Bordeaux 2014 Cru Bourgeois: Médoc Communes
The communes of the left bank do not usually proffer the most convincing of all the cru bourgeois wines, there being numerous estates in the Haut-Médoc and Médoc appellations which seem to outclass them. Nevertheless, in 2014 St Estèphe seems to be particularly strong. Looking beyond the cru bourgeois sphere for a moment, this was also my finding when I tasted my way through the wines of St Estèphe at the 2014 primeurs, when quality seemed very high across the board. Indeed, the 2014 from Château Montrose was my favourite wine of the entire vintage. Key to this success was probably lower rainfall through July and August; while other regions suffered something of a summer wash-out, St Estèphe saw a rather attractive maritime summer, perhaps a little cooler and wetter than would be ideal, but it wasn’t so far from the norm especially compared to some other appellations. And then came that glorious Indian summer, bringing the fruit to ripeness.
In keeping with these earlier findings, in this tasting the cru bourgeois wines from St Estèphe showed a more convincing style than any from further south, among the communal appellations at least. So much so that once I had finished tasting the other wines from Pauillac, Margaux, Moulis and Listrac, I headed back to St Estèphe to retaste some, and to take a look at a couple of less familiar domaines that I had skipped over.
It was a close-run thing, but my favourite from among the wines of St Estèphe was the 2014 from Château Tour de Pez, which has been run by the Bouchara family since they acquired the estate in 1989. But there were any number of estates turning out wines of very similar quality, including the ever-reliable Château Sérilhan from Didier Marcelis, the latest vintage from Alliance president Olivier Cuvelier at Château Le Crock, and Château Le Boscq. The latter is a Dourthe property, a group perhaps best associated with Château Belgrave, as well as a handful of interesting Bordeaux brands. The vineyard is overlooked by an imposing château which sits not that far from Château Phelan-Ségur, and it is pleasing to see the Dourthe team do well with their vineyard in this vintage.
