It seems to me that the Brumont firm is dumbing down a lot of its range. A few years ago I attended a tasting of the Brumont range presented by a young man with a weird job title, sommelier commercial I think, and there were lots of wines there, some with the Madiran appellation, with large amounts of Merlot and/or Cabernet Sauvignon in them, which were certainly well made and approachable wines but with none of the rigour of the Madiran which I had learnt to love. I have recently seen in our local supermarket Madiran called Bouscassé with two slightly different labels at modest prices with a percentage of Tannat no more than the high 50s and have bought a couple of Montus '09 at Leclerc, which I may try in the near future to test again the new approach.
I have now drunk both the basic Bouscassé '08 and Montus '09 and this, though admittedly a small sample, seems to confirm the dumbing down or, at best, increasingly "international" approch.
2008 Château Bouscassé (Alain Brumont) Madiran - France, Southwest France, Madiran (5/18/2016)
Bouscassé has changed a lot since the late 80s and 90s, from which I owned bottles of VV from several vintages and a whole case of the basic '97. Compared with '97, two changes are visible before tasting, namely Tannat content down to 50% from 65% and alcohol up from 13% to 14%. The changes are also apparent on the nose and palate. Both vintages were medium/full bodied and full of lively acidity but there is more ample fresh primary red and dark fruit on the '08 and less minerality, tar and leather notes and tannic backbone. The '08 in its 8th year is undoubtedly more open and easier drinking than was the '97, a forward year for its decade, but I like my Madiran to be somewhat severe and challenging and in need of age. This is undoubtedly a clean and technically well made wine and good+ of its kind but I can't help feeling that there has been some dumbing down and loss of Madiran typicity in order to render the wine accessible sooner with possibly a sacrifice of ultimate potential.
2009 Château Montus Madiran - France, Southwest France, Madiran (8/10/2016)
My reaction to this Montus is very similar to that for its Bouscassé '08 stable mate. Indeed it is even richer, sweeter, more fruit forward and more alcoholic (15%!!). Full bodied, dark coloured, rich, deep, spicy, slightly chocolatey, softly tannic and quite long and has managed gracefully the feat of ageing in 80% new wood without disfigurement from strong notes of vanilla and dry caramel and of balancing high alcohol without a lot of burn. So in all an impressive and accomplished wine but where has gone the Madiran from as recently as the '90s with its brooding earthiness, leather, minerality and distinguished austerity?
Posted from CellarTracker
I have seen the theory, with reference to Rioja, that the taste of the "modern" style with age increasingly converges with that of the "traditional" style and maybe this will occur with these two wines too. Even in the '90s, Brumont was not shy in using new oak and most have aged beautifully. And perhaps his more up-market cuvées are less "modern"; the last Prestige I have tried was '99.
Are there some insights on this around here?
. Does not surprise me in a way.