Bordeaux 2015 Primeurs: St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé
Heading into Bordeaux, I usually land on a Saturday, and head straight for the nearest available tasting. The likes of Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ausone are of course all closed up, so I head for somewhere with open doors. The most likely destination is Château Bellefont-Belcier, which for several years now has hosted the Cercle Rive Droite, an open tasting with a focus – as the name suggests – on the right bank appellations (although it isn’t exclusive – you get quite a bit of exposure to the left bank, Graves, Pessac-Léognan and other regions here as well).
It was at this tasting I first encountered some of the wines of St Emilion in this vintage, and they were hugely impressive. Many were from small-time châteaux with which I am relatively unfamiliar, although a few were from more readily recognisable grand cru classé and grand cru names. All shared some common themes though, these being luscious fruit expression and purity, all black cherry and black plum, with voluptuous mouth-filling textures, like the cream of freshly crushed fruits, and a backbone of velvety ripe tannins. Indeed, on the latter point, the 2015 vintage has been the easiest vintage to taste at this stage for many years, so soft are the tannins. I certainly didn’t have such an easy time in 2014, 2013, 2012 or 2011. The 2010 vintage was loaded with firm tannin, high quality but still challenging and painfully youthful. I think we have to look back to 2009 to find young barrel samples with a similarly plush texture and ripeness of structure in this appellation.
While I enjoyed tasting the wines, recognising that the St Emilion appellation offers much for drinkers in this vintage, these weren’t the top wines of course. the crème de la crème of the appellation are the premier grand cru classé estates, led by the aforementioned Château Ausone and Château Cheval Blanc, and these days Château Angélus and Château Pavie are ranked at the same high level. But these early tastings boded well.
