Bordeaux 2019 at Two Years: St Emilion Grand Cru Classé
I always enjoy getting to grips with the Grand Cru Classé wines of St Emilion. With such a large number of châteaux classified at this level, utilising just about every different type of terroir found in Bordeaux, and with a variety of winemaking philosophies in play, style and quality inevitably varies within the group. While admittedly some wines are made in a style which seems set to never quite suit my palate, others certainly have the power to excite and enthuse. And, perhaps just as importantly, in contrast to the wines of the St Emilion aristocracy found one rung higher on the classification’s ladder, these wines surely appeal to a much broader range of Bordeaux drinkers based purely on price, availability and affordability.
While I tasted many of these wines with the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, or with the Cercle Rive Droite, during the course of my visits to the region I called in at a number of St Emilion properties. One notable visit was to Couvent des Jacobins, where I was able to taste a number of older vintages, and also see their (relatively) new project, , for myself. I will be writing up all those wines as soon as possible. For the moment, here I report exclusively on the 2019s.
The Wines
From among these wines, a handful really stood out. The first that comes to mind was the 2019 Château Grand Mayne, made by the Nony family from an estate situated to the west of the town, as the land slopes away from the plateau, down to the sandy and ultimately gravelly soils in the far reaches of the appellation. This is a property that, for my palate, has been a bit up and down over the years; the 1998 was (and still is – I have one or two bottles left) absolutely delicious, but some later vintages tended towards a rather soft-focus, sur-mature style. That is not a criticism to be levied at the 2019 vintage, however, which is filled with fragrantly perfumed black fruits, set within a frame of nicely knit tannins. This is a Grand Mayne I could certainly get my teeth in to.
