The annual Bordeaux tasting by the Institute of Masters of Wine brings together 100 or so of the best wines of Bordeaux four years after the vintage. Most of the Médoc Cru Classés (including 1st growths) are there, as well as top producers of Saint-Emilion, Pomerol and Sauternes and Barsac. Four years on is a useful and relevant stage to taste, as the wines – though young –  have settled into their final skin. The market is driven by En Primeur tasting scores of infant (foetal?) wines, but tasting at this stage is much more relevant for wine lovers.

On release in early 2010, the 2009 vintage was celebrated by producers and merchants as not merely the best of “the decade”, nor even of “the century”, but rather “EVER!!!!!!”. This was the year of that glorious and benign summer that arrived promptly and turned Indian well into October. Ripe grapes made concentrated, intense, generous wines which were a joy to taste En Primeur, and received high scores from Parker.

Last year’s tasting of the 2008 vintage saw tasters gliding serenely around Vintners Hall. This year’s was packed, with the epicentre of the bun fight at the “First Growths” table. This enthusiasm is driven by the desire to taste great wines (sharpened by the impossibility of ever being able to afford them). But there are also reputations and returns at stake, as  2009 was definitely an ‘investment’ vintage.

Overview of wines

The best are heavenly: very ‘together’, and already beguiling. They are big but balanced, and gorgeously polished. Alcohol is high, but in the best wines it is balanced by fine, compressed tannin, good acidity, and very concentrated fruit. The star wines retain nuance in the notably sweet fruit, and a sense (as Michael Schuster would put it) of “scent as flavour”.

It is very seductive and enveloping – this combination of warmth, depth, concentration and tannic resistance. Despite some very big wines, there are many superb examples not at full throttle. But I heard many comments on variability. This vintage is not a homogenous shoe-in. Less successful wines were very uncomfortable. Some wines were green (some Merlot vines did shut down in the summer heat-spikes), and in others dry, clumsy tannins and bitter oak trampled over enervated fruit.  In some the fruit was too sweetly simple for interest, and was dominated by high alcohol. Alcohol in itself is not a problem. There are many good, and some great, wines at 14% and above. It is a matter of holistic balance, and not obsession with the numbers.

Communes and star wines

Saint Estephe is concentrated and emphatic, with a dark well of sweet, spicy fruit. Montrose is rich and confidently extracted, and is also much more pacy and nuanced than Cos d’Estournel, which seems these days to be more of a fetishistic performance than a drink.

Calon-Ségur is a total star: vigorous, exuberant, and finely grainy, with ripe but lively fruit. (You could buy 4 cases of this for the price of 1 case of Cos, incidentally. I’m just saying.)

Saint Julien was impressive and consistent. (The northern Médoc Cabernets benefitted from their later ripening, and retained acidity while on the longer road to ripe phenolics.)

My star wine was Léoville-Poyferré, which is sumptuous, complex, pacy, rich and assured. Léoville-Barton is understated but very good, with firm restraint and savoury, inky, graphite fruit. Brainaire-Ducru has that same savoury, fresh fruit but with a bit more heft and plumpness. Léoville-Las-Cases was tight, tense, and obdurate. Leave that one alone for a while.

Overall, Saint Julien 2009s had more space and restraint than in Pauillac, and were less obviously driven by concentration.

Beychevelle had lovely clarity of black fruit, and fine, restrained tannin. It was supple, charming and unforced, as was Langoa Barton, which seems to be going great guns recently.

Gruaud Larose and Lagrange shared a more overt, party-party style, with loose, grainy tannin and overt oak. They were balanced, in their way, by warm, spicy fruit. I have learned that these are the wines that one can easily dismiss as too overt in tastings, but guzzle with utter delight over dinner with mates.

Pauillac is more punchy and obviously concentrated than Saint Julien. These wines were a bit more of a tussle, and tannins were more prominent – to variable persuasive or uncomfortable effect.

