Bordeaux 2015 at Two Years: Pomerol
Moving down the road, from St Emilion to Pomerol, we come now to another 2015 success story. Retasting these wines, now blended, finished and in bottle, it is clear that the quality in this appellation is of a similar level to that seen in St Emilion. In other words, we have yet another collection of stunning wines here. Again, the rain was important, or rather then lack of it. Like St Emilion, Pomerol also enjoyed a relatively dry September which allowed the fruit to reach a perfect degree of ripeness and concentration.
Back in 2016, when I reported on the primeur tastings, I felt that the interest provided by the wines of Pomerol was a narrow notch behind St Emilion. I was splitting hairs really, because there simply wasn’t that much difference between the two appellations. Now, two years on, I still feel that St Emilion has broader success, but it remains a very minor and really unimportant difference. There are still some stellar wines in this appellation, from some famous names, as well as some that might provide good value. And there is also the vintage’s only 100-point wine (well, the only one from me, anyway).
The Wines
I guess having written that there is only one place to start in Pomerol in 2015, and that is with Baptiste Guinaudeau (pictured) and team at Château Lafleur. Having written an appropriately laudatory tasting note it is difficult to find any new words to write here. Perhaps I should merely acknowledge that this is one of only a handful of wines I have tasted in my life which provoked such an emotional reaction, and hopefully this will be sufficient to convince readers of the remarkable quality to be found here. I was pleased to see, having now also reviewed my notes from the primeurs (which I never look at before tasting the wines again, as I don’t wish to prejudice my own opinions), that I had similarly strong feelings about the wine back in April 2016. Not only is this useful feedback for me regarding my palate and the usefulness of barrel sample notes, it might also provide food for thought for those who decry barrel samples as manipulated and barrel scores as meaningless.
