Bordeaux 2004 at Ten Years: St Emilion
St Emilion is a very broad appellation, much more expansive than the famous left bank appellations, with very varied terroir (sand, limestone, clay and gravel, you name it you can find it here) and many different levels of quality, ranging from some of the greatest wines in all Bordeaux, such as Château Ausone, down to some of the most ordinary. The line up here is just a tiny representative sample of the appellation, nevertheless it does take in some of the very top names, and wines from across all the main terroirs. It includes mostly wines tasted in March 2014, as is the case with my other reports on 2004 Bordeaux at ten years of age, but some wines here were tasted elsewhere. Specifically, the wines of the Neipperg portfolio, Château d’Aiguilhe (I have included this lone wine from Castillon here), Clos de l’Oratoire and La Mondotte were tasted at Château Canon-la-Gaffelière. Château Canon-la-Gaffelière I tasted twice, once at the initial tasting, and a second time at the château, and I have simply melded the two notes together. The Château Quinault L’Enclos was pulled from my cellar.
Tasting the Wines
The wines were an interesting mix of some that I know very well, and some that I have rarely encountered before, if at all. Starting on familiar territory the first wine to hit my glass was the 2004 Château Angélus, a wine made long after the beginning of the Hubert de Boüard de Laforest era, and showing all the concentrated panache of the Laforest style. The approach really suits a vintage like this I feel, as although I found the 1989 and 1990, tasted last year, a little over done for my palate, with some baked or roasted edges to the fruit, the 2004 has a wonderfully crisp freshness. It was, however, outclassed by the 2004 Château Ausone, which had a very elegant character dominated by the definition of the Cabernet Franc. In the traditional style it was certainly the leading wine of the tasting, although there was one other wine in the modern style that I ranked just as high.
