Saint Pierre 2018

The 2018 Saint-Pierre is even more intense than the Gloria on the nose, actually reminding me of the Léoville Poyferré that I tasted alongside. Copious black cherries, lavender, incense and violet just storm from the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit laced with cedar and charcoal. Delivering wonderful delineation and focus and a disarming silky finish, this fulfills the promise that it showed from barrel. An outstanding Saint-Julien that should age well over the next 20–30 years. 2023 - 2045

Tasted blind at Southwold 2018. Deep ruby colour. Sweet flowers, bold spices and peppery, brambly fruit on an intense nose. The palate follows, it is chock full of intense briary fruit with fine tannins that build through the mid palate. Lightly sandy but refined, they prop up the dark fruit and decadent spices at the core. The finish is long and fine, focusing on peppery, floral fruit and baking spices. A good showing.

A very tight and toned red with blueberry and blackcurrant aromas and flavors. Full-bodied, closed down and very long. Solid.

Composed of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Merlot, the 2018 Saint-Pierre bursts from the glass with a glorious perfume of kirsch, blackcurrant pastilles, black raspberries and cedar chest with hints of red roses, pencil shavings and spice box. The medium to full-bodied palate coats the mouth with velvety tannins and beautifully knit freshness, supporting the generous black and red berry layers, finishing long and perfumed. It needs a good four years for the oak to marry and the fruit to really hit its stride, then should drink a further 20+ years. 2025 - 2045

Creamy blackberry and loganberry fruits with touches of brioche, and flaky pastry. Young, needs time, still in the plump early fruit phase, more exuberant than a young Saint Pierre in most vintages, but this will close back up as there are plenty of tannins. I suggest giving it the full ten years to really show just how good this wine is. Layers of bitter chocolate, charcoal, liqourice, grilled cedar, smoked caramel. Great stuff, with a mint leaf finish. 50% new oak, harvest September 20 to October 1.

Tasted blind. Very dark crimson. Rather spicily exotic on the nose. Sweet and pleasing with tea-leaf aromas and chunky texture. Not yet knit by any means. 14.5%
Drink 2028 – 2050

77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot. Barrel sample.
Deepest purple colour. Aromatic with dark red fruit and tea leaf, even a touch floral. Sadly, that fruit is rather overwhelmed by the oak on the palate, but the tannins are smooth if quite dense. Chewy finish. (JH) 13%
Drink 2025-2033

Deep purple in colour, with an enticing, exotic nose of damson, cassis and toasty oak. The palate is creamy and moreish, with chalky tannins balancing out the ripe black fruit and toasty oak at the core. Peppery and fleshy through the mid palate, this is long and fine, with just the right level of exuberant ripe fruit. An excellent effort from Saint Pierre this year.

Checking in as a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Merlot from very old vines and still aging in 50% new French oak, the 2018 Château Saint-Pierre reveals a saturated purple color to go with rich, full-bodied aromas and flavors of crème de cassis, graphite, and spicy oak. Rich, powerful, and concentrated, yet also with gorgeous purity and freshness, it’s a serious, age-worthy wine that’s going to need 7-8 years of bottle age but will be very long-lived.

(77 Cabernet Sauvignon, 23 Merlot) | 50% new oak | 14.3% alc This is quite a tough Saint-Pierre and there is a lot of stuffing here, but it is also rather square and hard on the finish. The fruit seems very ripe and there is even a touch of dried skin notes here, making it a powerful creature, but not one with much elegance on board. In a world of exotic wines, this will find a home, but in a world of fine red Bordeaux, it might stick out a little too much as an atypical creation. I am hoping that it stays true to type and regains some balance in due course.