Château Quinault L’Enclos: Tasting & Drinking
My first encounter with the wines of Château Quinault L’Enclos was the 2004 vintage, and to this day this remains the vintage with which I am most familiar. I think this particular vintage has performed well over the years, from its early days when I was drinking it far too young, less than four years after the harvest, right through to a rather nice showing in my Bordeaux 2004 at Ten Years report. It is not a blockbuster wine, there will be no shivers running down your spine when you sense its aromas, no hairs will stand up on the back of your neck as it hits your palate, but it is a fresh, correct, flavoursome wine, one that is maturing quite nicely, and it was purchased at a fair price. Who could ask for more?
Perhaps more importantly, however, the 2004 is not a soupy, hot, over-baked, over-extracted, over-done wine, as some seem to have categorised the wines of Château Quinault L’Enclos over the years. Quite how the wine has come to be pigeon-holed as this style in some quarters is perhaps not for me to say, but I have certainly never had this impression, not about the 2004 at any rate. I do wonder whether Alain Raynaud’s reputation, and his long association with Robert Parker, may be colouring some people’s view of the wine. Or maybe these descriptions apply to vintages I have not tasted, such as the 2005, while the 2004 was kept in check by the cooler character of the growing season. That is entirely plausible.
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