We were on the road for 8am - got to Libourne in record time, thanks to the French schools holidays. Early for our first tasting at Moueix, it was a good start to the week. Eduoard Moueix was very generous with his time despite the hoards of press and merchants descending on the Lafleur Petrus / Trotenoy tasting. Puy Blancquet, St Emilion Grand Cru was charming, Clos la Madeleine was great surprise (starred by both Charlie and myself). Hosanna, Trotanoy and La Fleur Petrus grabbed the headlines. Edouard when pushed described the vintage better than 2011 and 2007, similar to 2006 but controlled tannins that need time to settle. For us overall these were charming wines, well balanced with pure fruit.
Second was the Le Dome stable tasting in St Emilion. Teyssier is great value St Emilion Grand Cru (if they hold their prices) and Le Dome itself was furlongs in front of their 4 other single vineyard sites. Les Nardian Blanc, also produced by Teyssier was impressive if you are in the market for good White Bordeaux.
From St Emilion we headed into Pomerol village for the Syndicat de Pomerol tasting, spitting the room for speed and then re-tasting each other’s favourites we had just 45 minutes to taste 46 wines before we dashed to the Grand Cru Classe tasting at Villemaurine. Our favourite from the Pomerol tasting was Rouget (JG) and De Sales and Clos Rene (CM).
The GCC tasting had roughly 40 wines from the 56 that are produced here; believed to be due to the small yields of 2017. La Marzelles was my outstanding wine, however, I was really impressed by a small property (just 5.5 hectares) called St Georges Cote Pavie which Charlie sniffed out.
After 100 wines in the morning, lunch was required to re-charge our batteries before heading to the Salle de Dominicains Tasting. This was a sorry sight, with only a 1/3rd of the normal selection of wines on show as Fronsac and many of the St Emilion satellites were devastated by the frost.
Pavie Macquin was our next stop where we tasted the array of Nicolas Thienpont wines. All these wines showed well, modern in style yet well balanced – Pavie Macquin, Larcis Ducasse and Beausejour were all excellent, as well as the entry PuyGueraud and La Prade from Cotes de Franc. However, volumes here are well down (PG 53% loss, LP just 40% loss).
From Pavie Macquin, we headed to Canon Gaffeliere where we tasted Silvio Denz wines. Unearthed a great Bordeaux Superieur, Le Pin Beausoleil where Stephen Derenoncourt is consultant, this is one to watch.
Now onto one of my favourite tastings at Eglise Clinet with Denis Durantou. Denis great value wines of Saintayme, La Chenade and Les Cruzelles were all well crafted. His Eglise Clinet was excellent but very small, with him quoting that the frost had left him with just enough for his family and friends….let’s hope I’m on the friends list.
From Eglise Clinet we headed to La Marzelles, sad story with only 3500 bottle produced which is a loss of about 85%, yet the wine is simply gorgeous. Looking forward to comparing it to Figeac tomorrow, her vineyard neighbour, despite being more Merlot than Cabernet dominated.
Our final Chateau stop was Tertre Roteboeuf for François Mitjavile’s burgundian styled Bordeaux. These wines were stunning and we both agreed were the star wines of the day. Domaine de Combes and Roc de Combes are simply amazing… considering they come from Cotes de Bourg. The Tertre Roteboeuf definitely has the edge on Eglise Clinet this year…
On our way back we swung into Bordeaux for a final Negociant tasting, however, with flagging palates we decided to head home for a well-deserved beer; after 13 hours and over 150 wines tasted…
