A brisk 45 minute drive from Bordeaux and I was back in the town of St Emilion at the Syndicat de St Emilion at the Salle de Dominicains. Started with Fronsac and Canon Fronsac which was tough going so I decided to change tact and start from the top down so I tucked into the St Emilion Grand Cru Classe. There are a few good wines, I liked Ch La Prieure and Montlabert to name a couple.
After an intensive, teeth staining 1 and ½ hours of tasting we moved down the hill to the Theuvin tasting which is all the properties that he consults at which is huge. From Theuvin I headed to the top of St Emilion where I tasted the Jonathan Maltus wines at Villemaurie. All very good espesically his straight Chateau Teyssier and I preferred the Vieux Chateau Mazerat over Le Dome.
Back in the car to drive to La Conseillante (Pomerol) to taste their 2013 and have a spot of lunch. We were joined by the 'Mardigra' of Coloured trousers from Justerinis. From Lunch we went to Bon Pasteur to taste Michel Roland wines and then onto one of my favourite tastings at The Syndicat de Pomerol where I tasted through an array of Pomerols. Couple of favourites were L'Enclos (Cordier Elite) and La Rose Figeac. Next stop was at Eglise Clinet where we tasted Denis Durantou wines – His entry level were charming (Saintayme, La Chenade and Les Cruzelles) and his Petite Eglise beat most Pomerols we had just tasted in the Syndicat. The finale was Eglise Clinet which gets my vote as the best wine I have tasted to date – really good much more complex than anything else.
We then headed back to Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere where we tasted all of Stephane Von Neipperg's wines (for the second time) and back to La Grappe at Chateau La Gaffeliere to taste and retaste some of the Stephane Derenoncourt consultancy wines.
Starting to fade I had one final tasting at Chateau de Sours in the Entre-deux-Mers where I tasted the La Source and Martin's St Emilion property Clos Cantenac and Petit Cantenac which were both good. Then headed back to "Chez Bill's" where a very welcomed beer was waiting for me.
To sum up the day – 10 separate tastings, 131 wines in 11 hours and Pavie awaits at 8.30am tomorrow for breakfast… (that's 7.30 UK time).
