Bordeaux 2012 at Ten Years: The Right Bank
I conclude this review of the wines of the 2012 vintage in Bordeaux, revisited at ten years of age, with a report on the right-bank appellations of St Emilion and Pomerol.
A difficult season for the Bordelais, coming straight after the equally challenging 2011 vintage, 2012 did at least give those working on the right bank a break. The climatic conditions were a little easier on Merlot than on the Cabernets, and the clay and limestone soils helped through the dry period. Having said that, the wines of this vintage do not challenge those from more favoured vintages, such as 2010 or 2016. But they certainly scrub up well when tasted alongside the wines of the left bank in this same vintage, with a broader spread of wines – notably, from a much smaller field – gathered together at the top of the league table.
Indeed, while the wine of Château Haut-Brion unquestionably takes the top spot on the left bank, on the right bank three contenders vie for this accolade (for which there is sadly no prize, other than Winedoctor kudos, which is of course worth its weight in gold).
My three favourite wines here all hail from the clays at the top of the Pomerol plateau, first up being the 2012 Château L’Église-Clinet, with all its perfume and drive, a fine memorial to the late Denis Durantou. At the same level the 2012 Château L’Évangile also impressed, with its rather luxuriant seams of dark chocolate scented with dried rose petals. And then there was the joy of 2012 Le Pin, not one for the bargain-hunters obviously, nevertheless a wine which at ten years of age displays its pedigree for all to see. I think if I were to buy one of these to drink today it would be the first, from Château L’Église-Clinet, its rather more defined style a little more classic than the exoticism of the wine from Château L’Évangile.
