Muhammad and the mountain? The primeur tastings in Bordeaux take place every year in early April. We have not been there this year but we did a mini-primeur tasting at home with one wine the other day. I tasted the wine blind. The colour was dark, really dark with a purple rim. The wine looked really young. It tasted like a Bordeaux so that was my guess, a young Bordeaux (well, to be honest, that was my second guess, my first was Cahors). That it was in fact a 2016, I could not imagine.
The wine was Château Bourdieu 2016 Absolu from Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux. A sample from each of the three grapes – Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec – had been taken from the oak barrels and blended more or less in the way it will be blended after the 18 months of ageing.
For such a young wine it was surprisingly drinkable. (You have to bear in mind of course that is has not yet spent its 18 months on oak.) The nose was intense, with dark, ripe fruit. In the mouth it was structured, with a good acidity and quite distinctive tannins, although not too rough. Already a delicious wine with complexity and a dense structure. Absolu is a new wine from Château Bourdieu made from the château’s best grapes. The intensity comes from long skin contact, five weeks. To preserve the elegance they do pigeage instead of remontage during the fermentation.
It will be interesting to taste it when – in the future – the final version is in bottle.
Read more: https://chateau-bourdieu.com/en/.