Pontet-Canet and Pichon Baron are superb wines, with inherent concentration and depth of beautifully nuanced flavour. Both have a lovely sinuous line through the palate. Pontet-Canet is more exuberant, vigorous and determined. Pichon Baron is firm but suave, polished, enticing and scented. Pichon Comtesse is good, but much tighter, with more compacted tannin. All 3 are big but balanced. Duhart Milon also stood out. It is fleshy but toned, with lovely purity and grip. Château Lafite is really quintessence of this firm, polished style: it is nuanced, opulent, firm and very determined. Mouton was plush, plump and spreading, driven by unabashed sweetness of fruit. It reminded me of that line from Sideways: “a whole ton of fun.”

The rush to ripeness showed in some Pauillacs with simple sweet fruit, overt oak, and loose tannic weave. But at their best these less concentrated wines were good fun. D’Armailhac and Clerc Milon fell into this style, and Lynch-Bages was their spicy, front-loaded velvety daddy. These three were already drinking well. Yet another interpretation came through in Haut-Batailley and Grand Puy Lacoste, which were understated but gorgeously pure, with lovely freshness and scent. They are courteous and restrained, with delicious intrinsic balance and depth.

The less successful wines in Pauillac had stalky, green tannin with empty fruit, and protruding alcohol.

Pessac Léognan was the least impressive of the left-bank communes, but it should be said that the number of wines submitted was much lower. Fruit is sweet but murky, and many wines are just too easy-going. Some were decent Cabernet, but not good Bordeaux. The two exceptions are at the top: La Mission Haut-Brion distinguished by nuance and tension alongside sweeping, dense fruit and enveloping tannin. There’s a lot of alcohol, but there’s so much of everything else that I didn’t notice. Haut-Brion is a quintessence of hedonism, and you either take it and adore it on those terms, or feel it’s a bit OTT and atypical. I heard both responses.

Margaux has a clutch of very decent, balanced wines, with creamy textures and pretty fruit. And a couple of stars. Brane Cantenac was excellent, and is very good value: savoury, unforced and finely tannic. This is the style of classic, ego-less Bordeaux that is heaven with a fine French dinner. Lascombe had taken full advantage of the 2009 sunshine, and was sporting the equivalent of an orange suntan alongside its customary cleavage. A big, bouncy ton of fun, but not particularly Bordeaux like, never mind Margaux.

Rauzan-Ségla is delicious and stylish, with pristine, aromatic, cassis and disciplined ripeness. Palmer was the Haut Brion of Margaux. It’s on full throttle: super intense, super ripe and super concentrated. But it was like trying to get inside a beautiful mansion and finding all the windows and doors are just painted onto the stucco. Maybe it’s just too young. It’s had some rave reviews. But I preferred the understated intensity and aromatic definition of Ségla. Château Margaux is lovely, walking a courtly line, with notably refined, sleek tannin, pure fruit and delicate perfume.

Saint Emilion has a heterogenous range of styles and quality. Some wines were horribly uncomfortable, with astringent tannin, pruney, enervated fruit and brutish alcohol. A couple of wines were pushed to the point of bitter, steroidal, inarticulate dollopness. Several wines were marred by Sweaty Bretty. (And I say that as a brett liberal).

But the Saint Emilion highs are really high. Château Canon is restrained, sanguine and elegantly resistant. Figeac also has that scented, savoury purity, but in a tighter, focussed frame. Both sing its true intensity, and not forced extract. Cheval Blanc is a joy, singing with violet-scented fruit. It is silky and undulating, generous but refined. Angelus luxuriates in tannin and fruit, but retains its vitality. It’s more obviously plush than Cheval, and goes with the hedonistic quality of the vintage.

