I started my tasting trail in Pauillac this year at Ch Lynch Bages. It's always quite a reverential moment receiving the first pours at the first Chateau & this iconic Pauillac suited that moment rather well. The Echo de Lynch Bages (second wine) was a lighter, rather joyful warm up act & the Lynch Bages itself displayed immediate class  length. and mouthfeel. The nose was a touch muted & it didn't quite have the revved up, super lush feel of the 09 or the big tannic structure of the 10. It was somewhat apparent that we were dealing with something lighter, mid term as opposed to long term, but still of high quality. 71% Cab Sav & I kind of got the impression they wished they had more Merlot to play with. Jean Charles Cazes relayed that it's very difficult to compare it to another vintage but, if pressed (he was!), he would perhaps put the 98 closest, maybe 01 too. As with last year, the Blanc de Lynch Bages was a delicious wine to behold...very tropical & balanced mix of Sav, Sem & Muscadelle. I loved it & the dry whites continued to crowd please all week. The Ch Lafite Rothschild stable edged further ahead. I always come out of there thinking that their reputation at the top of the tree is still deserved in terms of the wine alone...there's always a wow factor regardless of vintage variation. Of course they have the considerable wherewithal to make draconian selections & interactions wherever required - by human or the latest machine. The investment price of Lafite may have taken a hefty knock in recent times, but if you strip all that away, it's just fundamentally a lovely thing to engage with. The Carruades has a redfruit character (2012 in general displays more red fruit than usual I think) of raspberries/redcurrants but also blackberries & fresh flowers. Very pretty. The Duhart Milon is a touch lusher and possesses a restrained, gentle sweetness that the Lafite also shows. The Lafite just turns up the lush factor a notch & is wonderfully pure & perfectly balanced wine at this stage. It will probably be cheaper than normal to buy this year but it'll still be out of the price range for drinking, even special occasion drinking. That is a great shame of course...there was a time when I could have afforded to...shock horror...open a bottle of Lafite but, like most people, I got over that years ago! When it recently became not such a surefire investment either, I really did scratch my head! errr well what are supposed to do with it?? Still, these things are always cyclical & they have an opportunity to make a market when they set their EP price. It's a class wine but behind 09 & 10. Next up was the Mouton Rothschild stable which as usual was a gentler animal than Lafite. However, this is one year when I thought they needed a tiny bit more extraction for fear of becoming too light. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely wine with caressing tannin & well poised but unless it really went back to 2008 price levels (€110 to trade...no chance folks!) I think I'd want to taste it again later in it's life before committing to it. Of course we know the terroir is 100% proven as superb so we shouldn't worry too much! Weirdly the other Mouton wines like Clerc Milon & D'Armailhac I found more robust at this stage. The Clerc is the more powerful of the two... a bit more oak showing... & I'd buy either if well priced. We'll see...I must say that the general Pauillacs @ and below this level were not quite as fine this year so they will really need to be boldly priced to sell them through. The whole of the Medoc was a mixed bag with applaudable successes & rather thin failures - at all price levels & in all AC's. The best are really very good & ahead of 2011, though the 11's perhaps have more consistency. More than ever, it's worth getting a broad church of opinion before purchasing I think. But back in second growth land you're pretty assured to get something of quality & both the Pichons are good wines. Very juxtaposed this year...the Pichon Baron is somewhat more austere than the Pichon Lalande & made from 80% Cab Sav. I started to realise at this point that well ripened Merlot really was a much desired commodity on the left bank & those that had a bit more to play with...like Pichon Lalande...were able to turn out more attractive wines with that kind of creamy mid palate. Of course the team at Pichon Baron had still managed to work their Cabenet into a formidable wine but it was bettered by it's neighbour IMO. Funnily enough, as PBaron also own Ch Petit Village in Pomerol, I was able to get my first taste of the right bank while I was there. I was considerably more wowed by that & it's second wine "Jardin de Petit Village" & stronger clues as to state of the vintage started to formulate. But more of that later. My favourite Pauillac, that I could possibly still drink one day, was by far the Pontet Canet. Against the grain, this was stuffed full of Cabernet but was absolutely gorgeous. Mr Tesseron has been on an (organic) roll for some years now & he really seems to be able to conjour up greatness with every attempt. Interesting he doesn't always opt too for oaking accross the board & uses his concrete pod tanks a fair amount, moves stuff around & experiments. Referring to the fruit he said to me 'when you have a beautiful face, why add lots of make up?" Well indeed. This wine has wonderful length, aromas of young, fresh dark fruits & wet stones/fresh laundry/hoi sin. I'll be scrabbling around for extra allocation as per usual no doubt!

And now North to St Estephe. At Ch Montrose we were greeted by the chap who usually greats us at Mouton Rothschild, where as at Pichon Lalande it was the usual Montrose chap...errrr...plenty of Bordeaux musical chairs & I certainly think Nicolas has made a decent start at PLalande. As for Montrose I was impressed but not in a... "i must have this now" way impressed. It's quite silky with sweet glycerin & cassis hit and I liked it well enough. Montrose in lesser vintages has proved itself over & over. The 04 is absolutely fantastic! The 07 I intend to buy...soon! The Grand Vin will also be a nice drinker but I wasn't so taken with the second wine or Tronquoy Lalande (same stable) this year. Tronquoy is decent enough though, and a very good value St Estephe. Quite good to follow. Talking of those, like Pontet Canet, you can never seem to go wrong with Les Ormes de Pez. these days. This was absolutely terrific & it was obvious to me that it had be made for early, (ish) joyful drinking. It had a glint of the right bank about it. Fruit forward & glossy. It's already good value so I can't see them (being able to) lowering the price that much. Great stuff though. Elsewhere in St Estephe I would look to Phelan Segur who have turned out a nice damsony, juicy wine. Lafon Rochet was nice too but not particularly better than those mentioned & they lost my support a few years ago with pricing decisions. Maybe they will win me back? Lastly to the trendy, darkened, goth nightclub of a tasting room that is Cos D'Estournel. Again the second wine didn't impress here but the grand Vin was...long, cassisy, not OTT as they sometimes can be, just behind Montrose, they'll want too much money for it...never mind! The Blanc de Cos was another super Bdx Blanc...but they'll want too much money for it! Why buy this when Lynch Bages blanc is half the price & there are similar wines even cheaper than that if you know where to look? But maybe they'll wipe that cynicism off my face? Well, they won't ... but I'm not cynical about the greatness of the wines or estates....I really love these brands & I feel privileged to taste there. Just not the business decisions that end up attaching wines to a class structure. 

All in all I don't think St Estephe is the top dog of the Medoc this year...neither is Pauillac, but they have such lofty estates there it always give the AC a lift. Their are lots of producers that most probably struggled with the weather but it's not a wash out by any means. In years gone by it could have been just that but they work hard & expensively to make the magic happen. The top dogs yeild very low in modern vintages...esp in 2012. Choose carefully & many will come round to be very welcome table guests.