Bordeaux Tutored Tasting - "A Mini-Masterclass" on 20/10/05 - tasting notes

Details:
Date: 20th Oct, 2005.
Venue: Watson's Wine Cellar - Happy Valley

Chateau de Sours Rose 2004
Grape variety: Merlot

Tasting Notes:

Clear, medium intensity salmon color. Good developing red fruit nose. On palate it is medium- dry, with high acidity, low in tannin, light-bodied, medium intensity. Flavours like strawberries, cherries are noted. Alcohol is medium & the length is medium. According to Jeanette, the host of the tasting event, it is the rolls royce of rose wine.

Opinions from magazines:
In a class of its own, and acclaimed as "probably the best Rosé in the world" by the late Auberon Waugh, Château de Sours Rosé is created through the saignée method, using free-run juice from our aged, hand-picked Merlot grapes, which is slowly cold fermented for 8-10 weeks. The resulting wine is superlative; packed with intense fruit and uniquely, vibrantly pink in colour. It should be drunk within 1 to 2 years.
Drink 2005-2006

"Like the dozy apprentice who fell asleep and invented Guinness, Esme Johnstone has chanced upon the best Rosé in the world." Auberon Waugh, The Telegraph Magazine

"For years the best French Rosé on sale here has been this glorious rose-red wine created by an Englishman in Bordeaux, Esme Johnstone." Jane MacQuitty, Good Housekeeping

"The 2002 vintage is absolutely terrific and knocks spots off everything else around...exudes strawberry, plum and red-cherry flavours. I doubt there will be a better bottle of rosé released this year. Get your case now." Matthew Jukes - Daily Mail Weekend - April 2003

"If you were one of the thousands of Weekend readers who emptied the shelves of this heavenly rosé last year, then get your skates on. I haven't seen a better Rosé wine this year, and quite frankly I don't expect to." Matthew Jukes, Daily Mail Weekend - May 2004

"Château de Sours started Rosé on the long road back to rehabilitation." Sunday Times Style magazine

"It's got enough upfront strawberry fruit to send an envious Pamela Anderson back to the surgeon's knife." Decanter, quoted in Later Magazine

Chateau de Sours Rouge 2003
Alcohol: 13%
Region: Gironde (On the label), Entre-deux-mers (Informed by Host)

Tasting notes:
Clear, medium-intensity ruby color. The nose is clean, but weak, in development. It has some black fruit, a bit vegetal. On palate, it is dry, medium-high in acidity, with medium-high tannins, medium-full in body & medium intensity. Flavours are black fruit, including blackcurrant & black cherries. The wine has good concentration of oak flavour too. Alcohol is medium & the wine has medium length.

Opinions from magazines:
The hottest summer on record in Bordeaux produced very ripe, concentrated grapes. This resulting wine is almost 'new world' - very forward with blackcurrant and berry fruit flavours and a long full finish. A 'big' wine.
Drink 2005-2015

The hand-picked grapes used in Château de Sours Rouge are predominately Merlot, with 10% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The average age of the vines is well over 20-years old and all are treated with modern techniques such as 'micro-bullage' to soften tannins and bring out the fruit.

"Chateau de Sours Bordeaux Rouge - intensely fruity, medium in body and featuring good cassis and wild berry backed by subtle oak flavours." - Wine Spectator's Ultimate Guide to Buying Wine

CHÂTEAU DE FONBEL red 1999,
Saint Emilion Grand Cru AOC Bordeaux

Alcohol: 12.5%

Grape Variety: 80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon

Tasting Notes:

Clean, deep garnet colour. Few legs. The wines has significant blackcurrant, earthy, wet wool & wet hay nose. The palate is dry & has high acidity. The tannins is high but a velvety one. It has a medium body & medium intensity. It gives a black fruit flavour.

Opinion copied from web:
A classy Saint Emilion Grand Cru
The Château de Fonbel is a marvelous Saint-Emilion Great Growth.Thanks to Alain VAUTHIER, Ausone co-owner, it has become one of the Saint-Emilion must have. Mr Vauthier is showing all his savoir-faire and conduces the vinification and trains the vines himself.What a pleasure to taste such a great wine!
The vineyard is planted with Merlot (70%), Cabernet franc and Cabernet Sauvignon with 20 y.o. vines. The wine is then matured in oak barrels for 10 months.

Chateau Z de Zede 2000
Grape Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon & Cabernet Franc
Alcohol: 12.5%
Price: $105
Classification: Bordeaux Superieur

Tasting Notes:
Clear, medium-intensity ruby red. Few legs with watery pink rim. It gives clean, medium nose. The aroma is developing, with red cherries, strawberries & a hint of cedar. On palate it is dry, & has medium high acidity. It has medium tannins, & medium intensity & is light in body. On palate it has similar flavours as the nose. It has medium alcohol & has a medium length. The wine is acceptable. It is ready to drink as it is not going to improve in the bottle.

Extract from the web http://www.wine-journal.com/labegorce.html:
...The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled concrete vats at around 30° with pumping-over twice a day, then transferred into barrel for the malolactics after which it is aged for 18 months in oak barrel, 40% to 50% new. Approximately 7,000 cases of Grand Vin are produced annually with a second wine introduced in 1984 under the name "Domaine Zédé" plus a Bordeaux Superieur from a 9 hectare parcel under the name "Z of Zédé". Unlike most other chateau you can buy bottles direct from the property when you visit.

Please feel free to visit the above-mentioned web for more info.

Chateau Grand Marechaux 2002
AOC Premieres Cotes de Blaye
Grape Variety: Merlot
Alcohol: 13%

Tasting Notes:
It has nose of oak. On palate it is dry, highly acidic. It has a medium high tannins but it is soft & pleasant. This right-bank wine is medium-full in body & has a medium intensity. It gives a tang of black fruit & some oaky flavour. The alcohol level is medium & gives a medium-long length. This is an acceptable wine & is ready for consumption.

Chateau Moulin d'Issan 2002
AOC Bordeaux Superieur

Region: Margaux
Grape Variety: Mainly Cabernet Sauvignon
Alcohol: 12.5%

Tasting Notes: Clear, deep intensity ruby color. It has a clean, medium developing nose. Being mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, it has black fruit, black cherries & floral nose. It is dry, with medium high acidity, medium high tannins. Medium in body & has a medium intensity. Flavours are mainly within the black fruit category, with some oak & butter. Alcohol level is low & it has a short length. The wine is not good in quality, just acceptable, & it is ready to drink now.

Overall comments:
It's good to attend different wine tasting classes, but this time, the venue is not a good place to write & I had difficulty jotting down notes. The tasting pace was pretty fast, therefore you would see that I have missed some of the info. Perhaps I need to be much faster in writing tasting notes to catch up with the tasting pace.