Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Médoc
Settling in with Aymeric de Gironde and Dominique Arangoïts, at Château Cos d’Estournel, the focus of the tasting was of course the grand vin and the second wine, Pagodes de Cos. But nobody (including me) should overlook the other wines offered at Cos d’Estournel, not least because in recent years the Médoc cuvée Goulée has often turned out to be one of the under-rated stars of the vintage. Coming from the Médoc, it should be a bit dry and dusty, but its regular style leans more towards vibrancy and perfume. Even so, I expected that the rather damp summer of 2014 would have put paid to any notion of making a good Goulée this year. But I was wrong, and the wine shows the value in treating Bordeaux in an appellation-by-appellation manner.
“The Goulée vineyards had less rain than Cos d’Estournel, while Cos d’Estournel had less rain than appellations further south”, said Aymeric. The implication, of course, is that the Bas-Médoc was drier than all its Haut-Médoc counterparts, and in a vintage such as 2014 – one that really has been defined by that wet August weather – that really matters. Seeking out some data on this, it wasn’t long before I found some. During the five months from April to August, St Emilion was one of the wetter appellations (with 376.2 mm), followed by Pessac-Léognan (329 mm) and St Julien (327.2 mm). If these data look familiar, it is because I already included them in my report on 2014 Margaux (where only 252 mm of rain was recorded during the same five months). And the Bas-Médoc was even drier, with just 242 mm of rain recorded at Bégadan.
