Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: Pauillac Tasting Notes
By and large the vintage has been a success in Pauillac, although it is not a great vintage, far from it. The wines have that cooler, leaner character which reflects the cool summer weather, the acidity perhaps concentrated a little by the September dehydration. They are the sort of wines those who enjoy drinking Bordeaux, rather than hoarding, trading and investing, should be happy to buy. But that was in the good old days, when en primeur prices gave us all a break, merchants and customers alike. These days, this is a vintage I would only buy if it were priced to sell.
I will come back to thoughts on prices at some other point. For the moment, there are some other worthy wines in this appellation which deserve a few words at the very least. At Château Pontet-Canet, Jean-Michel Comme has turned out another very good wine. As always the grand vin represents the vineyard’s work; there is no green harvest here any more, and the second wine takes only 10% of the crop in this vintage, so 90% of what was picked has gone into the first wine (compare that to many other properties where quite often the grand vin takes only 30% or 40% of the harvest). The resulting wine is of an attractive quality, although it still shows the fresh and succulent style of the vintage.
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