Barneville-Carteret is certainly an ideal location in France for hosting a memorable double tasting in the middle of summer. The cool breeze from the Atlantic Ocean helps maintain stable temperature and humidity conditions throughout a blind tasting, which greatly facilitates the tasters’ work. Thank you to Perrine and Stéphane for once again welcoming us so warmly, right before the summer holidays!
Let’s start with the first tasting: It was a vertical tasting of the famous Château Brane-Cantenac, from the Margaux appellation and undoubtedly “the” favorite wine of Daniel Lamare, founder of the wine club.
A fine vintage selection from 1971 to 2011
Why these vintages? The idea was to compare relatively “recent” vintages, that is, young wines that have reached an initial stage of maturity, against certain legends of the past such as the 1999 vintage (winner of Final A), the 1985 (Second in Final A), or vintages that “trained” us within the club, such as the 1971 or the 1979.
Of course, it is difficult to compare “teenagers” to “sixtiers,” given that intensity is a key criterion for ranking wines and that this will inevitably decline with the age of the bottle being tasted! Nevertheless, beyond the pleasure of tasting all these incredible wines, we can draw relevant comparisons by simply ranking the wines by decade, for example.
And here are the results:
The 2011 vintage won this tasting by a wide margin. Already very well-integrated and balanced, it shines with its intensity and freshness. More surprisingly, it is closely followed by 2006 and 2007, two so-called “off-vintages” of the new century. 1985 comes in just off the podium: what class, what finesse, and what complexity! But we must accept the verdict of a blind tasting. The rest of the ranking is ultimately quite logical, with the older vintages bringing up the rear. But what a pleasure it was!
A brief moment of relaxation between sporting and sightseeing activities
Let’s continue with the second tasting: This time, the goal was to compare the winners of the ten finals A for the oldest vintages, ranging from 1964 to 1987. Hence the name “Super Final.”
Once again, it’s difficult to compare wines in their thirties to those in their fifties, and you have to read the results table while taking the different age groups into account—even if this time the gap is more reasonable, since the youngest wine is still 35 years old!
It’s no surprise to find three wines from the 1980s on the podium of this tasting… but who would have bet on the 1987 Château Mouton to take the top spot? One would have expected to see higher-rated vintages like 1986, 1983, or 1979. 1987 is part of the so-called “curse of the 7s” for red Bordeaux: 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997, 2007… Five decades shunned by critics. Fortunately, 2017 has finally broken this so-called curse! 🙂
Given these circumstances, finding Château Margaux 1977 at the bottom of the podium is a real surprise. Wasn’t it Robert Parker who claimed that “life was too short to drink 1977 Bordeaux”? 🙂 That said, we have rather a dull memory of the 1977 vintage tasting campaign, with a final round in which only Château Margaux and a certain Brane-Cantenac truly stood out.
Once again, an incredible tasting that showcases Bordeaux’s three flagship appellations: Pauillac, St. Émilion, and Margaux. It’s true that the Pomerol appellation wasn’t represented, since no Pomerol has won an A Final since the club’s inception.
