Moncharm Chateau Lynch Bages 1997 Tasting

I had the good fortune to be allowed to taste a very small glass of this wine on my lunch break here at Moncharm today. The Lynch Bages is ruby red with no sign of bricking at the rim. Although 1997 is not the greatest vintage across the board, this Fifth growth Pauillac is not disappointing and is still quite pleasant to drink now. I can imagine it pairing with any red meat quite well.  The nose is full of cassis-cedar and spice: typically Pauillac here and no great surprise. The taste is very acidic upon entry, almost too much so, as it overpowers the wine a bit however, there is a fruity blackcurrant on the palate with hardly any tannin.This wine is ready to drink and in my opinion should be consumed fairly soon.

Moncharm  

Moncharm Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2003 tasting

Side by side the Mouton Rothschild 2003 & Pavie 2000

I tasted this alongside the second bottle of Chateau Pavie 2000 with my colleagues at Moncharm accompanied by a lovely rib eye steak. I have to say the Mouton suited the steak a lot better and I must confess I spent most of the main course captivated by it. I was surprised by how well it was drinking which is of course rare for a Mouton this young, although it had a long time in the decanter beforehand which no doubt helped its cause.

The nose offers up fabulous nuances of black fruit, coffee and a hint of leather. On the palate this wine is very seductive almost putting me into a trance like state with plenty of cassis and blackcurrant showing and a powerful finish with tantalizingly silky tannins. It is not that often that I get a chance to drink Mouton Rothschild and I would go so far as to say this is easily one of my favorites from the bottles I have drunk. This bottle really made me work very hard to delve into its structure and complexity which was nothing short of sheer class. It was also the winner of the night for me, only just beating the Chateau Pavie.

Moncharm

Moncharm Chateau Pavie 2000 Tasting

I have tasted this beautiful wine twice. Once over a Sunday lunch, which consisted of roast Gressingham duck, and again over dinner with friends from Moncharm at a restaurant, accompanied by rib eye steak. The wine tasted consistently over both tastings although I personally think that the Gressingham duck was much better company for the Pavie than rib eye steak because the spiciness of the Pavie complimented the gameness and richness of the Gressingham duck  perfectly. A simply stunning combination. 

At first the Pavie tasted very bold and upfront in the glass, almost  like a Pommerol. It was massive and very complex. The nose was of huge fruit and cherries. The colour was unbelievably dark and the wine itself was so rich and concentrated it was almost port like. After a good few hours in the decanter ,the Pavie had evolved marvellously into a very sophisticated wine that was really starting to show its elegance  and had shrugged off the upfront style it was showing when first opened. It was starting to show its finesse.

The nose was showing  an earthy spice,turmeric and garam masala. It should also be noted that at 13.5% this is extremely alcoholic for a bottle of Bordeaux.

On the palate the wine has a lovely herbaceous taste with raspberries, raisins and a slight smokey feel which, as I said earlier, complimented the duck so well. It is so concentrated it is almost treacle like and oh! so sweet. Everything is in balance here and I only assume in years to come this wine will get better and better.

All in all a simply stunning bottle of wine that I will definitely drink again at some point if I am lucky enough, the taste simply lingers on the tongue. However to get the best out of the bottle I would recommend opening at least 4 hours prior to consumption.    

Note: In accordance with floydtp’s notes on cellartracker.com I agree these have been the toughest tasting notes I have written to date as the wine simply keeps evolving in the glass almost continuously. It will be really interesting to have a glass in 20 years’ time.

Moncharm

The London International Wine Fair 2012-Union Des Grand Crus Bordeaux 2008 Tasting

The floor at LIWF 2012

I was lucky enough to be given the day off to go down and represent Moncharm at the LIWF and more specifically the Union Des Grand Crus Bordeaux 2008 tasting. It was a beautiful summer’s day and I met some great people within the industry to discuss wine investment with but the 2008’s proved to be quite a challenge to taste as most of them were quite closed down now and would definitely benefit from a few years of cellaring (a tough tasting indeed). However the art of wine tasting is to be able to recognise quality even if the wine is young. I won’t go into details about each and every wine I tasted as there were far too many to mention but the real standouts were as follows.

Clinet 2008 – The star of the show – full bodied –Powerful and very alcoholic-Certainly one to watch.

Lynch Bages 2008 –A long standing favourite of mine-very tannic and dry-cherries spice and cedar-should be excellent in years to come.

There were other Chateaux that will certainly be excellent in years to come, Pichon lalande springs to mind it was soft sweet and very pleasant on the palate, Clerc Milon was also worth a mention.

Chateau Doisy Daene (Sauternes) was an absolute pleasure to drink with a fabulous nose of grapefruit that once on the palate turned into a sweet tropical fruit bomb. I can safely say I will be buying a case of this fairly soon as I was impressed.   

