Château Croizet-Bages: Tasting & Drinking
As a broad statement on the wines of Château Croizet-Bages, they do suffer by comparison with other successful Pauillac estates, including some also ranked as fifth growths, such as – most notably – Château Pontet Canet, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Château Lynch-Bages. Perhaps these are unfair comparisons, but even when tasting the wines against ‘value’ classed-growth Pauillacs such as Château Haut-Batailley or Château Grand-Puy-Ducasse, the wines still struggle to make an impact.
When I first updated this profile back in 2013 I noted that some recent vintages, namely 2009 and 2010, were some of the better examples of Croizet-Bages I had ever tasted, although quality was no doubt bolstered by the benevolence of these two growing seasons. Other vintages have not been so exciting. Coming back to the property and its wines in current times, I have not really seen these glimmers of success return, save perhaps for a decent 2018 which, perhaps emboldened by the warm, dry and roasting growing season, demonstrated rather more substance and confidence than I am used to finding here.
Nevertheless I should also stress that with a new generation on board, and many recent improvements, I sense Croizet-Bages is ripe for change and development, and I hope one day soon we will see it. It might just be that the current generation need a little more time before they can turn away from the practices of their forebears and plough their own furrow, stamping their authority on the estate and its wines. Recent developments during the 2020s have provided the Quié siblings with improved facilities, so I wait with fingers crossed to see this come through as improved quality in the wines of this historic classified estate. (18/2/09, updated 6/11/13, 25/2/26)
Disclosure: I will draw this profile to a close as I have done for my profile of Château Rauzan-Gassies, by disclosing that I have eaten as a guest of the Quié family, although I have to say it was a very long time ago now, more than two decades in fact.
