Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Haut-Médoc
The Haut-Médoc is a broad and very varied appellation. It therefore has the potential to confuse and confound, but it can also fascinate. It is a complex patchwork quilt of vineyards, stretching from the suburbs north of Bordeaux all the way up the Bas-Médoc beyond St Estèphe, the vineyards touching, enveloping and interdigitating with those of the Médoc’s communal appellations such as St Julien and Margaux. There are some very fine vineyards that benefit from broad and deep lenses of gravel, often just outside these grand appellations the boundaries of which are not well drawn, often following a political (matching the limit of the commune) rather than a geological (ending where the gravel ends) scheme.
For this reason I have, as in previous years, divided up my notes into four groups according to the location of the estate. These are as follows; first, those at the very north, beyond St Estèphe; second, those to the west of St Estèphe, Pauillac and St Julien, around the communes of Cissac-Médoc, Saint-Saveur and Saint-Laurent-Médoc; third, those between St-Julien-Beychevelle and Margaux, in the communes of Cussac-Fort-Médoc, Lamarque, Arcins and Soussans; and fourth, those south of Margaux, heading down towards the suburbs of Bordeaux. In some years dividing the appellation up in this fashion reveals ‘hot spots’ of quality, but I find in 2014 that there are good wines dotted along the length of the Haut-Médoc. And it is likely that there might be some good value here too.
