The 2014 vintage in Bordeaux is often overlooked. The riper 2015s were more successful (and more expensive) on release, but there are some gems to be found here, especially so in the northern Médoc. Wines that were initially a little firm in character are now showing a core of cool, dark fruit that is beginning to come to the fore. The wines are fresh, balanced and pleasingly restrained.
2014 Léoville Poyferré is a perfect exponent of the vintage. This property’s opulent style and the cool nature of the vintage combine to produce a wine of elegance, harmony and depth. It is a wine for lovers of proper claret.
Neal Martin scores it 95 points, pronouncing it as “one of the standout Left Bank wines of the vintage” and describing it as “irresistible”. Jancis Robinson rates it 17.5+, describing “a combination of St-Julien's immaculate balance with the château's usual extra degree of ripeness.”
At £700 per dozen in bond it looks like a very good deal: a famous, highly-rated 2nd growth claret with eight years of maturity already under its belt for less than £75 per bottle on the table. Moreover, it is the least expensive Léoville Poyferre on our list bar the 2011.
Just about drinking now with a good decant, it will only improve with a few more years in the bottle and will keep for a decade or two. It is a great example of just how good the best 2014s are.
The 2014 Léoville-Poyferré is one of the standout Left Bank wines of the vintage. Demonstrating outstanding clarity and freshness on the nose, this seems to just "leap" out of the glass like an over-excited Yorkshire terrier. The palate is medium-bodied with lithe tannins, silky smooth in texture, a perfect line of acidity and a harmonious finish that slips down the throat. This is going to be irresistible for the next 20 years. Tasted at the Léoville-Poyferré vertical at the château with Sara Lecompte Cuvelier. Drink 2021-2050.
Another example of 2014's significantly underrated prowess in the northern Médoc, this is an outstanding Léoville Poyferré. Deep purple in colour, the nose layers ripe black fruit, cedar, incense and nutmeg. Intense and inviting, there is real depth and youthful vigour to this wine. The palate is driven and intense, starting with a focused cassis character. Fleshing out through the mid-palate, the fruit is generous and ripe, contained by a bold structure of ripe, chewy tannins. Hints of iron, pink peppercorn, wood smoke and undergrowth start to come through, but the incisive fruit dominates through to a long finish. Power, balance and finesse all in one. Superb. Decant for an hour at least it if you plan on drinking it now, but this should hit its stride in the next 5 years and then drink well for several decades.
Deep crimson with some evolution at the rim. Really classy lift on the nose with a suggestion of sandalwood. Smooth as a baby's bottom but with real pace and energy as well as fantastically classic fruit and still quite a bit of tannin in evidence. A combination of St-Julien's immaculate balance with the château's usual extra degree of ripeness. Not flashy. Really very impressive indeed. But not quite ready.
