Bordeaux 2015 Primeurs: Moulis & Listrac Tasting Notes
Without a doubt the top wines here hail from Moulis rather than Listrac, and that is perhaps a little surprising. When we think of the successes of the right bank, they are all with wines featuring Merlot, planted on limestone. This is exactly the picture we have in Listrac, where – unusually for the left bank – many of the vineyards (although certainly not all of them) feature more Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon, and the clay soils give way to limestone, the Calcaire de type Plassac and the Calcaire de Listrac.
The fact this doesn’t seem to have conferred any advantage does make me wonder whether here, on the left bank, it was the ability of the soils to drain away the August and then the September rains (the latter of which more successful regions such as St Emilion didn’t have to deal with) that was more important in this vintage. Certainly, the châteaux on the gravels of Moulis seem to have done best. The wine of Château Poujeaux is easily out in front, the dark and savoury style, all blackcurrants laced with dry juniper berry, calls to mind any number of wines made at classed growth châteaux closer to the Gironde. Next in line is Château Chasse-Spleen, here the blackcurrant fruit laced with violets, the structure showing good potential for the future.
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