There’s something very relaxed about Pomerol in 2009. There were few harsh, pushed, astringent wines. The less impressive were just a bit too plump and comfy for greatness. But their sweet, juicy core makes them an unashamedly indulgent drink, for relatively early consumption. One of the stars was La Conseillante, for its lift and balanced generosity, and flavoursome, suedey tannin. Clinet was really beguiling, with intricate, floral aromatics and plush, satiny textures. L’Eglise Clinet was my favourite, combining the trademark vintage hedonism and lushness with a really intense core of sweet but firm fruit. These 3 wines were already harmonised, and you could have drunk any of them with dinner with pleasure. La Fleur Petrus was much more restrained, and obviously youthful. It had the nervier pace of a young, unready wine, but with a promising intense core.

In summary

You didn’t really believe that “Vintage of a Lifetime” stuff, did you? Go this showing, 2009 is a great, ripe, generous vintage, but it is not the effortless shoe-in of the En Primeur hawkers. That price-inflating hype has taken the greatest, most renowned, wines out of the reach of even moderately affluent wine-loving humans. Relative bargains remain. I don’t mean relative to the asset-class hysterics at the top end of Bordeaux. That would be annoying. In the big beautiful world of full-bodied ageworthy reds, the following wines really are great value:

• Pauillac: Duhart-Milon (for power), Grand-Puy-Lacoste (for nuance), Haut-Bages-Libéral (for classic style at great price)
• Saint-Estephe: Calon-Segur (with knobs on)
• Margaux: Brane-Cantenac (for elegance), Giscours (for grunt)
• Saint-Julien: Langoa-Baron (for courtliness), Lagrange (for spicy fun)
• Saint Emilion: La Tour Figeac (for balance and focus in a sea of loucheness)
• Pessac and Graves: Fieuzal (for this Christmas, and possibly next)

