Bordeaux 2013 at Two Years: St Emilion
Not for the first time St Emilion takes the largest slice of the tasting action, with well over thirty wines to report on here. That’s still only a fraction of what I would normally get through during the primeurs, when there is so much St Emilion around I sometimes think I should take it back to my budget hotel room and bathe in it to save on water, nevertheless thirty wines is a good sample of what is available.
My report includes two of the four class ‘A’ premier grand cru classé estates, namely Château Cheval Blanc and Château Angélus. The teams at these two estates are always generous and accommodating, and in the case of Château Cheval Blanc I tasted with Nicolas Corporandy, the chef de culture. It might seem a little unusual to taste the latest vintage with the vineyard manager rather than the technical director, or general manager, but at the time of my visit these members of the team had left for a conference in Asia and I am grateful for the flexibility shown here in pushing forward Nicolas to pull some corks for me.
Unfortunately I was unable to visit Château Pavie, who were apparently too busy with the harvest to offer any taste of the 2013 vintage, and also Château Ausone, where Pauline Vauthier informed me they didn’t have any 2013 left to pour. They are sold out. That certainly says something about the tiny volumes produced at some estates in this most difficult of vintages.
