Alexandre et Guillaume Thienpont with Jamie. (Vieux Chateau Certan)
Day 3
Our third day of the 2018 En Primeur campaign began with a leisurely 9am start for our first stop of the day at Canon La Gaffelière, where we also tasted Silvio Denz wines including the popular Cap de Faugeres. To our delight, Chateau Canon was firing once again with wonderful density and purity. Without doubt it will be a direct hit to all those who taste! From Canon we had a short trip across the plateau to taste Chateau Figeac’s Cabernet dominated right bank wine. A flirtatious and voluptuous Figeac got the thumbs up from our International Tasting Team (including French, Dutch and American buyers).
Back across St Emilion for the Pavie parade. Big and robust wines from this stable that were less austere than expected. Vieux Chateau Certan (VCC) was next and Guillame, Alexander’s son, talked us through the vintage. He finds similarities to the 2015 vintage in terms of the weather, however, it’s the contribution of Cabernet Franc (30%) in the blend, which makes it a truly unique vintage.
Next we headed to the UGC Pomerol tasting at Chateau Beauregard. Clinet, Gazin, Petit Village and Rouget were amongst our standout wines. A quick stop for lunch before we raced to Fleur de Bouard in Lalande de Pomerol to taste Chateau Montlabert as Hubert de Bouard is consultant. With a spare 20 minutes before Cheval Blanc we popped in to Clos de Jacobins for the St Emilion Grand Cru tasting.
At Cheval Blanc we tasted the very popular Quinault l’Enclos, which offered plenty of concentration and density with superb balance. One to watch on the releases, as depending on price, this is likely to be one of our Star Buys. Cheval Blanc was absolutely superb and claims the yellow jersey from Tertre Roteboeuf yesterday. It is probably the best Cheval Blanc I have tasted from barrel in the last 10 years!
A short drive to La Conseillante in Pomerol where the sun made an appearance not just in the sky, but also in their wines. One comment from the winemaking team summed it up perfectly .. “rarely have the wines been so immediately powerful and charming… and therefore the wines needed great delicateness in the cellars”.
Angelus is a wine that often displays its owner’s character; generous, super-charged and the centre of attention. However, we found it remarkably composed with their complete focus towards balance and harmony. A change of tact (in our opinion a welcome one) and another impressive right bank wine. From Angelus we had just enough time to go back and complete the wines we initially missed earlier at the Clos des Jacobins tasting. A couple of favourites were Saint George Cotes de Pavie, La Couspaude, La Fonroque and La Fleur Cardinale.
On to Chateau Lafite’s right bank property, Chateau L’Evangile. A seriously dense, broody wine, however, the 2018 offers wonderful balance and elegance, without losing any of the power we expect; big smiles all round from our team.
With a spare 20 minutes before our 4:45pm appointment at Chateau Nénin, we popped into the Michel Rolland’s consultancy tasting to try a very attractive La Dominique which neighbours Cheval Blanc. Chateau Nénin is all about purity and balance, music to my ears, as for me it’s all about the balance. Well done and fingers crossed they’ve had the same approach with Léoville Las Cases and Potensac.
From Nénin, our final appointment of the day was the UGC tasting at Chateau Larmande, where Cap de Moulin was a pleasant surprise.
Tomorrow we have an early start with a long drive up the Left Bank to the Northern Médoc for our breakfast tasting with Laurent Dufau of Calon Ségur....
