Bordeaux 2016 Primeurs: Haut-Médoc
Heading south on the D2 en route for Margaux and the southern reaches of the Haut-Médoc appellation, I suddenly found myself in Cussac-Fort-Médoc, one of a handful of communes that jostle merrily for position between St Julien and Margaux. A thought suddenly flashed into my head, and swinging the wheel to the right at a familiar junction I found myself, less than a minute later, in the courtyard of Château du Retout. I didn’t have an appointment here, but on the spur of the moment, with a little time in hand, I decided to try my luck. This is not how I operate during the primeurs (or indeed on any other visit to Bordeaux or the Loire Valley) but I figured it couldn’t do any harm. If neither Frédéric nor Hélène Soual were home, or if they were too busy, I would just carry on southwards. The most I would have lost by trying would be a few minutes of my time.
Having parked up I headed for the house, in a slightly apprehensive mood. Despite having rationalised the decision in my own mind, I really don’t like calling on winemakers unannounced. But I never even made it to the house, because as I rounded a hedge there was Frédéric Soual, clearly curious to see who had just pulled up in the courtyard. His expression was a mixture of joy (good, I think) and disbelief (not so good, I thought), and he soon explained why.
“I just had a visit from the local representative for Stockinger barrels, and so while he was here I pulled some 2016 samples for tasting, just for fun. When we finished he left, and I said to myself ‘what I need now is for Chris Kissack to appear while I have these samples ready to taste’. And then, five minutes later, here you are”.
It looks like I need not have worried about turning up without at appointment. When the proprietor is clearly psychic, such things are perhaps superfluous. We headed for the tasting room (tastefully redesigned since my last visit) which sits within the little house, and Frédéric pulled the corks on his samples once again.
The Haut-Médoc Story
Generalisations across the rather scattered and disparate Haut-Médoc appellation are usually invalid, it simply being too stretched out. If you believe there is a difference between Margaux and St Estèphe, either because of climate or terroir, then the same has to be said of the most northerly and southerly reaches of the Haut-Médoc vineyards, which are further apart. In 2016, however, all of the Bordeaux region seems to have laboured under the same now familiar weather pattern, of almost relentless rain until late June, almost relentless sunshine thereafter, and mid-September showers that many feel saved the vintage. The Haut-Médoc does not provide any exception to this rule.
