LESSON: Anne Melchoir
PHOTOGRAPHY & EDIT: Rebecca Goodpasture
WINE LESSON: VERTICAL TASTING
with Anne at Chateau Lamonthe – Bergerone
Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France
vertical tasting: a tasting of different vintages of the same wine from the same producer.
EDITOR'S NOTE
As Anne walks us through a vertical tasting of the Chateau’s 2014, 2011 and 2006 vintages, we recommend you buy different vintages of the same varietal from the same producer and follow along.
Enjoy!
Welcome to the Chateau Lamonthe - Bergerone! Today we are going to do a vertical tasting, to taste three different vintages of the Chateau. We will start with the youngest, the 2014, then the 2011 and finish with the 2006. The idea is really to see the difference between the color of the young and the older wine, the difference between the aromas, and of course, the taste.
THE BLEND:
So here, in the Chateau Lamonthe – Bergerone, we do a blending of wines, like in all Bordeaux region. Our wine is a blend of 50% merlot, 50% cabernet sauvignon. We have fruit coming really from the merlot, and all structural and the tannins coming from the cabernet sauvignon.
MERLOT
CABERNET SAUVIGNON
ANNE EXPLAINS:
merlot in bordeaux
The merlot, you can find it all over the world, it is really a fruity grape; it brings a lot of fruity aromas to the wine. A merlot that is grown in Bordeaux, due to the climate, due to the soil, it is going to really be on the freshness. For example, when you are drinking a merlot from Bordeaux you are going to have on the youth (on the young wines) very fresh fruit aromas. If you are having a merlot from a place with much more sun, probably you will have more jammy fruit flavors. So the place that is growing the merlot or the varietals is very important; it is going to add complexity and other characteristics to the wine.
VISUAL:
So I am going to pour our three vintages.
First, it's the difference of color. On the young wine, the color is really intense on the purple color. And when the wine is becoming older, it is beginning to have a brownish color.
So let's compare the color of the young wine and the old wine side by side. The young wine, the 2014, has a red color, and the oldest one has an orange rim, a brownish color.
2014
2006
Looking at the colors of the wines is the first step when you do a wine tasting, because you have three steps to respect: the visual analysis, the smell analysis, and the tasting analysis.
SMELL:
As we have done the visual analysis, and now we know by the color which one is the youngest and which one is the oldest, we can try to smell the different aromas of the wine. So we can do the first nose: without moving your glass you can just smell your wine and you can find the primary aromas. Usually, we are really on the fruity flavor and then you move your glass – thanks to the oxygen we are going to reveal a lot more flavors.
FIRST NOSE: without moving your glass, smell your wine to find the primary aromas
So here, on the 2014, we definitely have a lot of fruity flavors: red fruits, purple fruits, a bit of toasted flavors as well, coming from the aging in oak barrels, and a bit of spices. It’s very fresh.
Now, on the 2011: here we still have a bit of fruit, but more mature fruit. Jammy fruits. We can already smell that it’s less young than the 2014 because all these aromas are much more complex. We still have nice spices, black pepper, caramel aromas as well.
And on the last vintage, we have really the tertiary aromas. So when the wine is aged for a few years, after usually 6, 7, 8 years old, you start having animal flavors, earthiness flavors. Here we still have the fruit but we are much more on the dried fruits, or plums aromas. Even sometimes brandied cherries aromas. These are typical of old wines.
TASTE:
Now it’s time to do the third step, it’s time to taste the wine.
So when we will taste the wine it is very important to take enough quantity into your mouth to be able to analyze the texture, the acidity, the tannins, and to keep the wine, for about a few seconds in mouth, to take the time to analyze all these different sensations.
It’s really about the sensation first; we will have the taste after.
2014
On this 2014, we have a nice acidity, so the acidity is very important because it is bringing the freshness. So we have very interesting freshness, and we have some tannins, they arrive after, and a nice texture. Once we have drunk the wine we have the taste arriving, and definitely it’s a long finish.
It’s a wine which is already interesting to drink now because of the freshness, but for sure we can wait as well: aging this wine, 10 years more no problem.
2011
Let’s compare now with the 2011. So here, we start having a balance between the acidity and the tannins. It’s very interesting because this wine starts having a lot of expression; it’s a perfect matching with meat. You have nice tannins, but intense, and this one I think is perfect during a dinner.
ANNE EXPLAINS:
tannins vs. acidity
The difference between the tannins and the acidity, it’s interesting because the tannins, they are really drying your mouth. They are coming from the skins of the grapes, from the barrels as well, and it’s the sensation that you find on the back on your mouth: on the tongue, on the cheeks; it’s really drying. The contrary: acidity. Usually you feel the acidity first, when you are drinking the wine and you feel it more on the beginning on the tongue, and it’s biting. It makes you salivate.
They are two different sensations but it is very important to make the difference between them because it helps you to understand why you like or not a wine.
2006
Here on the 2006, everything is very smooth, we really have a nice sensation in the mouth because the freshness is still here, the tannins are very smooth, very elegant, and the finish is very long. This one, yeah, usually it is good to pair it with food, but the tannins are smooth so you can even match cheese, like a comté, or aged cheese. The finish is very long
So you see for this wine, for this vertical tasting, what’s interesting is that you see you can drink the wine when they are young, but maybe more for the aperitif because they are more on the freshness. And if you can age them, you will really appreciate the different aromas, the different bouquet as well, which is to be revealed after years (aging).
I hope you have enjoyed this tasting with me! And I invite you to come and visit the Chateau Lamonthe – Bergerone.
Chateau Lamonthe – Bergerone
Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France
for tours, tastings, and other inquiries, contact Anne at anne.melchior@lamothebergeron.fr
