Petit Verdot which is very late ripening was still green at the end of August was able to turbo-boost itself and achieve perfect ripeness in a few weeks of Autmn sun and proved itself to be the surprise of the vintage.

The wet weather and the sunshine at the end of the year favoured white wine production (Sauvignon and Semillon) this year with ripe fruit but also good acidity levels to provide fresness and citric fruit aromas. The cool tempertures during the summer maintained the freshness and vivacity and the autmn sun helped to finish the ripening to provide volume and density to the best white wine terroirs.

This provided a good base for the pourriture noble to do its magic. To have a good ‘vin liquoreux’ the grapes first  of need to be well-ripened and have the balance of flavours that come with the sort of weather conditions experienced in 2007.

The sunny autumn with cool nights was perfect to produce the foggy mornings and sunny days needed for Botrytis cinerea to develop. The fact that the grapes matured at diffferent times (possibly linked back to the uneven flowering in Maytime) meant that the harvest was very drawn out (over two months). This suits the method of picking in ‘trie successive’ in waves of picking where only the grapes that perfectly infected with botrytis are picked (when the fungus has punctured the skins allowing the water to evaporate).

 

Parker agrees with Lady Penelope

This en primeur game is quite a laugh- thunderbirds! Parker was  not too complimentary about the 2007 vintage but said it was better than what he expected and only awarded 100 points to two wines, both white and both my favorites agreeing that the whites were the overall winers this year; Haut Brion Blanc and Pape-Clement Blanc and Laville (La Mission’s white) was awarded 93 to 96.

Amongst his top reds were my favorites Cabernet Sauvignon dominated Margaux and La Mission Haut Brion.

The sweet wines were this year tasted by Neal Martin who works with Robert Parker on his website. He awarded Ch Climens (98-100), Yquem (96-98) and Denis Dubourdieu’s l’Extravaganza (97-98) the best marks.

See my separate entries for my tasting notes.

Are you a Robert or a Jancis?

It is scientifically proven that we all taste differently. The appreciation of wine is subjective. How can one person describe a wine for another? They don’t. All a wine critic can do is describe what they taste, what their olfactory system is telling them. This differs depending on their sex, age, culture, diet, time of the day …. the variables are never-ending. With something as complicated as wine (which itself is changing every second) we have to start somewhere.  The opinions of an informed experienced wine expert is a good start but only if they taste in a similar way to you. It is like a film critic. You need to find the guy that has a similar taste to you. If you can find someone that is.

I tasted three 2007 wines blind from St Julien all fourth growths and ranked them in order of preference. Here are my notes;

Wine 1: Fragrant florale nose. Very soft and fresh ripe fruit. Freshness key impact.

Wine 2: Smokey, sweet cherry nose. Very soft melted fruit on the palate. Light but elegant but bitter short finish.

Wine 3: Toasty blackcurrant nose. Smooth and rounded on the palate with good structure and volume. Potential.

In order of being served my preference was 2, 3, 1.

The opinions of Jancis Robinson (JR), Stephen Brooks (SR) and Revue de Vins de France (RVF) and Parker (P)

                                     JR        SB          RVF          P

Beychevelle                 16.5    14.5       15-16     87-90

Brainaire                      15        16         16-17    90-92

Talbot                         14.5    16.5       15-16    84-86

My favorite was Brainaire like Parker and RVF. My second choice was the Talbot, Stephen Brook’s favorite and my least favorite was the Beychevelle. As you see no-one agrees!

Bordeaux BBQ Wines!

If I hold my arms up in the air and make the biggest circle I can clasping my hands together – this is the size of the entrecote cooked on an open fire in the garden of Yves-Dominique and Laura Pages. Yves is a specialist in all things wonderful to eat and sells fine wines mainly from Italy and Spain. They live not far from Bordeaux on the other side of the Dordogne River. What you need to remember is to cross the Dordogne via the metal criss-cross Eiffel bridge to get there successfully.

What was remarkable about this dinner was not the conversation which indeed was interesting enough ranging from the origin of such expressions as ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’ to the rightful role of a man during childbirth, but the quality of food and wine served in such a relaxed and down-to-earth manner. That is one of the advantages of living so close to the source of good food and wine.

Deep-fried ‘Blayais’ Asparagus in filo with balsamic vinegar

Veal tongue with sauce gribiche (shallot, hardboiled egg, vinegar, gherkins and lots of freshly cut herbs)

Giant Entrecote a la Bordelaise

1986 Chateau Canon, Premier Cru Classe St Emilion: smooth fruity light and elegant. Soft with pleasant red fruit flavours and melted tannins.

1988 Clos de Marquis, St Julien: the depth of flavour that the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon really suits my palate. The smoothness of the tannins and the concentration of pure fruit for me lifts wines to another plateau.

1994? Pesquera Ribera de Douro (unfortunately by this time I was not keeping note of vintages). Interesting nose of chocolate, oaky spiciness which continued in the mouth. Long finish. Hot spicy wine with herby grilled meat smokey flavours.

amongst others…

That Eiffel Bridge creates an optical illusion; it seems narrower on the way home.