Moncharm  

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2004 Tasting

I tasted this over Sunday lunch with the family. First of all the bottle looks like it’s a wine bottle on steroids: very wide shoulders on it compared to the classic shape claret bottle of the Mouton Rothschild 1982.

A bottle on steroids the Mouton Rothschild 2004

Artwork by Prince Charles

We decanted it for roughly an hour before consumption and during the time it took to drink it didn’t do much in the glass. Although it was pleasant, it seemed to fade away a bit towards the end of the bottle. Saying that, the Mouton 2004 is drinking surprisingly well considering it’s age but it has a long life left ahead of it still with great length on the palate, lovely fruits and silky tannin. On the nose there is lots of classic cedar, dark fruit and graphite. There is a lovely rounded finish on the palate. This Mouton is intense and quite complex with tannin balanced by the fruit and acidity. I feel it will only get better with time and at some point I have no doubt it will become excellent. Enjoyable to drink right now but better left to cellar at least for a few more years. A typical young Mouton.

Moncharm

Moncharm Ronan 2009 (by Clinet)

I drank a Magnum of Ronan 2009 (by Clinet) over dinner with some friends last night, it is an excellent everyday drinking wine and at £12 a Mag it’s a bargain!

Moncharm

Moncharm Louis Carillon Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru- Les Combettes 2008 Tasting

I had been given this white Burgundy very kindly as a birthday present (thanks John) and chose a perfect spring evening that more resembled a hot August evening than one in March to drink it. Perfect! Upon opening the bottle, my nose was greeted with beautiful nuances of summer flowers, butter and gooseberries. It was extremely well balanced on the palate with great length, a typical Chardonnay: buttery, sweet from ripe fruit, oak, vanilla with an acidic twinge at the end. Sweet on entry, acidic on the finish, a wine for summer if ever I have had one. Drink now with great pleasure a beautiful balance here and an extremely fat wine with an almost voluptuous feel.

90/100

Moncharm

Chateau Leoville Barton 2006 Tasting

The Leoville Barton tasting at Moncharm

I have tasted this second growth Bordeaux twice thus far, once with my colleagues at Moncharm and again at home. It performed slightly better on the latter occasion as it had a little while longer in the decanter to open up. The Leoville Barton 2006 has a very lovely upfront nose of tobacco, vanilla and lead pencil and is very strong and fragrant.  Once in the glass has a very purple almost blue hue to it.  On the palate there is a lovely black raspberry taste, then you are hit with the mouth puckering acidity with a very tannic finish as it’s still very young but don’t be fooled there is a very fine balance going on here, between its youthful tannins and the acidity. Quite pleasant to drink now with a nice dinner but it would most definitively benefit from another 5+ years cellaring time. A tough choice to make however, in hindsight I’m glad I opened it when I did. This proved to be quite a red herring as I did not expect it to perform quite as well as it did, I look forward to tasting this in the years to come to see how it evolves. Impressive! Given the price I may invest in a case for future drinking.

92+/100

Moncharm

Chateau Lynch Bages 1985 Tasting

I was very much looking forward to tasting this wine as it had been recommended to me by a friend who holds it in high regard-in the same league as the legendary 1989, apparently, which I have yet to try. Upon opening the bottle the cork was nice and soft: this was obviously a very well kept bottle of wine. The Lynch Bages’s nose immediately after opening was the unmistakable smell of mature claret with delicious peppery, spicy scents. The wine itself was a beautiful and vibrant garnet red in colour and I also noticed that, surprisingly, this bottle did not throw much sediment at all which is unusual for a wine of this age. Within roughly five minutes of pouring my first glass, the Lynch started to close up which started to rectify itself after fifteen minutes or so. At this point there was not much cedar in either the nose or mouth which was also quite surprising as this is a classic trait of the Pauilliac Appellation of which Lynch Bages is a part. Nevertheless, there were hints of it at times as the wine finally opened up to a lovely spicy palate with strong hints of cassis on the finish.

The balance between acidity and tannins is virtually non-existent and it was very acidic indeed having thrown off its youthful tannins. Should it be consumed right now? I think so! It should also be noted that towards the end of the bottle the wine suddenly changed and became tannic for a few minutes leaving us at Moncharm scratching our heads. This wine needs to be opened, decanted and consumed reasonably quickly as it will not get any better with time.

Although it was not the best bottle of wine I have had (I did not expect it to be) it was certainly a pleasure to drink and a bit of a challenge on the senses at points in the evening-a diversion we all relished.

