Wine Club – Bonus Tasting – Chateau Margaux

Usually when we have Wine Club, we buy a case between the 11 of us and split the 12th bottle. This means everyone has a bottle to take home. The wines range in price between $13 and $30. As I collect $25 per month for six months from everyone this means there is left over money at the end of the six months. This left over money is used for a bonus tasting. For the bonus tastings there is no take home bottle so price point per bottle is much higher than our normal ones.

"2005 vs. 2006"

I picked up a bottle of 2005 Chateau Margaux Pavillon Rouge the last time I was down in New York state for $139 US (about $220 CDN after duty) from the Premier Group with the idea that it would be a good bottle for the bonus tasting. 2005 was supposed to be an exceptional year for Bordeaux wines. The prices were extremely inflated for 2005 due to this quality. I hadn’t tried any of the 2005’s yet so trying the second level wine from a from a first growth like Margaux was something I was looking forward to.

We had quite a bit of left over money and even after taking out the funds for the 2005 Pavillon Rouge there was still just shy of $100 left. I did a quick search of the LCBO’s inventory and found they had the 2006 Pavillon Rouge in stock. I picked it up as I thought it would be fun to try the 2005 vs. the 2006. I want to see if everyone could notice the difference between the two wines.

Here is the LCBO information on the wine –

Chateau Margaux Pavillon Rouge 2006

LCBO Vintages# 565127
750 mL bottle
Price: $ 89.00
Wine, Red Wine
13.0% Alcohol/Vol.
Sugar Content : XD
Made in: Bordeaux, France
By: Maison Descaves
Release Date: Dec 5, 2009

Tasting Note - Deep colour, viery ripe 40% Merlot balanced by 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc to add density and grip, a beautifully fresh wine compared by [winemaker] Paul Pontallier to 2003 and 1995. [Best] 2012-20. Score - 4 Stars (out of 5). (Steven Spurrier, Decanter, April 2007)

Ideally I would like to pair both of these wines with grilled beef tenderloin but as our work kitchen has no grill this wasn’t possible. I ended pairing the wines with Lindt dark chocolate instead.

Pouring out both wines you could immediately see the difference between them, the 2005 was more concentrated and opaque whereas the 2006 was much thinner sort of like a pinot noir can be though not quite that thin. Nosing the wines was interesting as well both had aroma of cassis, green pepper and lead pencil shavings but in different amounts. The 2005 cassis and green pepper were dominate with the lead pencil shavings in the background. For the 2006 the lead pencil shavings dominated, then green pepper and finally a hint of cassis in the background.

Tasting the two wines there were noticeable differences as well. The tannin on the 2006 was quite harsh and threw the balance of the wine off. There wasn’t much fruit to be found on the 2006 either. The 2005 on the other hand was beautifully balanced and the fruit was much nicer on it as well. Trying the wines with dark chocolate, there was more of a dramatic difference with the 2006 as the dark chocolate helped soften the tannin it became a much easier drinking wine. The 2005 was good with the chocolate but I think I enjoyed it just as much on its own.

As I sat there nibbling on chocolate and sipping both of the wines I found myself wishing for a beef tenderloin as there is no doubt in my mind that both would be great with a nice medium rare tenderloin.

Asking around the different Wine Club members on their opinions, most liked the 2005 quite a bit more than the 2006 but wasn’t sure it was worth quite the premium in price ($220 vs. $90). The important thing was everyone easily identified which was the 2005, even though the tasting was blind.

Next month’s Wine Club we start a new session and look at the rare and exotic grape known as “Chardonnay”.

Cheers!

Mark