The Union Grand Crus Bordeaux was founded in 1973 and currently has 132 Chateaux members covering 14 appellations. The Union promotes the Grand Cru wines of its members with over 80 worldwide events.
In the beginning of each year, the Union tours the United States to introduce the newly released vintage. On January 20th the tour stopped New York City with both a tasting for the trade in the afternoon and another tasting for consumers in the evening. As in years past, the event was held at the Cipriani event space located at 120 East 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan across from Grand Central Terminal.
Bordeaux is a huge wine producing region with over 6 times the vine area planted than Napa Valley. Everyone focuses on the top tier wines, but you can grab a nice bottle for everyday drinking especially in good vintages, without having to pay the sky-high prices that the top tier wines charge.
Bordeaux had a string of some excellent vintages in the late ’90’s and early 2000’s but the last few vintages have been challenging for them, and I didn’t know what to expect at the tasting. From what I understood, 2022 was a “weird” year. The weather for the year had all the hallmarks of turning into a lousy vintage, but the wines turned out much better than anyone anticipated.
Reading the reviews from wine writers, the word “fresh” popped up very often. I meant that to mean the juicy, bright red fruit and moderate tannins and acidity that I was getting from many of the wines that I sampled. I didn’t get the teeth chatting tannins from most of the wines that I’ve gotten in other years. Of course, there were wines with firm tannins and brisk acids and knowing that these wines are still very young and need some more time in the bottle to flesh out.
I thought the vintage came out somewhere in the middle in style, I was pleasantly surprised and think that many of the wines will be for early drinking,
Vintage 2022
Saint-Julien
Chateau Beychevelle: Opaque dark red, purple rim, dark chocolate and sweet fruit on the nose, juicy and chewy ending with moderate tannins and acidity.
Chateau Branaire-Ducru: Opaque medium red, brick rim, sweet tar and cigarette smoke on the nose, juicy, earthy fruit ending with moderate tannins and acidity.
Chateau Gloria: Opaque dark red, perfume of violets and white pepper, juicy dark fruit, moderate tannins with tart notes at the end.
Chateau Gruaud Larose: Clear medium red, purple rim, dusty black fruit on the nose, juicy, tight red fruit, tight finish.
Chateau Leoville Poyferre: Opaque dark red, purple rim, tar and crushed dark fruit on the nose, tight fruit with crushed rock notes, very firm finish.
Chateau Talbot: Clear medium red, crushed red fruit, green herbs and milk chocolate on the nose, juicy and dusty red fruit ending with moderate tannins.
Chateau Lagrange: Clear medium red, graphite on the nose, dusty fruit ending with crisp tannins.
Saint-Estephe
Chateau de Pez: Clear medium red, brick rim, tar and leather on the nose, juicy with leather notes, silky tannins and finish.
Chateau Phelan Segur: Clear medium red, black licorice and earth on the nose, chewy black fruit with dusty, silky moderate tannins.
Chateau Cos Labory: Clear medium red, tarry roast meat and pencil shavings on the nose, juicy red fruit ending with lip smacking tannins.
Pauillac
Chateau d’Armailac: Clear medium red, dirty tar on the nose, chewy black fruit ending with very firm tannins.
Chateau Pichon Baron: Opaque medium red, brick rim, spicy dark chocolate on the nose, juicy dark fruit with chocolate notes, moderate tannins and acidity.
Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande: Clear medium red, dusty red fruit on the nose, juicy black licorice fruit, silky tannins, long finish.
Pomerol
Chateau Clinet: Clear medium brick, dusty stone and white pepper on the nose, juicy red fruit with silky tannins and moderate acids.
Chateau Gazin: Opaque dark red, purple rim, crushed red fruit and green herbs on the nose, very tight.
Chateau Rouget: Opaque dark purple, closed nose of dark fruit, sweet tar and cigarette smoke, juicy black licorice ending fruit with firm but silky tannins.
Saint-Emilion
Chateau Canon: Opaque dark purple, closed nose of sweet red fruit, juicy red fruit with moderate, crisp tannins.
Chateau Canon-La-Gaffeliere: Clear medium red, dusty, dirty nose, juicy red fruit with dark chocolate notes ending with moderate tannins and acid.
Clos Fourtet: Opaque medium purple, purple rim, crushed black fruit on the nose, juicy red fruit with silky tannins.
Chateau Franc Mayne: Clear medium red, dirty, stinky nose, chewy red fruit, silky, juicy tannins with some bitter almond notes on the finish, well balanced.
Haut-Medoc
Chateau de Camensac: Opaque dark red, purple rim, sweet tar and dirt on the nose, chewy, tarry fruit with silky tannins and moderate to low acidity.
Chateau Beaumont: Opaque dark red, purple rim, closed nose of sweet spice, chewy black fruit with barnyard notes, firm tannins.
Chateau Coufran: Clear medium to dark red, closed nose, chewy with bitter almond notes, tannic.
Pessac-Leognan
Domaine de Chevalier: Opaque dark red, roast nuts and violet on the nose, very tight and tannic at this point.
Chateau Haut-Bailly: Clear medium red, barnyard notes on the nose, juicy with lip smacking tannins.
Chateau Pape Clement: Opaque medium red, purple rim, spicy toast on the nose, juicy red fruit ending with crisp acids.
Margaux
Chateau Kirwan: Clear medium red, crushed red fruit on the nose, juicy with bitter cherry notes on the firm tannins.
Chateau Prieure-Lichine: Clear medium brick, tarry dirt on the nose, chewy red leather fruit with dark chocolate notes ending with moderate tannins and acids.
Sauternes & Barsac
From what I sampled, 2022 seems like a good year for the botrytis wines, most were nicely balanced.
| Chateau Bastor-Lamontagne | Chateau Doisy Daene |
| Chateau Doisy-Vedrines | Chateau Guiraud |
| Chateau Suduiraut |
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