I was most fortunate to be in attendance this week at the Union Grands Crus Bordeaux tasting of their 2020 vintage in San Francisco.
I got to taste around 76 individual wines and the quality of this vintage is high. Looking through my notes, a consistent theme is "focus" and "purity of fruit". So many are already drinking beautifully with nice tension, but without the astringency quite often associated with young wines from this area. Quite many of the 2020s will be pleasant to drink upon release and within a few years without a need to wait. That said, I believe they have the structure to age nicely and to drink well beyond a decade or more.
Beginning with the blancs from Pessac-Leognan, I found them to be very nice, albeit a bit light and racy. A surprising amount of Sauvignon Blanc and some houses only using SB may attribute to this. There is real lift to them with great acidity and a clean finish. The following were those that stood out to me from the range offered.
Chateau Bouscaut- The finish on this wine is what grabbed me. It lingers nicely, but light and fresh.
Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere- Super racy and showing nice notes of minerality. Very tasty.
Chateau Pape Clement- This wasn't as generous on the nose, but had excellent flavors of stony minerality with crisp underripe peach and loads of fresh citrus.
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte- A bottling of 100% SB, it offers notes of chalk and lots of stone fruit. It drinks nice and easy.
The standout for me with both an impressively expressive, aromatic nose and was both juicy and layered on the palate, was Chateau Olivier.
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