Bordeaux 2015 Primeurs: Castillon & Co.
Bordeaux is often accused of offering only very highly priced wines, of interest only to the very wealthy. This isn’t entirely true, however, as in truth these wines account for only a small percentage of what Bordeaux has to offer. The problem is more that these wines take up nearly all of the limelight, leaving little time (or energy, at the end of a long week of primeurs tasting) for chasing down better-value offerings from more distant corners of the region. This page, looking at various right bank appellations in the 2015 vintage, including the various Côtes de Bordeaux regions, Fronsac and all the St Emilion and Pomerol satellites, hopefully goes some small way towards redressing the balance.
Having said that, I can’t help feeling that the real value in the 2015 vintage is to be found among the vineyards of St Emilion. St Emilion has been the most successful appellation in 2015 (you see, there is some reasoning behind me beginning the publication of my reports with this region). This is partly because much of St Emilion is blessed with limestone and clay terroirs, very beneficial in the long period of very warm, dry weather that ran from April through to the beginning of August, the rock and clay acting like a sponge, improving water availability to vines during the drought. Of course, this also applies to some of these other peripheral appellations, perhaps most notably the Côtes de Bourg, which has some of the most profound limestone in all of Bordeaux (the one wine I feature in this report from this appellation was superb, although that might have as much to do with the winemaker as the terroir).
It is also because I feel St Emilion is somewhat ahead of the other right bank appellations in the move towards a more balanced use of Cabernet Franc, rather than the Merlot-dominated style that is more traditionally associated with the right bank, and which is still very prevalent in Pomerol and these more peripheral appellations. While many Merlot-dominant wines are of top quality in 2015, those with a good dollop of Cabernet Franc, 25%, 35% or even more in some cases, do seem to have the edge thanks to the freshness and cut this variety (as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and perhaps Malbec too, in a few cases) brings to the wine.
