With just 5 hours sleep, Day 6 (Thursday) started with bit of a rush, the tiredness is beginning to set in... However, traffic was light and we arrived 15 minutes early for our first appointment at Chateau D’Issan in Cantenac, one of the Margaux villages where we also tasted Pedesclaux which is their Pauillac property and one of our ‘sleepers’ of the future. Great wines. Blason, their second wine was really pretty with lovely elegance.
Next was up the road to the regal Chateau Palmer for a tasting in the barrels cellar. Serious stuff, wonderful purity but again not having the same tension and power of the previous vintages of 2015 and 2016.
Wine tasting at Chateau Palmer
Next we headed to Chateau Siran for the UGC Margaux tasting. My star wine was Malescot Saint Exupery, closely followed by Giscours. From Siran we headed to Chateau Margaux were the reds where in the same camp as Palmer. Margaux is a contender for best first growth with Mouton Rothschild running alongside. Another star was the Pavillon Blanc; incredible power and length. The finish was immense and we could still taste it when we got in the car to head across the road to Chateau Rauzan Segla.
Rauzan Segla included an interesting and informative barrel tasting in the cellar, demonstrating the different impacts from different oak barrels. New versus one year old, and between different coopers of which they use seven different barrel makers.
Next stop was lunch at the famous 'Lion D’Or' restaurant for a quick bite. Luckily we ordered before the fashion show of Justerini’s murmuration of coloured trousers trooped in!
It took an hour to get to the Pessac Leognan tasting where we had about an hour to taste 30 wines before heading for our 3.30 appointment at Haut Bailly. Haut Bailly and the La Prade were excellent.
Slightly frustrating that we then had to head to La Mission Haut Brion for our 4.30 appointment, before heading all the way back to taste Smith Haut Lafitte, however, it was the only time to get an appointment. We were rewarded for our persistence and the Smith Haut Lafitte tasting was most definitely worth the return trip. Bravo!
Smith Haut Lafitte
Time to head back for a beer and BBQ with Bill and friends… sleep is also much needed.
For more information on buying En Primeur, check out our guide.
