We were at some booth or another at this year's Wine Fair when the owner of Chateau Hourtin-Ducasse (a cru bourgeois from St Saveur in the Haut-Medoc) who was passing by that booth invited us over for a tasting. He had three vintages on show: 2008, 2010 and 2011. Now the addition of 2009 would have made it a nice consecutive 4 year vertical. Even if one is unfamiliar with the chateau (as I was not), a lot can be gained from such a mini vertical tasting.
The basic elements common to all three vintages were that of a deep ruby wine with varying degrees of fruitiness on the nose and sweet fruit on the palate. A backbone of varying degrees of acidity and tannin gave support to these wines. The 2008 was going through a closed phase not only on the nose but a little on the palate too. The 2010 tasted rather unripe with leafy notes on the nose but with a degree of evolution in that there were meaty notes as well as white pepper. Strangely it was the most recent of the vintages, 2011, that seemed most balanced with fruity and meaty notes on the nose, a mix of sweet fruit and tannins on the palate and an acid backbone ending in a tannic finish.
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