Monday afternoon the Grands Crus de Bordeaux held their annual tasting of the current vintage of Grand Cru Bordeaux, in this case the 2010 vintage. These are the new releases. 2010 is reported to be an excellent vintage and the wine pundits have said that the wines are built for long-term aging which means to say that they have a lot of tannin. With that I was expecting the young wines to be tannin bombs.

In general I would say that the vintage produced wines with lots of concentration and structure, or at least with the better wines. Would definitely love to drink these wines five years down the road. The event was held at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.

I started the night with a couple of Pomerals: The 2010 Chateau Clinet was black with dark berries on the nose, young and silky with green olives on the finish and moderate tannin. The 2010 Chateau Gauzin was dark red with a nose of ripe berries, tight and chunky with lip-smacking tannin on the long finish. The 2010 Chateau La Cabanne was black with toast and barnyard on the nose with good fruit and nicely balanced on the moderate-long finish.

From Saint Emilion the 2010 Clos Fourtet was black with a pretty nose of berries and stewed prunes with a chewy fruit, good structure and mouth filling tannin on the finish. The 2010 Chateau Grand Mayne was black with a sweet perfume of red roses and cherry, silky fruit with firm tannin on the finish.

From Margaux I had the 2010 Chateau Brane-Cantenac. It was dark with a very perfumed nose of red roses with dusty fruit and prunes on the long finish. The 2010 Chateau Pieure Lichine was black with dark stone fruits on the nose with concentrated dusty fruit and good structure with full tannins on the finish.

From Saint Julien I had the 2010 Chateau Beychevelle. Dark red with a nice perfumed toasty nose with silky dusty fruit, nice balance and moderate tannin. Drinkable now. The 2010 Chateau Gruaud LaRose was black with a perfumed nose of toasted nuts. The 2010 Chateau Leoville Poyferre was black with a nose of stone fruit, concentrated with big tannins on the long finish.

From Paulliac the 2010 Chateau D’Armailhac was black with some smoke and dark berries on the nose with sweet chewy fruit with moderate tannin on the long finish. One of my favorites of the night. The 2010 Chateau Lynch-Bages was dark with a pretty perfumed nose of red cherry and earth with red cherry fruit that dropped a bit at the end. The 2010 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande was black with mint and dusty black berries on the nose that needs time for things to come together but with great structure and manageable tannins. Another favorite of the night.

Usually when it’s a good vintage in Bordeaux it’s so-so for the sweet wines. I tried a dozen Sauternes/Barzac wines and none thrilled me. I thought they were sweet and syrupy and lacked finesse.