"The Lynch Bages 1985 was very acidic"

Tasting Notes

Chateau Lynch Bages 1985 bottle (75cl)

Time Opened: 19.20pm

Colour: Garnet Red, slightly starting to show bricking around the rim but it’s so subtle that you would be forgiven for missing it.

Nose: Cassis, mature, peppery

Palate: More pleasant on the palate than the nose, with nuances of spice box leading up to an acidic, cassis finish.

Final Comments:

Although quite a challenge and a pleasure at the same time, it is of my opinion that this Lynch Bages should be consumed  within the next  few years as all of us at Moncharm unanimously agreed that without the tannins the’ 85 would dry out within about  five years. I believe it to be at its peak right now and cannot see it getting any better in the future.

Moncharm Ltd

http://www.moncharm.co.uk/

Moncharm Chateau Pichon Lalande 1982 Tasting

December 25^th 2011

After yet another year working hard in the Moncharm office it was time to relax, and what better way to do that than to enjoy my Christmas dinner of fillet steak (yes, turkey doesn’t go down too well in my house) accompanied with a superb magnum of Pichon Lalande 1982.

This beautiful bottle certainly needs no introduction, with its gold capsule and writing on the label it looks nothing short of majestic, stunning even. The anticipation was high and I literally couldn’t wait to open and decant it. Unfortunately this magnum which had come directly from Bordeaux to Moncharm had at some point or other during its twenty seven year life, been left to stand up for too long as the cork was three quarters of the way down dried out, leaving the top of the cork to perish completely  at the wrath of the corkscrew! After a minutes’ head scratching we decided the best route would simply be to push the remainder of the intact cork into the bottle and filter the wine prior to decanting. "Don’t worry I’m a pro at this" was my father’s comment at the time. This was to be my only complaint about what seemed to me to be a perfect bottle of wine. I could literally not find a single fault with it in regards to taste, complexity and structure. Everyone who had the pleasure of tasting it including my two friends seemed to be completely seduced by it’s subtle yet stylish charm, so much so that in the weeks to come we spent hours trying to locate another magnum for this year.
 We drank this well into the evening all of us feeling blown away by each sip. One third of this vineyard lies in St Julian but now the l’asemblage of the Grand Vin has the right to the Pauillac appellation giving the Pichon Lalande the finesse of a St Julien coupled with the backbone of a Paulliac.I wish I had another bottle!

                                                                                                                    

The Stunning Pichon Lalande 1982

Tasting Notes

Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse De Lalande 1982

Magnum bottle (150cl)

Time Opened: 14.00pm

Colour: Garnet red, looks youthful with no signs of bricking although it has all but shaken off it’s tannins   

Nose: Cassis, plums and finesse personified (I could literally sit and smell it all day long)

Palate: Marvelously full bodied, sweet fruit, Rich and spicy without being overbearing, silky smooth tannins and a long finish, This wine is so smooth and silky, with every sip its like giving your mouth a massage!  

Final Comments:

This is quite simply put the best bottle of Bordeaux I have ever tasted and if anything ever beats it I’d like to see it! The Pichon Lalande is at it’s peak and drinking fantastically right now. If I could give a wine 110 out of 100 it would be this one, I recommend anyone that loves Bordeaux wine and hasn’t tasted this do it now while you get the chance! I can only wish I had another bottle ah c'est la vie!

www.moncharm.co.uk
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Chateau Calon Segur 2000 Tasting

I shared this bottle with some of my colleagues at Moncharm- out of working hours of course!

Against the advice of my father that I should wait a good few years to drink this, I decided to try it as we do have another few bottles of this stored and I thought it would be a good comparison to drink them over the years and see how it evolves in time. We decanted this at around 4pm as this wine is still very much in its youth and needed a chance to open up.

Upon tasting I could tell the wine easily needs five plus years in the bottle as it was very closed up and had a very tannic finish to it. In time this wine will undoubtedly have its chance to shine as there is a very good balance between acidity and tannins. It just needs time. I look forward to drinking it again in the future.

The Calon Segur needs more time in the bottle 

Tasting Notes

Calon Segur 2000 bottle (75cl)

Time Opened: 16.00pm

Time Consumed:20.30pm onwards

Colour: Ruby

Nose: Tobacco, Graphite, Cedar

Comments: “Very very tannic” "Closed Up"

Final Comments:  

Although this sparked much debate among my colleagues at Moncharm, I am a firm believer after drinking this bottle that I should have listened to my father’s advice as I found this bottle to be somewhat of a disappointment drinking it so young but I am also sure that given time this will turn out be an excellent bottle of claret. I would strongly urge anyone considering popping the cork on this third growth St.Estephe to hold off their temptation for at least another five years

Chateau Lynch Bages 1982 Tasting

I first tasted this British favorite on a Thursday evening coupled with a beautiful rib of beef cooked on the barbeque: the two complimented each other perfectly! The bottle was absolutely flawless which was pretty impressive considering it was a duty paid bottle that had no verifiable provenance however it came at a bargain price and would have been rude not to buy it! In hindsight I did not regret this decision one bit.  The second time I tasted this I was very kindly invited to a friends house for dinner again it was accompanied by beef.