1989 Bordeaux vintage; arrival in Bordeaux in 2CV

It was around lunchtime when I finally arrived in Bordeaux in my English Charleston 2CV (black and Bordeaux colouring of course) onto the Quai de Bacalan. It was 21st August 1989. It was hot and there was not a soul to be seen. Little did I know that it was the hottest summer since 1949 and that the harvest was about to begin, the earliest since 1893. And it was lunchtime and it was August after all. I was the ‘jeune stagiaire’ reporting for my duties at Maison Sichel,19 Quai de Bacalan – a family run wine negociants run by the inimitable Peter Sichel who part-owned Chateau Palmer in Margaux and Chateau d’Angludet, who sold petit chateaux and blended and made wine themselves. Somewhere perfect to get a good understanding of how the Bordeaux wine trade worked for a few months. If I could find somebody that is.

So conditions were perfect that year for producing concentrated well ripened grapes with silky tannins. It turned out to be the second of a trio of great vintages (1988, 1989, 1990). Good timing for my ’stage’ (work experience) which ended lasting a little more than a few months (my initial idea was to spend three months in the key wine regions of France, Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Rhone – needless to say I never made it beyond the Dordogne and my heart has remained here ever since).

So how have these wines matured over the past 19 years? There were concerns that due to low acidity levels the wines might not have the potenital to age. But these initial fears have proved unfounded as these wines which are beginning to drink very well still have the concentration and complexity of a very good vintage. 

At the age of 22 in a way my arrival in Bordeaux was the start of my true adult life, away from everything I knew. I cannot say I have matured as well. Tasted recently around the time of my 41st birthday.

1989 Gruaud Larose, St Julien 58% Cab Sauv, 31% Merlot, 7% Cab Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec. Quite evolved garnet colour and slight oranging at the edges. Intense sweet cherry nose. A purity of cherry fruit and liquorice and notes of truffle on the palate. The sweetness of the ripe fruit and the silky tannins give the wine a pleasant density (approx 85€ ex VAT) **

1989 Pavie, Premier Cru Classe St Emilion 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet colour, less evolved. Nose of meat essences, coffee and truffles. Soft and round juicy cherry flavours in the mouth which end a little dry. Fleshy and attractive but lacking finesse (approx 60€ ex VAT)

1989 Cos d’Estournel , St Estephe 60% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine took a good hour and a half to open out. Exotic spicy intense nose of blackcurrant and caramel. Density of pure fruit and silky smooth tannins. Sweetness of ripe black fruit. Very long finish. Very complex wine with beautiful balance (approx 70€ ex VAT) ***

Fine and Rare wines from Cedric Manet  of CM Vins: cmvins@wanadoo.fr

www.cmvins.fr

1979 Figeac, St Emilion; the sum of its parts guessing game

Five glasses of mahogany brown-orange tinged wine but what are they? The colour alone indicates considerable evolution during the slow oxidation over the years of ageing in bottle. A slow changing of the colour as the purple and red hues of youth fade to browns and oranges. (Both red and white wines end up the same tawny orangy colour at the end of their lives).

This wine is now in the autumn years of its life. Its aromas and flavours have also evolved. Gone are the forward fruity ‘primary’ flavours replaced today with a ‘bouquet’ of more complex earthy aromas of leather and truffles (‘tertiary’) with some sweet blackcurranty sirop notes coming through on some of the samples.

These wines were infact the ‘unassembled’ wines of Figeac 1979 separated  into their different cepages (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot) when vinified and kept separate over 29 years - and the actual 1979 Figeac the assembled wine (35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot).

Chateau Figeac, Premier Cru Classe is to be found on the border of St Emilion and Pomerol, an area referred to as the ‘Graves’ of St Emilion. It is due to these gravelly soils that Figeac is to be able to grow Cabernet Sauvignon – which normally makes up thirty-five percent of its final blend. Unheard of elsewhere in this appellation. Figeac is said to be the most Medoc of St Emilions.  This is equalled by Cabernet Franc which makes up another 35% of the blend  – less than its famous neighbour, Cheval Blanc whose vineyards are grown on the same gravel outcrop. Cheval Blanc is normally made up of two-thirds Cabernet Franc. The rest of Figeac is Merlot.

Guess which of the four glasses is which? 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, 100% Cabernet Franc, 100% Merlot, The 1979 Figeac (‘assembled’ 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot)

Wine 1: Green pepper (indicative of a wine being  ’vegetale’ due to lack of ripeness) on the nose with sweet blackcurrant on the nose and on the palate. Good volume of fruit and a purity of flavour. Little one-dimensional but very pleasant.

Wine 2: Smokier nose with little fruit on the palate or via retro-olfaction. Good structure but lacking in freshness. It seemed that the fruit had dried out.

Wine 3: Attractive intense blackcurrant on the nose. Very soft and rounded on the palate. Good structure. Very soft and still fresh and juicy. Lacked something?

Wine 4: Medicinal nose of leather and humus (indicative of being ‘phenole’). Palate superior to the nose with some noticeable intensity of black fruit flavours. Sour finish.

Answers:

Wine 1: Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine 2: The assemblage of 1979 Figeac  (35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot) *

Wine 3: Merlot

Wine 4: Cabernet Franc

Conclusion: * In my opinion the final blend which included 35%  of the Cabernet Franc had the effect of drying out the fruit that was apparent in the Cabernet Savignon and Merlot only samples.

Thank you to Raoul Salama (Revue de Vins de France) and Figeac owner Thierry Manoncourt for this opportunity to taste 1979 Figeac in its entirety and in its constituent parts - aged over 29 years.