Once again we made our way through Bordeaux, France by way of the Union des Grands Crus (UGC) de Bordeaux tasting in LA. This year the only difference was that I could visualize the wineries by memory having had a brief visit to Bordeaux last summer. I think, having seen just a handful of these wineries myself, it made the tasting that much more magical.

(From Our Bordeaux Visit:Wine 101ers Dream Part I: Visiting Bordeaux’s Château Le Grand Verdus and Château Petit Village, Wine 101ers Dream Visiting Bordeaux Part II: Château De Sales, Wine 101ers Dream Part III: Visiting Bordeaux’s Château Leoville Poyferre and Wine 101ers Dream Part IV: Visiting Bordeaux’s Château Pichon Baron.)

This year Eddie and I attended the trade/press afternoon portion of the event at the Fairmont Miramar
hotel in Santa Monica, the public event would be held that same evening at the Santa Monica Airport’s Museum of Flying.

Bushman Takeaways

Stateside Bordeaux fans have a tendency, in my opinion, to generalize the entirety of a young vintage year from Bordeaux as either a good one or a bad one.

I simply can’t imagine how, logically, one could say, hey Napa year 2000/whatever was a bad year across the board. Bordeaux, like Napa, is an uber-large area with different terroir (soils, winemakers, weather, valleys and grapes) that make each unique.

There is no way I could ever say an entire area produced a not-so-great vintage year, what I will say, again in my own opinion, is not to listen to the fans/experts but to be guided by your own palate and budget.

So, without further adieu, our favorites are underlined in bold below and an under 2-minute YouTube slide show can be seen here.

Wine List at Press Time

Chateau Angludet
Chateau Bastor-Lamontagne
Chateau Beaumont
Chateau Beauregard
Chateau Beychevelle
Chateau Branaire-Ducru
Chateau Brane-Cantenac
Chateau Canon
Chateau Canon-La-Gaffeliere
Chateau Cantemerle
Chateau Cantenac Brown
Chateau Carbonnieux
Chateau Chasse-Spleen
Domaine de Chevalier
Chateau Citran
Chateau Clarkegaf
Chateau Clerc Milon
Chateau Clinet
Chateau Coufran
Chateau Coutet
Chateau d’Armailhac
Chateau Dassault
Chateau Dauzac
Chateau de Camensac
Chateau de Chantegrive
Chateau de Fargues
Chateau de Fieuzal

Chateau de France
Chateau de Lamarque
Chateau de Pez
Chateau de Rayne Vigneau
Chateau Doisy Daene
Chateau du Tertre
Chateau Fourcas Hosten
Chateau Gazin
Chateau Giscours
Chateau Gloria
Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Chateau Grand-Puy-Ducasse
Chateau Gruaud Larose
Chateau Guiraud
Clos Haut-Peyraguey
Chateau Kirwan
Chateau La Cabanne
Chateau La Couspaude
Chateau La Dominique
Chateau La Lagune
Chateau La Louviere
Chateau La Pointe
Chateau La Tour Blanche
Chateau La Tour Carnet
Chateau La Tour de By
Chateau Lafaurie-Peyraguey
Chateau Lafon-Rochet

Chateau Lagrange
Chateau Langoa Barton
Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion
Chateau Lascombes
Chateau Latour-Martillac
Chateau Le Bon Pasteur
Chateau Leoville Barton
Chateau Leoville Poyferre
Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion
Chateau Lynch-Bages
Chateau Lynch-Moussas
Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere
Chateau Malescot Saint-Exupery
Chateau Marquis de Terme
Chateau Maucaillou
Chateau Olivier
Chateau Ormes de Pez
Chateau Pape Clement
Chateau Phelan Segur
Chateau Pichon Longueville Baron
Chateau Prieure-Lichine
Chateau Rauzan-Segla
Chateau Saint-Pierre
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte
Chateau Suduiraut
Chateau Talbot
Chateau Troplong Mondot
Chateau Villemaurine

Eve’s Wine 101 Event Picks: Garagiste Southern Exposure 2/13-14, American Wine Specialist course Feb 2016 (this is the one you can take with me, so let me know if you signed up: Eve@EveWine101.com), LA Essentials 2/20, Paso Robles Distillery Trail presents Fire and Ice 2/27, Food Fare 3/3, Taste of Solvang 3/16-20 and Paso Zin Weekend 3/18-20.

Eve Bushman has been reading, writing, taking coursework and tasting wine for over 20 years.  She has obtained a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, has been the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video, authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and recently served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits that may be answered in a future column. You can also seek her marketing advice via Eve@EveBushmanConsulting.com