Bordeaux 2008 at Ten Years: St Emilion
Crossing now from the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan and the Médoc peninsula to those of the right bank, I now focus my attention in this report on the 2008 Bordeaux vintage at ten years of age on St Emilion.
I have already touched upon the success of Merlot over Cabernet Sauvignon in 2008 in my introduction to this report, something that I think came through in the quality of the small handful of wines tasted from Pessac-Léognan, where of course Merlot plays a much larger roles than it does up on the Médoc. This trend continues here it St Emilion.
As in other reports, before I come to the wines it is worth quickly examining how the appellation has changed over the last ten years, to put the wines tasted here in the context of more recent reports, such as my recent Bordeaux 2015 report on the wines in bottle, and my Bordeaux 2017 primeurs report. We should first turn our attention to Château Bélair-Monange, for which 2008 was a very significant vintage. It was this year that the estate, previously known as Château Belair, was acquired by the Moueix family; 2008 was their first vintage, and 2009 was the first in which they had complete control throughout the entire growing season. In the ten years that have since passed some wine critics have gone nuts over the wines, but my view of the modern-day Château Bélair-Monange is that it is still a work in progress, and I think the Moueix family would agree with this long-term outlook. The wines today are good (better than they were back in 2008) but there is some way to go before they challenge the supremacy of Château Ausone (not a silly proposition if you take into account the historical standing of the estate, and its position right next-door).
