Union Grands Crus 2023 Vintage Tasting in Chicago

 

The annual Union of Grand Cru Bordeaux tasting is one of great interest to me.  It’s held in Chicago each year at some location which appears to be focused on making the various douchebags that make up the Chicago wine trade happy.  I cannot stress to you how off putting this selection of the Chicago wine trade is to a normal person.  If you condense all the horrible caricatures of “wine people” into one mass, you’ve got a working idea of what you’re dealing with on this. It’s that combination of self-important wine trade guy, peacocking Somm dude, slutty wine rep, and discarded old hippie outcast all in one room.  Wine rep chick is flirting with wine trade guy for whatever she needs while Somm peacock casts dispersing glances in his signature “I’m a higher life form than you because of my pocket square” way.  Meanwhile hippie outcast guy is camped out in front of Leoville Barton drinking the sample bottle boxing everyone out while asking if they have any memory of meeting him at an event in 1989.  It’s really fucked up.  There are probably 200 people there and only 12 have any real buying power.  That’s why these 75 producers flew across the planet to be in this Chicago trade space.  It’s fucking stupid.

I went for a couple of reasons.  1.  I need to always take advantage of giant wine tastings as data points.  While most of those jag offs stood around talking shit, I was working.  I stood with two glasses tasting side by sides making notes for three hours.  I counted it up this morning and I tasted 57 wines.  Granted, the note quality began to diminish as I got battered by tannins, but for the most part I’ll stand by them.  I can give you an educated opinion on 2023 Bordeaux by subregion and marquee producer.  And let me tell you this… eavesdropping on the attendees, most of those assholes don’t know anything about anything.  Sample remark I overheard, “That Lascombes has tannins… I’ll bet it will age… like 4-5 years.”.  Listen fuckface, it had massive tannins and balanced acid and will age two decades.  They have NEVER made a wine in the last three decades that would not successfully age across that short a window.  Seriously?  You get paid at your job?  Get the fuck out of here with your pussy little leather shoes.

The challenge with these wines is dealing with the youthful tannins.  They are all structured wines.  These are the “really good but not quite the best” level Bordeaux like Lynch Bages, Leoville Barton, Comtesse Lalande, Pichon Baron, etc.  It’s better wine than almost anyone on the planet drinks and they are young in that “sprinting around in the backyard screaming at the top of their lungs” phase.  When you taste them you’re thinking “what’s this dude gonna be like when he gets out of college?”, not “Can this kid fly a plane today?”.  It’s tricky and you’re not always right.  However, due to the slightly reduced alcohol levels of these wines (13.5% and under on the Left Bank and 14% and under on the Right) and tannins that were only occasionally barbaric or raspy, I felt less burned out by the end than usual.

For the most part it seems like their production methods are reverting back to the tried and true.  Ferment in steel or neutral oak.  Age it 12-18 months in as much new oak as they like on the wine profile.  Tame the tannins a reasonable amount.  Dial back on the extraction.  Blend to house style. Bottle.  A couple years ago while traveling in the region it seemed like some successful salesman talked EVERYBODY into buying some amphora and glass globes.  In almost all cases the wine that is being aged in these is now going into the second wines with the exception of producers that feel like they need a little 3-5% part of the blend to show overt fruitiness.  Chateau Larmande in Saint-Emilion is still committed to using a decent proportion of amphora in their wine (10% I think?) which gives them a fruity character reminiscent of the feel of some Bojo/Loire wines.  I think it makes sense for them to stand out from a crowded field over in Saint-Emilion, so good on 'em.   

