A hectic day full of highlights, so here goes part 1. The day was always going to start well with our first visit scheduled at Mouton Rothschild. It was lovely to catch up with Erwan again and delightful to have a ‘behind the scenes’ look at the winery and the art collection. They now have the originals of all of the labels there, including the Picasso that appeared on the ‘73 label when Mouton was elevated from second to first growth. One of only three changes to the 1855 classification ever made. The Rothschild stable of wines were superb; Clerc Milon was a highlight, it is so voluptuous and simply gorgeous, for such a young wine, super impressive. Mouton itself is very concentrated; as it usually does, it is very showy young, a very fine Mouton.
Our next stop was at Montrose, definitely a high point of the day and of the vintage. Château Montrose is an excellent wine, aromatically dense with black fruits and an intense nose, it is so specific and grabs your attention in full. Next up was Château Latour; whilst Latour don’t release their wines for En Primeur sale, they do show their wines as primeurs. It does strike me as a little odd, in the way they make the most of all the visitors and the En Primeur season, then don’t release. What was interesting is that they showed Pauillac 2011, Les Forts de Latour 2008 and Latour 2003, all the current release from Latour. These were presented alongside the 2014 En Primeur wines. The Pauillac 2011 showed just how delightful and approachable that vintage is from a top producer. Three visits down and what a way to start the day – superb.