Image credit: www.moueix.com
A foggy start at Bordeaux Lac as we drove through Monday morning traffic on our way to our 9am tasting at Jean Pierre Moeuix. We were warmly welcomed by father and son, Christian and Edouard who ran through some key aspects of the 2016 vintage, explaining that after an incredibly wet winter and spring, the summer was extremely hot and dry, resulting in some of the vines on the gravel soils dropping their leaves due to lack of water; a rare and somewhat concerning occurrence, which hasn’t been reported since the 1990 vintage. One of the top vintages of the 20th century. Like all vintages, its character was shaped by the weather. 1990 was the hottest vintage to follow 1947. Many great Bordeaux vintages have sprung from hot years and 1990 Bordeaux was no exception.
Back to the Moeuix tasting, we were entertained to an impressive show of wines, majestically crafted by the team, these wines really stood out. There is excellent fruit concentration, yet beautifully balanced with harmony; making the wines very approachable and easy to taste. Puy-Blanquet was the best I’ve ever tasted and is definitely in the running to be our star value St Emilion recommendation.
From Libourne we headed into St Emilion to the JCP Maltus tasting where Myriam talked us through Jonathan’s impressive wines. Chateau Teyssier was excellent, a touch more vibrant in style offering great fusion and balance. Le Dome was outstanding and our star of this tasting.
From the JCP Maltus tasting we made our way to Pomerol for the syndicate tasting at the town hall where we split up to taste our way through the ranks and files of the smaller Pomerol Chateaux. We targeted 50 wines to taste in 45 minutes before getting in the car to rush to Domaine de Chevalier for our 12:30pm appointment.
We arrived at Domaine de Chevalier in Pessac Leognan where he had a chance to re-taste some of the wines from the tasting on Sunday night and a 20 minute break for some light lunch before racing around the corner to Chateau La Louviere for Pessac Leognan tasting with many of the smaller producers. Pape Clement was the most impressive for me, however Picque Caillou, usually a great value buy, was well crafted and a personal favourite.
From La Louviere we raced back to the right bank for a tasting at Pavie Macquin with Nicolas Thienpont. Nicolas called the 2016 an “apex and unique vintage” which in his opinion was truly made at the end of the vintage, where the cold nights in October helped maintain acidity and polish, ripen the tannins. The wines have a high acidity and low PH however, the impressive harmony of fruit balances out these factors. Pavie Macquin, Larcis Ducasse and Beausejour were all very good; typically modern, polished style with a lovely seductive nature, his Puygueraud and La Prade wines also impressed.
From Pavie Macquin we headed for one of my favourite tastings with the renowned award winning winemaker Denis Durantou at L’Eglise Clinet; he didn’t disappoint. One of the highlights was Saintayme, Denis’s St Emilion Grand Cru property (normally under £10/bottle), vibrant with wonderful ripeness and concentration of fruit, a real delight.
From L’Eglise Clinet it was to La Marzelles, for a tour of their impressive new winery. We also tasted their stunning 2016 against the 2015, which was one of our star recommendations of the 2015 vintage… I have to say that the 2016 L’Eglise Clinet is equally as impressive.
From La Marzelles we headed to Le Tertre Rotebeouf for a catwalk line-up with Francois Mitjavile, owner of Chateau Roc de Cambes one of the leading properties in the Côtes de Bourg. Our man from Leeds, Robert Chamberlin told Francois that many years ago he used to sell the 1982 at £30 a bottle in his restaurant, Sous Le Nez. Francois got rather excited about this and delved in his cellar, which resulted in us tasting both the 1998 and 1982 vintage; an unbelievable end to the day… A real treat and incredible generosity from Francois!
The time was now 7.45pm so we headed for a quick bite in St Emilion before heading back to Bordeaux Lac in preparation for an early start, where we have to leave at 7.15am for our first tasting with Martin Krajewski at Clos Cantenac. This week do think of us when you are putting the kettle on or turning off the alarm, we are already on our first tasting of the day… Bonsoir.
