I regard these two whites from Vignobles Magrez – Château Pape-Clément http://www.bernard-magrez.com/ as travesties of Bordeaux. I find it particularly galling that the French wine press, as well as international writers, heap praise on Bernard Magrez. I hear increasingly from vignerons that wines are designed to be drunk from release, so possible integration with age is not an excuse. I conclude that many people with well filled wallets like wines like this.
Clémentin de Château Pape-Clement 2005 (€48!!) is the estate’s second white and is made from 50% Sauvignon blanc, 30% Sémillon and 20% Muscadelle but one sniff was sufficient to know that the cooper and the origin of the wood were far more determinant at this stage in the flavour profile than the varieties or soil type. The suave presenter, who boasted an aristocratic Flemish name on his lapel badge, proudly told me that the 100% new oak casks came from a batch destined for le Montrachet and fine the wood was indeed; cigar box, if a bit raw, not vanilla or ugly dry caramel and malt. Underneath there was a lot of primary but fine tropical fruit with much pineapple but not a lot of minerality; I can imagine this fruit gaining complexity but cannot imagine it fully integrating with the wood; it is possible, in view of the following, that the Grand Vin is better balanced by weightier fruit and structure; 12/20.
Château Fombrauge (blanc) 2005 (discounted to €39,50!) is a rarity, as a white from Saint-Emilion, and is made from 40% Sauvignon blanc, 20% Sauvignon gris and the rest from Sémillon and Muscadelle with the same lavish wood treatment. It has clearly “benefited” from the same recipe as the previous but it is somewhat rounder and more structured so I did not dislike it quite so much; 13/20. (Two reds from Fombrauge were more acceptable but that is another story.)
The next wine is a sad case of a lovely wine type gone wrong. No one would like this. Coteaux Champenois Aÿ 1993 – Gatinois – (a still red from Pinot noir in the top Champagne village of Aÿ made by one of its best “récoltants manipulants”) was quite literally a sour and bitter disappointment; only the after-taste gave a glimpse of Pinot and terroir elegance. I don’t know what was going on here; colour was very deep for a Coteaux Champenois and showed no signs of bricking; there were slight cabbage and rancid notes in the aromas which may indicate beginnings of oxidization, though the cork was sound; there were none of the varnish notes which indicate VA. The best theory is that the 1993 Pinot fruit was never good enough to make a red wine and that there was over-extraction. A pity when some of its type, e.g. Egly-Ouriet’s Ambonnay, are amongst the world’s most elegant expressions of Pinot. Down the drain!
To end on a cheerful note, Fleurie Les Garants 2006 – Domaine du Vissoux, which replaced the previous straight from the cellar, was singing more openly than the already excellent earlier bottles. However, that elegant Pinot after-taste from the Aÿ did show up a little the relative commonness of its Gamay fruit; 16.5/20.