Bordeaux 2011 Primeurs: Figeac and The Fonz
As I indicated in my introduction, St Emilion is a confused melting pot of styles and flavours. And if you add into that mix a host of wine critics, each with their individual preferences (and we are allowed to have different opinions, aren’t we?), then we have not only another layer of complexity but also a ripe potential for controversy. Remember the Pavie spat of yesteryear? It was no coincidence that the wine at the centre of that disagreement hailed from St Emilion.
Château Figeac
You would be forgiven for thinking that the sniping based around a love or distaste for the different styles that come out of this broad and multi-faceted appellation is a thing of the past, old hatchets long-buried, but you would be wrong. We only have to look back a week or so to a tasting note published by Robert Parker on his bulletin board on April 12th 2012, after his return from Bordeaux, on 2009 Figeac: “the proprietors won’t let me taste and the reasons are obvious – a very rare diluted and vegetal 2009 – tasted twice in the last month, this is a low 80 point wine and one of the major disappointments of this great, great vintage…but don’t take my word for it…our friends in Britain loved it.”
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