JJ Buckley Fine Wines 2010 Vintage Bordeaux Report (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

In April 2011, JJ Buckley sent 12 wine specialists to Bordeaux to taste the 2010 Bordeaux vintage. We spoke with all the major players and tasted hundreds of wines. This comprehensive report includes a review of the vintage and over 400 tasting notes. Published April 2011. 95 printed pages.Behind this ReportTasting wines en primeurs is not easy. Obviously the sheer quantity of wines to be sampled over the week is daunting, even for industry veterans. But there are other, more subtle difficulties as well specific to tasting young Bordeaux. En primeurs week typically occurs about six months after harvest. By the time the wines are presented, most have just finished malolactic fermentation and winemakers have assembled a basic blend that represents their expectation for the finished wine. As the wines will not be bottled for another 12 to 18 months, tweaks and adjustments will continue to be made up until bottling. What they present to the trade during this week are essentially snapshots of what the final wine is likely to be. And despite the use of the term "barrel sample", the wines we taste are not drawn directly from the cask, but from specially prepared bottles frequently labeled échantillon, French for ‘sample’. While the en primeur wines poured for the trade are considered to be representative, they can vary considerably. A sample pulled from a new oak barrel, for example, may show richness of texture, a more dense weight on the palate, and more oomph. These are sometimes so appealing, they taste like a finished wine. A similar sample pulled from older wood is often more austere when young, with subtle complexities. Most chateaux assemble their en primeurs samples as well as the finished wine from the best possible lots and exclude those lots deemed to be of lesser quality. However in some cases, less scrupulous wineries have been known to present wines en primeurs that while not doctored per se, will not represent the finished wine in an accurate fashion. Tasting young, unfinished wines is also difficult even for the trained palate. Such wines are by their very nature incomplete and it takes considerable experience tasting barrel samples to understand where the wine is at that moment in time, and then to project where it will end up. Add to this the fact that the samples themselves can change quite rapidly. Chateaux typically prepare their sample bottles just a day or two prior to presentation. Samples prepared any earlier than this are to be avoided as they can spoil quickly. The weather and time of day can also influence how a wine tastes considerably. There are noticeable differences between identical wines tasted on sunny versus cloudy days and wines tasted early morning, when both you and your palate are alert and fresh, versus later in the day when you are staring down sample bottle. With so many factors affecting how a wine can taste on any given day, the best option for getting an accurate understanding of a particular wine is to taste and re-taste as much as possible over the course of the week.Traditionally held at the beginning of April, the Bordeaux region becomes besieged by thousands of importers, journalists, retailers and some regular folks as well. The spectacle is centered around three days of tastings hosted by the Union des Grands Crus. These tastings are rganized by appellation where the current vintage is poured for the massed throngs and are no different to other trade tastings held across the globe. The whole en primeurs event used to take place over a week but now goes on for almost a month to give VIPs special access to private tastings, as well as to accommodate the overflow of people.It’s important to note that not all wineries pour at the UGC-hosted tastings. Many of the top properties present their wines only at their estate and only by appointment. Due to the expanded interest in Bordeaux in both existing and emerging markets, it has become more difficult to secure an opportuni