Both times the Lynch produced consistent results on the palate and was a very dark and dense rich purple in colour slightly amber around the rim of the glass signifying that it is beginning to mature.The nose reminded me of opening the wonderful fresh box of cigars a friend kindly bought me from Cuba and my mouth was filled with a delicious spicy taste followed by fragrant blackcurrent. If you have a bottle of this I would recommend that you consume it in the next few years as it is most certainly drinking fabulously right now. 

Lynch Bages 1982 Cork

"The Lynch Bages 1982 is drinking beautifully right now"

Tasting Notes        

Lynch Bages 1982 Bottle (75cl)

Time Opened:7.30pm

Colour:Dark purple in colour, with some bricking

Nose: Massive fruit, tobacco, cedar and an earthy spice   

Comments:

“This classy elegant Pauillac is spicy, full and chunky”

“Very vibrant and powerful”

Final Comments:

Considering the market price of this wine right now, I would highly recommend you to pick up a bottle of this before it is all gone as it is quite simply an absolute bargain and punches way above its weight as a fifth growth. Its essential Bordeaux drinking.   

Moncharm 

Moncharm Wine Tasting 25th December 2010

For my first post I have had to dust off my tasting notes from two years ago although the event remains vividly in my mind as it is only once in a blue moon so to speak that i would be so fortunate enough to taste one of the great legends of Bordeaux. Over the comming months i will be updating this blog with more recent tastings and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as i have enjoyed tasting them.

Wine Tasting 25th December 2010

Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982 Artwork by John Huston

It was a strange somber Christmas morning in our household this year, the reason? Sitting upon our seasonally appointed “Christmas wine table” was a bottle of the legendary Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982. I couldn’t help thinking back to the previous weeks occurrences that it was nothing short of a miracle that this bottle with its beautiful artwork by John Huston was even here at all! The heavy snowfall in the weeks leading up to Christmas had left me nervous after two failed attempts to deliver our wine. However as luck would have it the gods must have been smiling on us as a final third attempt proved successful with just one day to spare until Christmas Eve. Special mention has to go to our very own wine buyer Harry Wilkinson and the logistics team at Moncharm for their tireless efforts to get this bottle delivered in time for Christmas. Thanks!

I stood there watching in anticipation as my father (an avid Bordeaux enthusiast) opened the bottle with great care and whilst this was happening there was only one phrase running through my mind “Please don’t let it be corked!” “Please don’t let it be corked” My Father took one look at me and said with a Cheshire cat like grin sprawled across his face “it could only be Mouton.”

This magnificent looking bottle of 82 was to be put up against a magnum of Mouton Rothschild 1985 on which the cork was unfortunately on it’s way out! Fortunately this shook off its musky odor once decanted and in hindsight it was very lucky that we were drinking this tonight as, had it been left another year it would almost certainly have been ruined!

Tasting Notes

1982 Mouton Rothschild Bottle (75cl)

Time Opened: 14.00pm

Colour: Redcurrant red

Nose: Redcurrant,tobbacco,cedar

Palate: Blackcurrant,raspberries,redcurrants,tobbacco and cedar wood

Comments:

“Perfect tannin vs. acidity balance”, “huge fat”, “I can still taste it on the palate after two minuets!!”

“It just goes on and on and on, a beautiful wine”

“Clearly a Mouton never to be forgotten it makes the 1985 appear pedestrian in comparison”

“So so young this wine tastes like it could go on forever!”

1985 Mouton Rothschild Magnum Bottle (1.5l)
Time Opened: 14.10pm

Colour: Garnet red, beginning to amber around the rim.

Nose: Mature, slightly musty cork, after an hour beggining to open up with a strong smell of blackcurrants.

Palate: Sweet fruit, tannin, acidity, balance, great length, a beautiful wine with soft tannin.


Final Comments:

Both the Mouton’s were superb in their own right, although I personally found the 1982 quite a challenge to drink (a trait that I have found to be consistent with the whole Vintage that I have tasted so far) early on as it didn’t taste how a typical Mouton should and in hindsight if I am ever fortunate enough to drink a bottle again I would decant it for a lot longer!

The Mouton 1985 was a fabulous wine just about reaching is peak of maturity. It is drinking beautifully right now and although on this occasion it was slightly overshadowed by the legendary 82 it is by no means inferior and I would recommend it as essential drinking for any Bordeaux enthusiast.


Moncharm