My scores

	Wine	Vintage	Commune	Cru	£ case	£ bottle	Score
1	Bouscaut	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves		22.00	88
2	Carbonnieux	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves	254	26.00	88
3	Fieuzal	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves		29.00	90
4	Malartic-Lagravière	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves		40.00	90
5	La Mission Haut Brion	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves		500.00	95
8	Domaine de Chevalier	2009	Pessac-Léognan	Grand Cru Classé de Graves		45.00	91
12	La Lagune	2009	Médoc	3rd Growth	430	40.00	93
13	Boyd-Cantenac	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	340	28.33	89
14	Brane-Cantenac	2009	Margaux	2nd Growth	480	40.00	93
15	Dauzac	2009	Margaux	5th Growth	300	25.00	90
16	Desmirail	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	270	22.50	89
17	Durfort Vivens	2009	Margaux	2nd Growth	270	22.50	89
18	Ferrière	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	260	21.67	90
19	Giscours	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	420	35.00	92
20	d’Issan	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	450	37.50	91
21	Kirwan	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	390	32.50	92
22	Lascombes	2009	Margaux	2nd Growth	520	43.33	88
23	Marquis de Terme	2009	Margaux	4th Growth	300	25.00	89
24	Palmer	2009	Margaux	3rd Growth	2100	175.00	95
25	Prieuré Lichine	2009	Margaux	4th Growth	339	28.25	90
26	Rauzan-Gassies	2009	Margaux	2nd Growth	330	27.50	88
27	Rauzan-Ségla	2009	Margaux	2nd Growth	850	70.83	96
29	Calon-Segur	2009	Saint-Estèphe	3rd Growth	650	54.17	94
30	Cos d’Estournel	2009	Saint-Estèphe	2nd Growth	2400	200.00	93
31	Cos Laboury	2009	Saint-Estèphe	5th Growth	270	22.50	90
33	Montrose	2009	Saint-Estèphe	2nd Growth	2386	198.83	96
34	Beychevelle	2009	Saint-Julien	4th Growth	680	56.67	93
35	Branaire-Ducru	2009	Saint-Julien	4th Growth	500	41.67	93
36	Gruaud Larose	2009	Saint-Julien	2nd Growth	540	45.00	92
37	Lagrange	2009	Saint-Julien	3rd Growth	360	30.00	91
38	Langoa-Baron	2009	Saint-Julien	3rd Growth	440	36.67	92
39	Léoville-Barton	2009	Saint-Julien	2nd Growth	750	62.50	95
40	Léoville Las Cases	2009	Saint-Julien	2nd Growth	2190	182.50	96
41	Léoville-Poyferré	2009	Saint-Julien	2nd Growth	1600	133.33	97
42	Talbot	2009	Saint-Julien	4th Growth	440	36.67	90
43	d’Armailhac	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	330	27.50	92
44	Batailley	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	350	29.17	92
45	Clerc Milon	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	450	37.50	91
46	Croizet-Bages	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	250	20.83	89
47	Duhart-Milon	2009	Pauillac	4th Growth	700	58.33	95
48	Grand-Puy-Ducasse	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	330	27.50	91
49	Grand-Puy-Lacoste	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	550	45.83	93
50	Haut-Bages Liberal	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	280	23.33	89
51	Haut-Batailley	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	280	23.33	91
52	Lynch-Bages	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	1100	91.67	92
53	Lynch-Moussas	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	322	26.83	88
54	Pedesclaux	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	281	23.42	87
55	Pichon Baron	2009	Pauillac	2nd Growth	1250	104.17	96
56	Pichon Comtesse	2009	Pauillac	2nd Growth	1200	100.00	96
57	Pontet-Canet	2009	Pauillac	5th Growth	1600	133.33	97
58	Angelus	2009	Saint-Emilion	1st Growth	2900	241.67	98
59	Cheval Blanc	2009	Saint-Emilion	1st Growth	7500	625.00	99
60	Haut-Brion	2009	Pessac-Léognan	1st Growth	6300	525.00	97
61	Lafite-Rothschild	2009	Pauillac	1st Growth	7600	633.33	98
62	Margaux	2009	Margaux	1st Growth	6700	558.33	96
63	Mouton-Rothschild	2009	Pauillac	1st Growth	6200	516.67	96
64	Balestard La Tonelle	2009	Saint-Emilion	Grand Cru Classé	450	37.50	89
65	Beauséjour-Bécot	2009	Saint-Emilion		520	43.33	88
66	Bélair-Monange	2009	Saint-Emilion	1er Grand Cru Classé B	1200	100.00	92
67	Bellevue	2009	Saint-Emilion		450	37.50	88
68	Canon	2009	Saint-Emilion		1000	83.33	93
69	Canon la Gaffelière	2009	Saint-Emilion		666	55.50	90
75	Figeac	2009	Saint-Emilion		1700	141.67	96
78	Pavie Macquin	2009	Saint-Emilion		780	65.00	89
80	La Tour Figeac	2009	Saint-Emilion		323	26.92	89
81	Troplong-Mondot	2009	Saint-Emilion		1200	100.00	90
85	Clinet	2009	Pomerol		2500	208.33	96
86	La Conseillante	2009	Pomerol		1300	108.33	95
87	l’Eglise Clinet	2009	Pomerol		3300	275.00	97
88	Fleur-Petrus	2009	Pomerol		1800	150.00	95
89	Gazin	2009	Pomerol		1000	83.33	94
90	Nenin	2009	Pomerol		440	36.67	89
91	Petit Village	2009	Pomerol		445	37.08	91
93	Clos Réne	2009	Pomerol		220	18.33	88
94	Domaine de l’Eglise	2009	Pomerol		300	25.00	88
95	Climens	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	820	68.33	97
96	Coutet	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	550	45.83	95
97	Doisy-Védrines	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	2nd Growth	250	20.83	91
98	Filhot	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	2nd Growth	168	14.00	89
99	Guiraud	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	400	33.33	92
100	De Myrat	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	2nd Growth	213	17.75	90
101	Rayne Vigneau	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	325	27.08	92
102	Rieussec	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	550	45.83	95
103	Sigalas Rabaud	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	365	30.42	91
104	Suduiraut	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	630	52.50	94
105	La Tour Blanche	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	450	37.50	92
106	Clos Haut Peyraguey	2009	Sauternes and Barsac	1st Growth	432	36.00	93