Mouton and Cheval top Martin’s ‘06 scores

Neal Martin’s 10-year retrospective report for the Bordeaux 2006 vintage has seen Mouton Rothschild and Cheval Blanc take the top scores.

Both classed growths were given 97-point ratings in The Wine Advocate with Martin writing the Pauillac first growth was “reminiscent of those ethereal wines baron Philippe de Rothschild oversaw during the 1950s”.

Scores were reasonably evenly split between the Left and Right Banks, Petrus, Vieux Château Certan, l’Eglise Clinet, Haut-Brion and Léoville Las Cases were all grouped together at 96-points and Lafite, Pavie, Yquem and Doisy Daëne’s l’Extravagant were all rated 95.

The wines were all tasted at BI’s annual 10 year retrospective tasting in London this spring* but whereas Latour was voted the ‘best’ wine of the horizontal overall, Martin scored it 94 praising it overall but adding he would have preferred a “little more persistence”, a “tad more conviction” and noting it didn’t “transcend” the vintage in the same way the 2002 Latour had managed.

Otherwise, his notes and scores were broadly in line with what others have said of the vintage.

He noted that it is a year with, “the unenviable task of following the feted 2005s” and produced wines “neither good nor indeed bad enough to ignite interest and fervour amongst wine cognoscenti.”

Although he noted the wines were somewhat more “foursquare” than other years he added that, “what they might lack in fruit intensity they compensate with freshness.”

Across the Left Bank he noted there were some “class acts” (Ducru Beaucaillou and Las Cases for example) and others that represent “great value” in the current market (Haut-Bailly, Lynch-Bages and Pape-Clément among them).

Montrose and Cos d’Estournel (86 and 91-points respectively) he considered somewhat disappointing and Margaux “frustratingly inconsistent”.

On the Right Bank he noted there were some “excellent” wines, with quality in Saint Emilion “a little more variable”.

He wrote: “It is not a vintage where everything performed to their best and some 2006s are totems of a period prior to improvement in winemaking technique or were just caught out by those September rains.”

This was also the first retrospective that included Sauternes, a tasting duty at The Wine Advocate that has been Martin’s for a number of years.

He reminded readers that like the reds being overshadowed by the 2005s, the 2006 Sauternes have ha to struggle in the shadow of the 2007s. Clearly some wines had been affected by the September rains he said but, “the best Sauternes 2006s are a real treat.”

The performance of the 2006s in the market has been looked at previously by Liv-ex, Martin reiterated the general theme that, “f you buy wine for profit, 2006 is not the one to go for.”

Nonetheless, if buying for pleasure it makes for a much better choice. He concluded: “While the likes of 2005, 2009 and 2010 are inevitably going to soar to rarefied heights, I foresee the 2006s cruising at a lower altitude and if prices continue to match that, then with careful selection you might be pleasantly surprised.

*with many of the wines re-tasted at Farr Vintners in April and at the châteaux during this year’s primeurs week.