Bordeaux 2015 at Two Years: Pessac-Léognan
The vineyards to the south of Bordeaux, Pessac–Léognan, Graves, Sauternes and the like, all enjoyed very favourable end-of-season weather compared to that endured by those appellations positioned further north along the Médoc peninsula. After the August rains the weather dried up here, and the vines, suitably freshened up, romped home. The harvest was perfect and the wines, both white and red, now that they are in bottle, display the benefits of that favourable finish quite clearly.
The Wines
This report on the Pessac-Léognan appellation is a little shorter than I would have liked, the consequence of scheduling difficulties during my trip to Bordeaux to retaste the wines of the 2015 vintage. Being more specific, I had the first day of my trip slated for visits in this particular corner of Bordeaux. With only a week or two to go before my trip, I had a pretty full schedule of appointments from Tuesday through to Friday, but experienced a lot of difficulties securing visits on the Monday. It was only at this point I realised it was an ‘optional’ public holiday, so while some châteaux were open for business as usual, some were closed, their managers and employees no doubt planning a long Monday lie-in or, if the weather was good, maybe a trip down to Arcachon for the day. Some châteaux replied to say they would be closed. Some simply didn’t reply at all. It was very frustrating.
As a consequence, the wines reported on here largely come from the Clarence Dillon estates of Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion, along with the wines of Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte (pictured below, behind sculpture and vines) and Clos Marsalette.