Reason 2 that I fly out there is I need to get a grasp on the vintage character.  Let’s talk 2023 Bordeaux… it’s a good but not great vintage.  It’s sorta like 1990 or maybe a more structured riper 1997.  I'm not going to get bogged down in that parlor game.  The fruit has ripeness and purity BUT not across all properties.  It’s got a richness BUT some are leaning savory leather and earth.   The summer was hot as shit but also rainy, so there was a combo of mildew problems as well as ripening challenges that show in the wines.  The estates that have big budgets and an army of labor are evident when you taste these wines.  Some are "classic" Bordeaux, some are a little thin, and some are a bit leathery.  You have to shop around as it can be quite variable from chateau to chateau.  To me, the Comtesse Lalande was the best red there.  Rich, silky, ripe tannins but a structure that showed all kinds of development ahead like when you see Ken Griffey Jr rookie highlights.  I liked Canon, Leoville Barton, Clerc Milon, and Lynch Bages the best (Oh, what a shock!).  The Left Bank wines I had were generally higher quality than the Right Bank.  If I’m you, I’m sniffing around Pauillac, St Estephe and Saint Julien for deals.  The Margaux I had were OK but I thought the Pessac were sorta meaty and lacked charm.  Pomerol like Clinet and Petit-Village were true to form but for the most part those wines are for fans.  Like if you’re into Sabbath, you’re going to like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, but if you’re not, wait and get Paranoid instead, ya know what I mean?  Saint-Emilion was hard to get a handle on, but those wines always come in many styles.  Sauternes was not super inspiring, but I did really like the lifted aromatics and honeysuckle citrus of Chateau Doisy Daene.  Suduiraut was dense and rich, Coutet was sort of in between the other two. They are still very good quality sweet wines that are criminally underpriced.  

 Let me say this about Bordeaux.  I have been and continue to be a fan of the wines of Bordeaux.  I find this region as one of the ones that produces very high value per dollar.  If you want tannic red wine, this is a place to find deals.  It’s out of fashion right now, but you can’t go wrong.  This stuff is classic for a reason.  If you give me $15/$30/$50/$75/$100 the Bordeaux wine will be better quality than the Napa, Brunello, Burgundy at the same price point that your dipshit buddy is buying.  They have 300+ years of a track record over there.  “Yeah but these investment banker guys I know bought grapes in Rutherford and they have these really heavy bottles that cost $150 and...”. Go fuck off man.  Open a Bordeaux.  Sure, their business practices are enough to make you insane, and the stuffiness of the region can be a bit much, but is it really that different from going to Grgich in Napa for an "Experience"?  They do what they do better than anyone.  They might piss people off, but the wines have never been better. 

That being said, the Bordelais still have no grasp of who buys their wine or why.  They just kind of make it and see what happens.  There is a trade mechanism in place with a kazillion middlemen and they know they need to get closer to the customers BUT they don’t REALLY like the customers because well… they’re not all the right kind of people.  The chateau are owned by aristocrats and bankers that really give the vibe that they DO NOT like “the public”.  I can’t blame them as I hated most of the people in the room too, but I wasn’t trying to sell them anything.  Don't get me wrong, the winery owners and reps were extremely professional and patient.  I really enjoyed talking to a few of them like Frederic Vicaire (Coufran), the Comtesse Lalande guy whose name I didn't catch, Sara Lecompte-Cuvelier from Leoville Poyferre, and the always enthusiastic (and impeccably dressed) Stephan de Neipperg from La Gaffeliere.  However, some of them still have that detached aloofness that doesn't play here in the States.  They really need to commit to building brands and creating relationships with real people but I don’t think they’ve gotten past the point of saying that they want to do that to the point of actually doing that.  It’s messy and your hands get dirty talking to some shitbags from the Midwest.  "Do you make a chardonnay too Francois?"  Sorry man, that’s the job.  You need to educate The Rubes in America, and most of them can't find France on a map much less get their arms around the 1855 Classification idea.

In a couple weeks I am doing a similar event out in Napa where I am going to taste through the 2019 vintage.  I'm looking forward to the wines with some age on them and seeing the progress.  As an aside, when I asked all the Bordeaux reps and owners about how their sales stocks are doing, everyone did that same move you do at a trade conference.  "How's business over there?"  GREAAAAATTTTT!  How about you?  You guys doing ok?  "OH YEAAAAAHHHHHH...  We're having a GREAT YEAR!!!".  In all the years I went to trade conferences, no one ever said, "We are getting crushed over here" when you know goddamn well they were getting crushed.  Who the hell knows?  Maybe they are all killing it at this luxury/premium+ price level, but these tariffs can't be helping anybody out.  There are only so many Belgians and Norwegians out there to drink all this wine.  I do know they all asked me a follow up question about how the Bordeaux category was doing in Ohio with a tone of "I already know what the answer is to this question". 

I'll provide a follow up after the 2019 Tasting in Napa.