2014 at Four Years: Pessac-Léognan to Pomerol
Bearing in mind the appellation of Pessac-Léognan is quite a large one, and that it sits within the even more expansive Graves region, this instalment of my tasting report begins with a relatively small sample from this corner of Bordeaux. Nevertheless it is a pretty high quality sample, taking in some of the region’s leading châteaux.
The quality here was pretty consistent, and mirrored my previous encounters with this vintage. A little like the slightly muted performances from some of the first growths up on the Médoc, the 2014 Château Haut-Brion was not head-and-shoulders ahead of its peers in this vintage on the day, with the 2014 Château La Mission Haut-Brion and the 2014 Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte putting in equally strong performances, while the 2014 Château Haut-Bailly and 2014 Domaine de Chevalier were hot on their heels. Indeed, both the Haut-Brion wines felt a little muted, and I missed the wonderful rose-petal perfume that the wine of Château La Mission Haut-Brion so often displays at this stage. None of these comments should be taken as significant criticism though; I would warmly welcome all the wines thus far mentioned into my cellar.
Moving over to the right bank, while there are some wines of good quality here, many seem to lag a notch or two behind their left-bank contemporaries. In St Emilion, the 2014 Château Cheval Blanc showed best here, but there were strong efforts in the shape of the 2014 Château Canon-la-Gaffelière and the 2014 Château Figeac, both wines looking true to their respective house styles, the former polished and velvety, the latter dark and spiced with little notes of menthol, a wine which should please hardcore Figeac fans. The 2014 Château Angélus was also looking good, already shaking off the spiced oak that wrapped it so tightly in its youth. The 2014 Château Bélair-Monange also showed well, testament to how far this estate has travelled in the six years that had passed since it was taken over by the Moueix family in 2008.
