Union Des Grand Crus De Bordeaux Wine Tasting NYC

 I went to a wine tasting in NYC on January 22 sponsored by Sotheby's and organized by the Union Des Grand Crus D Bordeaux.https://www.ugcb.net/en/home  The Union does a North American tasting tour every year for a week. The tasting was for 2021 Bordeaux wines. About 90 Chateaus were represented. I tasted about 40 wines. The Union represents most of the major Bordeaux wineries. While they represent most of the first growths there were no first growths in the tasting.

The event was in Cipriani's event space on 42nd street across from Grand Central. It was well organized and entry was easy, I had purchased a ticket in advance at the last minute price of  $125. Prices had started at $85. The tasting was open for 2.5 hours,  plenty of time to taste whatever you wanted. There was easy coat checking and a small area for some cheese and crackers  and Champagne by Ayala. There was also a blind tasting table to try to identify a red and white wine.

The main room was nicely laid out by appellation. You took a glass upon entry to the room and went up to the winery reps to have a taste. Everyone was very polite. There were tables with water and 2 buckets for spitting or dumping wine.

2021 was not a great vintage in Bordeaux but many wines have been well rated by the critics. Bordeaux wines are some of the most rated wines in the world. Every top critic rates them so information on the wines is abundant. The critics I trust the most are Neal Martin and Antonio Galloni at Vinous, Jeb Dunnuck at his own site, and the Wine Spectator. Neal Martin is my favorite and probably the toughest scorer.

The room was daunting with so many choices but I jumped right in. You could go back as many times as you wanted to so I checked some of my early tasted later in the night. The 2021 wine are on the light side and have some of the lowest ABV levels for Bordeaux in a number of years. The significance of abv levels in wine are a bit controversial -some people just rate the wine- but I find a big difference between a 12% abv Champagne and a 15.5% abv CDP. Do the math -one wine has 25% more alcohol than the other. 

The 2021 wines that I tasted were between 13% and 14% abv. They were earthy and the better ones had smooth tannins, good fruit and complex flavors. Thinking about the wines I was really impressed by the drinkability of the wines and my palate did not get fatigued during the night, just overwhelmed. Obviously my tastings were not blind as I knew the wine that I was drinking.

My favorite wines by appellation were:

Pessac-Leognan

• Chateau Pape Clement
• Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte
• Domaine De Chevalier

St Emilion Grand Cru

• Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere
• Chateau La Dominique
• Chateau Valandraud - my favorite

Pomerol

• Chateau Clinet
• Chateau Bon Pasteur

Margaux

• Chateau Kirwan
• Chateau Lascombes
• Chateau Malescot St Exubery
• Chateau Marquis De Termes
• Chateau Rauzan Segla

Saint Julien

• Chateau Beychelle
• Chateau Gloria
• Chateau La Grange
• Chateau Leoville Barton
• Chateau Leoville Poyferre
• Chateau Talbot

Pauillac

• Chateau Grand Puy Ducasse
• Chateau Lynch Bages

St Estephe

• Chateau Ormes De Pez - A really good value
• Chateau Phelan Segur - My other favorite and a good value

The wines will be generally available later in the year. I am looking into the availability of specific wines now. I am very enthusiastic about the 2021 wines as I think that they will be wines that are very food friendly and that have lots of character. The trend towards bigger fruitier wines does not thrill me. For example the Valandraud has been up to 15.5% abv in recent years but in 2021 it is 14%. All in all it was a fun and instructive night.