Bordeaux 2005 at Two Years: St Emilion & Pomerol
As usual I approached the wines of the right bank with the most apprehension. I have consistently found a tendency for over-working these wines, over-extracting the tannins, so that it some cases the wines take on an over-the-top persona, effectively becoming a vinous parody of what a good St Emilion (the region which tends to offend most often I think – certainly more then Pomerol, anyway) should be. This vintage, thankfully, was a little different. Yes, a number of the wines showed huge tannins and one wine in particular provided a really challenging assault, but with so many displaying rich fruit and spicy acidity, the wines were still good to taste, and they are likely to come good with time.
Once again I was disappointed to find Christine Valette absent from the tasting. I was wowed by the 2004 Troplong-Mondot last year, the first wine in the tasting that really impressed, and I was hoping for more of the same this year. It was not to be. As I noted at the Bibendum Bordeaux en primeur tasting earlier this year, Christine and her wines were nowhere to be seen. I wonder if it is a temporary hiatus, and perhaps she and her wines will return, or whether she now no longer participates in such events. Never mind, other wines more than made up for Troplong’s absence. Canon-la-Gaffelière, Figeac and Clos Fourtet are the leading wines in St Emilion based on my tasting notes – which obviously only reflect a tiny proportion of the commune – whereas in Pomerol we are likely to be spoilt for choice. I found, of the handful of wines available for tasting, several that were excellent; these included Clinet, Gazin and La Conseillante, all of which were very exciting to taste. (20/11/07)
