Bordeaux 2008 Primeurs: St Emilion
Day three of tasting the 2008 vintage started with a journey from my temporary residence in the Northern Médoc across to Libourne for a day of St Emilion and Pomerol. The day kicked off with a tasting of the Moueix portfolio, largely Pomerols but also a handful of St Emilions, which as usual was hosted in their offices which nestle in amongst the riverside warehouses on the Quai du Prioraut. I must admit I often erroneously think of the right bank appellations as being on the right bank of the Gironde, but of course we are much further upstream of that, and the quai sits on the Dordogne, here a well-sized river but nothing like the gigantic estuary which, at its widest, is about seven miles from one bank to the other. The Moueix tasting set a good benchmark for the day; a mix of St Emilions and Pomerols, with some wines of very high quality indeed. The tastings thereafter continued very much in the same vein, the day very much a blend of the two appellations which are very closely related. Indeed, at a number of estates, including Michel Rolland’s Le Bon Pasteur, Ausone, Angélus and of course at the Moueix tasting, wines from both communes (and sometimes wines from much further afield) were often lined up together for tasting.
As far as St Emilion is concerned it was for me undoubtedly Cheval Blanc (pictured left) that set the tone; the second wine Petit Cheval was just fabulous, full of enticing aromatics and very well composed on the palate, and I wondered momentarily how it might be bettered by the grand vin, although fans of the estate will naturally be pleased to learn that I was not disappointed. Nor was I disappointed when I was summoned into the kitchen in order to have my first taste of 2008 Yquem, but more of that in my Sauternes write-up. Back to Cheval Blanc, which displayed all the charm of the appellation at its best, whereas Ausone, the last wine tasted on the day, seemed to show more power. In between the two visits I sampled many of the other wines of the commune at the UGC tasting hosted by Figeac, where a good number showed very well indeed. Figeac itself showed great finesse in an elegant, vibrant, red fruit style; stylistically the wine was out on a limb, but that didn’t stop it from being delicious. Otherwise the vintage seems to have produced a broad swathe of very good wines characterised by rich fruit aromas, particularly plum and cherry, with good density on the palate. There are too many to discuss individually, as in this commune (as in others) I seemed to taste much more widely than I did last year, but Angélus, Troplong-Mondot, Canon-la-Gaffelière and, perhaps somewhat unexpected, Beau-Séjour Bécot are worthy of specific mention.
