2006 Estate Cuvee

I opened a bottle to write tasting notes, the first of the 2006 Bordeaux reds to be released onto the market, and as 2006 saw a major shift in winemaking techniques, I wasn't sure what to expect.

It is one of the 'Pegase Circle' wines, i.e. a wine made for our 5,000-member wine club, which gives us a lot of flexibility to make interesting blends at a commercial volume. The Estate Cuvee (originally called Claret, but the Bordelaise have objected to that word) was intended to represent the Clos Pegase Estate plantings, with the acreage planted being translated into the percentage of the blend . Over the years we tinkered with it somewhat: in a year when we had a really light Merlot crop (2003), it seemed appropriate to have more Cabernet Sauvignon for that year, so we blended the actual volume produced rather than the acreage planted. The second variant came when we started exploring the various Bordeaux regions, and how the different varieties thrived, and thus were planted in different proportions. Our 2006 Estate Cuvee was based on the plantings of Pessac-Leognan, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Franc.

Last month in the cellar we were bench-testing trial blends of the 2007 wine, so reviewing the 2006 seems appropriate. What is it then? Plenty of Cabernet Sauvignon notes with cassis, tobacco and forest-floor aromas (not Brettanomyces, but an earthy and brushy character), but there are Merlot notes of red currants. Without doubt the Franc influences those brushy and tobacco notes, and also livens up the red fruit tones. The palate is more Merlot-oriented with linear tannins (as opposed to the massive and dense tannins from Cabernet Sauvignon, or the snappy, vibrant Cabernet Franc tannins).

More important is how does it differ from the previous vintages, and how can we allocate the differences? The vineyard source was the same, but we changed the entire fermentation and racking process. The vintage is also, obviously, very different, and then we went and finished the bottle with a Stelvin screw top, which makes the wine taste much fresher at this point, one year after bottling. On balance, I think the changes to our practices made the biggest difference, and the wine is even more lush than previous vintages. I say this also in light of the 2007 wines - bigger and more luscious again. I'll speak more about the differences in the techniques as time goes by.