Our day on the Right Bank started with an 8.30 am appointment at Le Tertre Roteboeuf. This is always a favourite visit for us. The cellars here are reminiscent of Burgundy with their earth floor and damp walls. Francois Mitjavile is a charming, modest and welcoming host. The wines are pure, delicate and fine. His three wines in 2015, and our taste of Tertre Roteboeuf 2014, showed a perfect balance between ripeness and freshness. By contrast, the next visit was to the opulent marble palace that is Pavie. No expense has been spared at this newly promoted First Growth property that has the feel of a super-luxury five star hotel. The wines served here were all black in colour with alcohol nudging 15 degrees. Some of these could have been spread on our morning toast, such was their concentration. A teeth-staining experience! Next up were Ausone, Angelus, Cheval Blanc and Figeac. There’s no doubt that 2015 is a great vintage in Saint Emilion and Pomerol, something which is particularly evident at Cheval Blanc where they announced that the vintage is so good for them that they will not be making any of their second wine, Petit Cheval, this year. Virtually the whole production of this famous vineyard will go into the grand vin with just a small amount sold off in bulk.
the barrel cellar at Tertre Roteboeuf
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Reflections on St Emilion always tend to come back to the question of extraction and whether a property slots into the old school or new school when it comes to style. Some wine makers still seem to believe that concentrating their wines (by bleeding off the first pressings of grape juice) to create a dark black colour is a recipe for success and a route to high scores. It is clear that wines such as Pavie are an acquired taste and there are certainly some people who love them. In our opinion this wine-making philosophy is taken to even greater extremes at chateaux such as Peby Faugeres and Beausejour Duffau where the wines have more in common with Australian Shiraz than traditional Bordeaux. Our own favourites this year were probably Canon and Figeac, where great vineyards have produced wines of classic St Emilion character. In our opinion Angelus is the best at straddling the two camps and the wine here is both concentrated and classically balanced. Valandraud impressed too. Needless to say Ausone and Cheval Blanc are also outstanding in 2015.
Bad Boy Jean-Luc Thunevin of Chateau Valandraud
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We then moved on to Pomerol. The wines here are particularly successful and this is our favourite commune in 2015. There are exceptional performances at L’Evangile, La Conseillante, Vieux Chateau Certan, La Fleur Petrus and L’Eglise Clinet. They are certainly a match for the brilliant wines produced here in 1998, 2000 and 2005 and could well be up to the quality level of 2009 and 2010 (and stylistically they taste like a hypothetical blend of those two vintages). As always, we were very impressed by the range of wines produced by Denis Durantou and even his humble La Chenade from Lalande Pomerol is brilliant in 2015. This, as well as some of the other “lesser” wines will make delicious early drinking and the top wines may well mature before the backward and immense 2010’s.
La Fleur Petrus 2015
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The final area to mention is Pessac-Leognan, where the wines tend to be made from a 50:50 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion are exceptional and rival Chateau Margaux as candidates for left bank “Wine of the Vintage”. There are very good efforts too at Haut Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Pape Clement and Smith Haut Lafitte – the latter sports a special black label to celebrate 25 years of ownership by the Cathiard family.
A great line-up at Haut Brion
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There are some lovely dry white wines in 2015, with value for money looking likely from Blanc de Lynch Bages and Malartic Lagraviere in particular. There are some potentially outstanding Sauternes including an Yquem of great density and sweetness that the Chateau rate as an equal to their legendary 2001. Those looking for something at a more everyday price-point would do well to keep an eye on Doisy Vedrines.
Berrouet Pere et Fils at Petrus (photo by Derek Smedley MW)
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All in all, 2015 is a very good vintage for Bordeaux. Slightly less good in the Northern Medoc (where September rainfall was higher), particularly good in Margaux and terrific in Saint Emilon and especially so in Pomerol. The first scores are out from the critics and James Suckling leads the way with some absolutely enormous ratings - including 8 wines with perfect 100 point scores. We might not be quite as excited as he is, but we definitely have the best Bordeaux vintage on our hands since 2010. If the proprietors show sense with their pricing this looks like being a vintage well worth buying.
