Bordeaux 2006 Live Report 13

First stop was First Growth Ch. Haut-Brion and La Mission Haut-Brion where we had an audience with the very dapper Prince Robert of Luxembourg, and of course his half-decent wines.

News had come through in the week that La Tour Haut Brion had been discontinued as a separate label and its grapes would hereafter go into La Chapelle de la Mission Haut-Brion and maybe, when the vines were old enough, La Mission itself. Given that it combined two First Growth names, wasn't an actual château and until La Chapelle came on the scene in 1991 was the de facto Second Wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, you could see why it was considered a bit confusing. All the same, it was sad to see it bite the dust.

Clearly we had had a bit too much foie gras this week as the lift refused to take us up to the tasting room on the second floor. The exercise taking the stairs did us good but it was nice to have a sit down and a glass of wine when we got there. It had gone 8.30am after all.

In 2005 we were split, but this year there was no dispute. As far as the reds went La Mission Haut Brion was the star of the show here. It had an incredible depth and focus; it was huge and yet the intoxicating blackberry and plum fruit danced across the palate with some delicacy; and the finish was as good as any we had seen outside of the Latour tasting room. The Haut Brion was a taut, brooding mass of seriously intense ripe damson fruit with earthy mineral hints. It was very good but just lacked that touch of magic you expect from the First Growths, at this stage anyway.

Conversely the rich, stylish second wine of Haut Brion, Le Bahans de Haut Brion, was clearly better than the refined but slightly tannic Chapelle de la Mission Haut-Brion. There was another battle royal with the dry whites, which are produced in such tiny quantities that they will doubtless be as impossible to find in 2006 as in previous years. Perhaps even more so given the quality of the vintage for dry white Bordeaux in 2006.

The Ch. Haut Brion Blanc had enormous depth and restraint; it was a rich, cerebral wine with incredible creamy tropical minerality. But the general consensus was that the Ch. Laville Haut Brion just shaded it - it was a stunning wine, just so expressive and complex, more feminine, and with mouthwatering acidity and cool creamy pineapple and grapefruit flavours of amazing purity and intensity.

Robert of Luxembourg seemed unconcerned about the furore over prices for the 2006 vintage. `The world is a big place' he smiled. And with that, we exited stage left.

Domaine de Chevalier tends to be a bit of tough sell, probably because it is not from a sexy appellation, and also because it does not have château in its name. Marketing eh? This is a shame because owner Olivier Bernard has built up a rather special estate here. His attitude to nature and wine, working the soil naturally and respecting the terroir and the style of the vintage, makes him a Burgundian at heart, according to Jasper Morris MW, which is praise indeed. And the wines are as good value as any in the region.

2006 was a Cabernet vintage in Pessac, according to Olivier, with the Merlot good but not fantastic. This has made the 2006 red more structured than usual. Olivier emphasised their determination not to over extract as the vintage didn't suit it - those that did ended up with dry tannins and poor wines, and there were plenty of examples in 2006.

Olivier's 2006 red is not as voluptuous as in recent years, but it has wonderful harmony and structure, an exotic nose, and a lovely concentration of minerally cassis fruit. It may not quite reach the dizzy heights of the 2005 but it should hopefully turn out to be every bit as good as their exceptional 2004.

The more dry whites we taste the more impressed we are - and here we have found the white wine of the vintage, without a shadow of doubt. Domaine de Chevalier's 2006 blanc is marked by a wonderful acidity and harmony, and shows more elegance than Laville Haut Brion although it is less exuberant. White peach, passion fruit, citrus and cream all combine in a glorious, pure racy style, while the minerality is reminiscent of Burgundy's superstars Coche-Dury and Leflaive.

Olivier said that climate conditions were pretty perfect for the whites; they were not only picked before the rain in early September but gained richness from the hot July and fresh acidity from the cool August. Domaine de Chevalier's 2004 especially and also the 2005 are so good that you would probably have to drink a bottle of each before deciding which was best - but you know, it's a dirty job but…..

We had only heard of Smith Haut Lafitte by reputation as Bordeaux's ultimate destination, so it was good to set foot there for the first time. With its 14th century buildings, it is like a luxurious medieval village, with the charismatic owners Daniel and Florence Cathiard (see left) as King and Queen.

Along with their daughter, the Cathiards have worked tirelessly to establish not only the wine but also a hotel, restaurant and health spa here. Looking for somewhere to wallow in grape skins? Smith Haut Lafitte is your place. The sculpture of a large iron rabbit leaping across the vines was a touch reminiscent of Ducru - if nothing else it proved that bunny art is definitely in fashion in Bordeaux at the moment. Doubtless, soon every estate will have one.

Smith Haut Lafitte's reds are made in a flashy modern style - not unlike Daniel Cathiard's doubtless very expensive gold belt. But they are none the worse for that. This had a rich spicy chocolatey nose with a black forest gateau palate, good concentration and a very very long finish. If we had one criticism it would be a slight lack of elegance and finesse, but nevertheless this was very impressive indeed.

Winemaker Fabien Teitgel, who is an extremely nice understated (not an adjective likely to get used terribly often here) chap - has done even better with Smith Haut Lafitte's white. The 2006 is excellent - not quite at the level of Domaine de Chevalier perhaps, but nevertheless it has racy tropical and citrus fruit, wonderful vigour and a lovely minerality and purity. It is quite flashy again, but in a much classier way.

And so we were back with Véronique Sanders in glorious warm sunshine at Ch. Haut Bailly, with whom we had started our week on Sunday at her husband Alexander Van Beek's château, Du Tertre. It is always interesting to revisit a wine once you have the experience of having tasted everything else.

If anything, Véronique's 2006 was even better than we remembered it. With its rich and wonderfully fragrant nose, precise yet sumptuous raspberry and cream fruit, incredibly silky texture and long pure finish, this is one of the very best wines of the vintage. The wood tannins may have come out a little on the finish and the it may not have quite as much flesh and opulence, nor be quite as good, as the 2005, but this is being picky picky picky; Haut Bailly's 2006 is a glorious wine.

When Véronique calls 2006 a great terroir vintage, she is not wrong. The 2006s have been, for better or for worse, wines that are classically true to their terroir. This has been a really difficult, but incredibly fascinating, week - the low point was finding so few decent wines, and so many bad ones, when we tasted through about 100 châteaux on Monday. Wednesday onwards was much more encouraging, however, and it was great to see so many of our favourite estates really coming good in 2006.

The Podcasks have been fun too - and a big thank you to everyone who has participated. We hope you've had a listen. Yes, we would have liked the producers to slag off their neighbours and demand that prices be slashed from 2005 levels. It seemed odd too that no one had really tasted any other 2006s other than their own or given the slightest thought to pricing. But Bordeaux is politics (actually often more political than politics!) so in the circumstances they were as open and forthcoming as they could be. And they didn't assassinate Simon Staples either. Which was nice.

Let's hope the Bordelais are sensible about prices in the coming weeks, as this will be the key to the 2006 En primeur campaign now that we know that 2006 is neither a wonderful vintage nor a complete dog of a year. We hope that rumours of price rises over and above the 2005s from some top châteaux - particularly those owned by rich individuals - are false and that commonsense prevails, for everyone's benefit.

I hope you've enjoyed the 2006 Bordeaux blog as much as I have and look forward to what should be an intriguing En Primeur campaign over the next couple of months.