Monday, July 15, 2013

2005s maturing: La Croix St Georges (Pomerol) and Pontet Canet (Pauillac)

I bought a case of Croix St Georges back in 2008 based on strong reviews from Parker, hoping it would mature into a fine Pomerol as the Le Bon Pasteur promised to do. The first tasting was very tannic, much less open and rewarding than the Bon Pasteur. So I opened another bottle last week. It has indeed softened and opened. It does resemble the Bon Pasteur more, but it's still more tannic and less developed. I'd say it needs another couple years. It's got exotic spices to go with the cherry plum fruit and perhaps in 2 years it'll be a more interesting wine than Bon Pasteur. It's pretty good and fresh drunk tonight about 4-5 nights after first opening, with a cedary and saline component quite noticeable now but still plenty of plum and spice. I'm looking forward to watching St Georges develop.

Meanwhile, tonight is half-price wine night at old favorite 411 West Restaurant. Emily was supposed to accompany me and Francie but wasn't up to it, so we went and brought her take-home. I've been eyeing the most expensive wine on their list for a few years: 2005 Pontet Canet, a Pauillac that was long mediocre but which new ownership brought up to potential in recent years (reports Parker). So it was 96+ points from Parker and 95 from Tanzer in the great year of 2005. 411 has it on the menu for $250 normally, or $125 on Monday nights, which is a price below retail in a wine store (it's $139 at MacArthur in DC). I hoped it would be sufficiently mature to drink at nearly 8 years old and, to compensate for various recent stresses, finally ordered it tonight.  It's a great Bordeaux. It's deep, complex, blue and black berry melded with oak vanilla and exotic spice. It's a very tannic wine, with tannins softening but at glacial pace. Needs another 3-4 years to really drink to its potential. And to his credit Parker says it won't be ready till 2017. Still it was a hell of a glass of Pauillac even tonight, and characteristically so--dramatically less "feminine" than the 2005 St Georges.

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