During the next two weeks (until 11.04.2010) our key staff will be visiting many chateaux in Bordeaux, as well as participating in
many wine tasting events. Due to the remarkable 2009 Bordeaux vintage our En Primeur specialist will taste these wines directly in the chateaux themselves
and will give their own view. Furthermore, this year Marco Corrira of En Primeur will be providing his own independent wine notes and ratings! We will
also be updating our blogs within days with photos, news and snippets from our En Primeur tasting tour.
Please note: Customers who are wishing to purchase wine from our wine list should bear in mind that although we will quite
likely respond on a daily basis, delivery during the En Primeur wine tasting period can take up to ten working days. Many thanks for your
kind consideration.
If you want to get particular information about En Primeur right now directly from Bordeaux then please e-mail en-primeur@en-primeur.co.uk!
Bordeaux 2009 En Primeur: 'The best in sixty years'
“I have never seen anything like it in my career”, said Christian Moueix, whose family owns some of the most illustrious vineyards on the Right Bank, including Petrus, La-Fleur Petrus and Trotanoy. He has been producing wine in Pomerol and St.-Emilion since 1971.
Thomas Dô-Chi-Nam, the winemaker at Pauillac’s prized Pichon-Lalande, started making wine at the second-growth in 1992. He echoes the positive sentiments: “It is my best harvest ever,” he said frankly. “It was such a serene harvest. We had no pressure from the possibility of bad weather. We had time to pick when we wanted.” The results are grapes of exceptional quality.
“Nature has been extremely generous, it is sumptuous”, said Denis Dubourdieu, director of the Bordeaux Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences and a renowned winemaker. “It’s difficult to find comparisons, you have to go back to the climatology of the 40s to find, perhaps, comparable conditions”, he added.
“It came like the answer to a prayer, exactly at the right time, and the vines continued maturing,” said Pierre Lurton, General Manager of Chateau Cheval Blanc in Saint Emilion. “Such a fall after such a summer, it’s rather extraordinary, one can’t dream of anything better.”
It is unsurprising then that Bordeaux growers are rubbing their hands together with glee, even so many months before the release of en primeur. “In terms of sheer quality and volume we are in the best position since 2005”, said owner Jonathan Malthus.Berry Brothers & Rudd’s Bordeaux buyer, Max Lalondrelle, was similarly optimistic: “The weather in Bordeaux (and the rest of France) has been textbook, with the fruits being the healthiest I have ever seen. All the ingredients of a good vintage look to be in place.”
“I just tasted the wines on Monday morning and they are rich and powerful yet smooth and refined at the same time,” reported an enthused Jean-Charles Cazes, whose family owns top chateaus such as Lynch-Bages and Les Ormes-de-Pez. “The acidity is very good as well.”
“My father says that the vintage reminds him of 1982”, added Cazes, whose first vintage as the head of Lynch-Bages was in 2006. “I just like to say it is a smiling vintage. Everyone is very, very happy about 2009.”
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