What : Something Very Special - SGC Wines Frédéric Anton 2009 Would you believe this is my 300th post? It seemed only appropriate to open something very special indeed. You may not have heard of SGC and their mission, but believe me they will be on your radar soon enough. A little bit of background first - in short, they are ambitiously looking to build a new 1st growth in Bordeaux. How, I hear you ask. Start by spending 8 years sourcing independently owned vineyards with the same terroir as those of the 1st growths. Next recruit a crack team of wine professionals for the viticulture. Hire a wine hero (Gerard Basset, OBE, MW, MBA, World Champion Sommelier, Decanter Man of the year, WSET president…) and then produce just 40k bottles. Then you need to appointed to join the club to be eligible to buy a bottle and approved by the board. So, exclusive as it comes... The wines aren’t cheap. This was as tasted sourced at £209 ($320) per bottle, but I’m told the secondary values are considerably more at present. Fortunately for me, this was a very generous award at a presentation. So, without further ado, onto the tasting. Bottle is lavishly finished. Great weight and texture to the labelling with details. Colour in the decanter is a dark cassis with intensely focused colours. Nose was cabernet dominated - hints of blueberry and blackcurrant. Body is opulent, layered and textured. A lot of tannin and well structured to age from here. Finish is powerful and long in duration. Young, but deeply impressive. I couldn’t put it better than Jancis herself, who rated it better than a Latour 2006 tasted at the same time... Hope you all are enjoying these little updates, and cheers to the next 300! Best, Andrew aka Mr Tipple. #TryTipple (at Belgrave Road)
