Life is too short to drink bad wine

First wine at a BBR tasting London in September. St.Estephe is the area furthest to the north in Medoc with shallow gravel and more clay. The wines are thus perhaps more robust than the rest of Medoc. Les Ormes de Pez (21£) has medium dark "red-blue" colour and a taste with firm tannins and well balanced acidity. The wine need time and food!

This wine is a 2 Grand cru classe and cost 103£. A 1995 vintage with a brick red colour. The bouquet is just lovely with aromas of ripe red berries, dried fruit, old cellar, cedar and leather. Stunning! The aftertaste is long but lacks a bit of liveliness and this wine should perhaps be drunk asap as it could be on decline. But what a great wine! 

This Grand Cru Classe is situated between Lafite Rotschild and Cos d'Estournel. Quite an exceptional location one could say. In 1670, Vauban wrote,  « The only difference between the best terroir and the worst is that the second lacks the culture of the first  » We tasted the 2004, still young wine, but thanks to the 40% Merlot very smooth and elegant tannins. The colour was dark dark red with a very nice purple rim and good legs. The bouquet offered blueberries, wet wool and vanilla. The taste was long, fruity well balanced with a firm silky structure. Quite a nice wine and worth the 25€ paid for it Auchan. ... Lafon-Rochet ...

This wine is regarded as one of the top 6 in Medoc. It's not one of the Premier Grand Cru Classee, but in terms of quality it has over the last decade been regarded as one of the top 6. I found a bottle of the 2004 at Auchan for around 70€, very pricy but not bad considering the price level of the Margaux, Lafite etc. The chateau is located in St.Estephe but is practically a neighbour to Lafite Rotschild in Paulliac. Its way too early to drink a bottle of 2004 now, as the aging potential of this wine is 10 to 30 years, but the quality at this stage could be compared to other Bordeaux wines from the same vintage. The colour was fantastic ruby deep coloured. The boquet was somewhat closed even 4 hours in carafe with cedar, liquirice and bramble. The taste was however fantastic with a firm full compact solid body and a very long aftertaste. The tannins were soft thanks to the 40% Merlot in the wine. A very very good wine, but is it worth 70€ ? I believe not, I rather buy two bottle...

This is one of the top stars in Saint-Estephe in Medoc (second grand cru 1855). It makes roughly 340 000 bottles a year based upon 65% Cabernet Sauvignon some 25% Merlot and the rest Cabernet Franc. To get the top bottles the price is around 40 to 50€ (pending on vintage and how old when you buy it) while the second wine La Dame de Montrose costs around 15€. Over the weekend we tasted the Montrose and the second wine both from the 2004 vintage. Both possessed deep deep red colour. The Montrose had a discrete smell of blackcurrant and sweet spices while La Dame was heading more towards delicate pencil sharpenings.   On the taste the La Dame was smooth with a medium body while the Montrose was bigger, firm soft tannins and with a much longer aftertaste. The Montrose is undoubtedly a big great wine, but so is the price. Around 18 points score for 40€ gives it a P score while La Dame at around 17 point score would get a P+ and definite BUY score if you get it for less than 20€. T...