Another 9am start at Château Canon La Gaffelière, a good run across La Pont Aquitaine, we arrived 5 minutes earlier to be warmly welcomed by Count Stephan (Von Niepperg), our first call in years gone by. We also tasted some of Silvio Denzs’ line-up, however, the Count’s Canon La Gaffelière was the star of the show...
Back to Château Canon to re-taste Croix Canon, Canon and Berliquet – the samples were a touch fresher and although we liked them yesterday, we liked them even more today! Hard to know why, was it tired palates? A fresher sample? Or better weather?
Next stop was Château Figeac in their new winery (it was still under construction when we last visited in 2019). Impressive all round, more importantly, the wine really sang; incredible grace and sophistication. No doubt of the first growth quality here.
A quick sprint across to Château Pavie for our next appointment for Gérard Perses’ array of Châteaux. To be honest I’ve always struggled a bit with the tannins and seemingly over-extracted style of wines. They appear to be toned down in 2021, yet still are not quite in tune with my palate.
Onto one of our favourite stops at Vieux Château Certan (VCC) with both Alexandre and Guillaume talking us through the charming 2021 offering, which was bright, pure and precise. Guillaume also helped craft Le Pin in 2021 under the watchful eye of Jacques Thienpont; very generously he asked us if we wanted to sample Le Pin… to which we replied “YES PLEASE!” What a true pleasure and privilege to taste.
We headed to Château Balestard La Tonnelle for the Saint-Émilion UGC tasting. To be honest there was a fair amount of over-extracted wines (that were trying too hard) yet Château Grande Mayne caught our attention and was a real surprise.
A quick jaunt to the fellow UGC Pomerol tasting at Château Gazin, where the two standout wines were Château Rouget, and Château Clinet.
We headed for our appointment at Château La Conseillante and were treated to a tasting in the VIP room with winemaker Marielle Cazaux, who provided a stunning example of the Grand Vin stating it was a “true identity of La Conseillante rather than the vintage.” Bravo, Marielle!
A quick skirmish into Saint-Émilion for a visit at Château Angélus, where we tasted Carillon d’Angélus, and of course, Angélus. It was good to finally meet Bong in person; he has looked after us for the last 2 years via Zoom En Primeur tastings. A real charming Angélus that oozes with character and length, yet more refined than previous years.
Back across the plateau to Château Lafite’s Pomerol property: Château L’Évangile, where there has been a real step up in quality over the last few years. In the chai we tasted both Blason de L’Évangile, and L’Évangile – a good L’Évangile, more elegance here than the powerhouse of previous vintages.
From L’Evangile we quickly popped into Château Nénin to taste La Fugue de Nénin and Nénin, where the music was a little muted, before heading across the Château Cheval Blanc and the first, First Growth of the vintage. A classy and charming wine showing all its nobility and grace.
With 20 minutes extra in the diary we managed to call in and see Château Jean Faux from just outside Castillon – a favourite of many clients, and was showing his wines at Château Fonroque for the Biodyvin tasting. Good to see Jean Faux in person, his wines showed well.
We arrived 5 minutes early for final tasting of the day at Château La Gaffelière with Thomas the Commercial Director to understand what they’ve implemented to turn around the property. Definitely a property to watch in the future.
Our final stop on the Right Bank was dinner at Château La Conseillante with Bernard Nicolas, one of the owners of the estate. We did a vertical of 1981, 2009, and 2015 – all wines showed well, my favourite was the 2015, whilst Andrew preferred the plumper, busty 2009. What a fabulous way to end our day on the Right Bank…
The alarm is set for an extreme 6:30am departure: it’s an hour and a half drive to Château Calon Ségur for our biggest day on the Left Bank!
