Lagrange (St Julien) 2009

Tasted blind. Dark crimson. Weak rim. Sweet tea leaves on the nose. Lovely sweet palate entry and real freshness. This wine really seems to have what it takes. Pretty ripe for a St-Julien! Persistent.Drink 2021-2039

One of the more backward, tight wines in this retrospective, the 2009 Château Lagrange needs lots of air to show at its best, yet still holds things close to its vest. A youthful ruby color is followed by beautiful and classic Bordeaux notes of crème de cassis, cedar pencil, unsmoked tobacco, and a touch of earth. It's not massive by any means, yet it's beautifully balanced, with ripe, polished tannins and a great finish. With a Château Lafite-like elegance and seamlessness, it will be loved by the Claret lovers out there and is certainly a beautiful wine. It should evolve for another 20-30 years.

Black red, concentrated and smoky blackcurrant fruit with a little herby lift, very good firm fruit, still quite tight, but concentration and balance assure a good future. Drink 2015-28.

Lovely ripe cassis character, fullish body and elegant tannins make this an easy 2009 to enjoy in spite of the wine's ample structure. Drink now. (Horizontal Tasting, London, 2019)

The 2009 Lagrange has a very fine bouquet, one of the more complex offering from the appellation, with blackberry, loam, truffle and leather aromas. I love the cohesion here. The palate is very well balanced with plenty of freshness, a killer line of acidity and wonderful precision towards the finish. I have liked this Lagrange from day one and now at 10 years it remains perhaps the most underrated cru within Saint-Julien. This is possibly the best bottle that I have encountered. 2022 - 2045

Tasted at the château for a 30-year vertical tasting. The 2009 Lagrange is a blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot, the Petit Verdot blended into the second wine. It was the first year when an optical sorting machine was used (another to keep it company two years later.) It has a very perfumed and complex bouquet with marmalade-tinged red fruit, cedar and touches of tobacco. It is very controlled, perhaps deceptively so. The palate is medium-bodied with supple, ripe and succulent tannins on the entry, counterbalanced by well-judged acidity and a gorgeous, irresistible, sensual finish that washes serenely across the mouth. Is it the best Lagrange to date? Quite possibly. Drink 2016-2035. Tasted March 2014.

Served blind at the Southwold 2009 tasting. The Lagrange '09 has a more rounded, fruit-driven bouquet with macerated dark cherries, blackberry and boysenberry. It coalesces nicely in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet core of saline black fruit. Expressive Merlot here, smooth in the mouth with a pleasing, caressing finish. This is a Lagrange that is biding its time. Tasted January 2013.

Tasted at the château and the UGC. A blend of 73% Cabernet Sauvignon and 27% Merlot (no Petit Verdot). A very deep, almost opaque garnet/purple colour. The nose has beautiful definition with scents of ripe blackberries, small black cherries, blueberry, a touch of mint and cedar. Very focused with the oak completely in synch with the fruit. Seamless tannins on the full-bodied palate, lively and animated, very taut, this is not the cashmere wine of Ducru for example, a little firmer in terms of the backbone, very well balanced, perhaps a little more masculine. Tightly coiled towards the espresso/minerally finish, really leaving a tingle of excitement on the tongue. Superb - real finesse in the wine, although that comes through leaving it for five minutes in the glass. The sample at the UGC showed more harmony and cohesion than the one at the château. Tasted March 2010.

Intense aromas of blackberry and smoke. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and long finish. Solid and tight. As it should be.

Dark crimson. Purple rim. Very sweet indeed on the nose - unusually so for St-Julien. Glamorous and luscious with a hint of ink and freshness. Lots to enjoy! The tannins are very well handled and it's pure pleasure. Maybe lacks just a hint of freshness. Date tasted 1st April 2010. Drink 2016-2028.