Stephen Brook re-tastes the dry whites at the Union des Grands Crus tasting...

The great surprise of the tasting, writes Stephen Brook, was the quality of the dry white wines. When tasted en-primeur it was already clear it was a good year for whites, but the wines lacked some

When tasted again in February 2009, the wines had changed: they had taken on more weight and minerality, and had become interesting as well as good. Now, that evolution has gone further, and the minerality and extract are striking, and the Semillon component in many of these wines is emerging and giving them a nutty dimension.

The disappointing wines in the group do not lack fruit, but just seem heavy-handed.

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Stephen Brook
Stephen Brook

Stephen Brook has been a contributing editor to Decanter since 1996 and has won a clutch of awards for his writing on wine. The author of more than 30 books, his works include Complete Bordeaux, now the definitive study of the region and in its third edition, and The Wines of California, which won three awards. His most recently published book is The Wines of Austria. Brook also fully revised the last two editions of Hugh Johnson’s Wine Companion, and he writes for magazines in many countries.