Bordeaux 2008 at Four Years: St Estèphe & Pauillac
I don’t quite know why I begin towards the south of Bordeaux with Pessac-Léognan, and then jump all the way to the most northern of the Haut-Médoc communes, St Estèphe. Nevertheless it is a system I seem to have adopted somewhere along the way, and I will stick with it for now. And so, having dealt with Château Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte and their peers it is time to move on to the left bank communes. In this instalment of my report on the 2008 Bordeaux vintage, following my tasting at the Institute of Masters of Wine in November 2012, I take a look first at St Estèphe, and then Pauillac. First though, a review of how these communes have fared in this vintage in previous assessments, before reporting on how they showed in this tasting.
The Story So Far
The tasting of the St Estèphe barrel samples during the primeurs was an instructive one, as it demonstrated very nicely a defining feature of the vintage. Those châteaux which had pulled out all the stops, seeking ripeness despite the risk of inclement weather, selecting ruthlessly, extracting sensitively, were to go on and make good wines. Those that did not work to this level, either through lack of the financial investment or the dedication required, made more average wines, perhaps more typical of the vintage. As such there was a distinct step up – several steps in fact – from the likes of Château Ormes de Pez, Château de Pez and Château Phélan-Ségur, all frequently serious contenders in current times, to the quality offered by Château Montrose and Château Cos d’Estournel. Château Tronquoy-Lalande was at a similar level, and hadn’t at the time demonstrated the rise in quality it has under the ownership of the Bouygues brothers; this really came, in my opinion, in the subsequent two vintages. Further assessment of this commune at the Union des Grands Crus tasting two years ago didn’t throw up any surprises (especially as the sample size was small). It has never seemed to be a very exciting vintage for this commune.
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