Bordeaux 2013 Primeurs: Château Tertre Roteboeuf
A quick dash to the east of the town of St Emilion, past Château Pavie and Château Larcis-Ducasse, soon found me ringing the bell at Château Tertre-Roteboeuf, perhaps St Emilion’s most idiosyncratic and yet wholly appealing wine. This is no ding-dong doorbell by the way; the bell is a large metal one fixed to the outside wall, at roof level. Below it dangles a long metal chain which requires a good tug in order to sound the bell. Having rung it once I waited patiently in the gravel-strewn courtyard, before eventually – there being no sign of movement within the little farmhouse – I concluded that my first tug on the chain must have simply been a little too limp, and I gave the chain a much firmer tug this time, ringing the bell again. A loud clang-clang sounded over the vineyards of St Emilion, no doubt echoing across the plain that runs down to the Dordogne below. A minute or so later François Mitjavile (pictured) appeared, and apologised for being a little tardy in answering; they were just finishing coffee, after a little light lunch. As it was 3:15pm, I concluded that it must have been a very good ‘light’ lunch!
Those who enjoy the wines made here will be familiar with the range of wines up for tasting, not only Château Tertre Roteboeuf but also the wines of Roc de Cambes, on which I will report in a subsequent instalment. Sticking here with Tertre Roteboeuf, this is a very exciting wine in 2013; as I tasted it I concluded that it is a wine that seems to transcend the vintage, showing intensity, character, honesty and substance, being true to itself and seemingly unfazed by all the growing season must have thrown at it. At first I was mildly dumbstruck, but then I realised that, to some extent at least, the wine of Tertre-Roteboeuf achieves this every year. Doesn’t the wine of Château Tertre Roteboeuf always taste far more like Château Tertre Roteboeuf than any other cuvée, or indeed any other easy vintage-based pigeon-hole? So in short the wine here is exceptionally good in this vintage, pointed and pure, and yet showing a little fruit-flesh texture, and it is one to charm every fan of the Mitjavile wines.
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