We had an early start leaving our chalet at just after 7.30 am to pick up Christina, one of our fellow tasting gang from California. The overnight rain had stopped but the roads where wet, as we raced over for our first appointment; we now refer to as Pavie for Breakfast. There Gerard Perse had got the big guns lined up. Monbousquet, Clos Lunelles, Pavie Decasse, Bellevue Mondotte and Pavie with the Bellevue Mondotte being my favourite.
From Pavie we headed across the slope to Ch Canon where we were treated to a tasting in the cellar. It's always interesting to taste the wines from different barrels. We tasted three new barrels from Saint Martin, Sylvain and Taransaud and then 2 year old barrel from Darnajou. The Canon was definitely firing this year. Wonderful purity of fruit and elegance yet superb length. Bravo!
From Canon we headed to Figeac, here there were smiles round…… the cepage includes a whopping 71 % Cabernet, to balance the influence of gravelly soils, like Cheval Blanc, which are more suited to the Cabernet. Like Canon they showed that Bordeaux 2015 is all about balance and purity.
From Figeac we headed to the UGC Pomerol tasting at Chateau Beauregard. My favourites were Gazin and Clinet. Emeline Arbeau the wine ambassador at Clinet compared it to their "2005 with more fruit and a little straighter in style"
Figeac we headed to VCC (Vieux Chateau Certan) where Alexander Thienpont talked us through his awesome 2015. I asked him if he compared it to the 1998 vintage but he said the 1998 only had a small amount of Cabernet Franc and for great vintages the Cabernet Franc is important, of which 19% is in the 2015... he mentioned it is as good as the 2010 with a bigger proportion of Cabernet Franc. The bar has now been lifted and VCC is now my star wine to date.
From VCC with a large smile on my face we headed to the UGC St Emilion tasting at Chateau La Couspaude where we tasting about 20 wines. I really liked Clos Fourtet. Troplong Mondot is big and powerful however I was also taken by the purity and focus of Larmande and Soutard.
We managed a quick lunch at La Couspaude before Louis and I split in order to try and fit in two tastings. I went to the Theuvin tasting where I tasted Valandraud, Fleur Cardinale amongst others, they were a bit too concentrated for my palate. Louis went to the Biodyvin tasting, breaking the routine by trying some exciting biodynamic wines from across France, his favourite of which were some deliciously refreshing Chenin Blancs from François Chidaine of the Loire Valley.
We met up again at 2pm for our tasting at Cheval Blanc. I was very impressed by their Quinault L'Enclos a property they bought back in 2008 before we tasted a superb and very classy Cheval Blanc as well as a stunning D'Yquem...
There is no Petit Cheval this year, all the harvest has gone into the first wine, this is the first time this has happened since it was conceived in the 1980s. Is this a statement!!
From Cheval Blanc we headed almost next door to La Conseillante to taste their Second wine Duo de Conseillante and the Grand vin. Serious stuff again but not quite on the same tier as VCC.
From La Conseillante we headed to Angelus to taste a selection of wines all consulted by Hubert de Bouard, owner of Angelus as well has his Grand Vin which had surprising freshness and sophistication and not the big monster that I was expecting.. we also tasted a few other favourites like Montlabert where I worked the vendage in 1988.
From Angelus it was back Pomerol for L'Evangile...another big wine weighing in with 14.8% volume and 100 % new oak, yet still fresh in the mid-palate with some added finesse.
By now the sun was shining, the team were feeling confident as we headed back across the plateaux to Tertre Roteboeuf for a cellar tasting with Nina, daughter of the great... Famous in the trade of producing completely different wines, slightly Burgundy in style for small plots and we were not disappointed.
Flagging a little with the pace and running 10 minutes behind schedule we drove back through the vines which were showing the first signs of bud break to Chateau Nenin for the last two wines of the day. These are part of the Leoville Lascases stable owned by Domaines Delon. We would normally taste at Leoville Lascases but this year it is only available to taste at the Chateau in Pomerol. We had an interesting talk on the difference of the vineyards. There is a real step up in quality so a wine to watch for the future.
We headed back home to change before heading into Bordeaux for dinner...up in 6 hours as we need to be on the road by 7.30am as our first tasting tomorrow is at Calon Segur at 8.30am and it always takes a good hour...
