On Saturday we ate with friends who kindly decided that it was time to try the first bottles of some 2005 Claret. The wines tasted were:

• Le Grand Chai 2005 AOC Bordeaux - A good "ordinary" claret nice balance, good fruit, mainly blackcurrant and a touch of raisins. Quite simple, but very easy to drink
• Chateau de Cazenove 2005 AOC Bordeaux Superieur - A bit more about this wine, good tannins, nice fruit, if a little undefined, touch of spice beginning to come throught, oak beginning to integrate, good length. Overall will improve a little more with say 18-24 months aging. A pleasant drink
• Chateau Cissac 2005, AOC Medoc - One of the Cru Bourgeois and it shows. A real step up in class. Tight, ripe fruit - cassis, plum and a touch of dark cherry. Interesting spice beginning to develop. Plenty of lovely tannins that are still ripe, taught and fairly young, giving good structure to the wine. Nice complexity and good balance. Still very young, will be a number of years yet until it reaches peak, and then it will stay at peak for a fair while. I look forward to trying it again.

The conclusion from this limited snapshot was that the Petit Chateaux wines are at or near their best, but that better wines still need plenty of time. CIssac is not one of the trail blazing Cru Bourgeois, but it is consistently reliable and usually a good solid claret. This tasting did not challenge that impression.

As I drink the wines of Languedoc a lot, it was good to try something a bit different.