Bordeaux 2023 Primeurs: Pomerol
I swung the wheel of the hire car to the right and careered at a suitably reckless speed down the driveway leading to the entrance of Le Pin, in the process narrowly missing Guillaume Thienpont, who was waiting there for me, nonchalantly leaning against the bonnet of his car.
Oh no, wait. Rewind. That was when I came here earlier this year to retaste the 2021 vintage, after bottling – the livrables (deliverable wines, as opposed to the primeur samples which are still in barrel), as they call them locally. At that time I was flying solo, without my primeurs spirit guide, manifested in the form of Taylor Swift.
But now I am back, this time to taste the 2023 barrel samples, and I can not deny it has been confusing having two back-to-back trips to the region. In my head it has turned into one long Bordeaux tasting marathon. Indeed, for some of my repeat visits, the only two distinguishing features have been the quality of the wine (better in 2023 than in 2021) and the presence of a billion-dollar pop-star in the passenger seat. Or occasionally stretched out in the back.
So, now I have my memory in gear, let’s get back to it.
I swung the wheel of the hire car to the right and Taylor Swift and I careered at a suitably reckless speed down the driveway leading to the entrance of Le Pin, in the process narrowly missing Diana Berrouet who was waiting there for me. She wasn’t leaning nonchalantly against anything (it’s not good for your posture, you see).
“At last,” sighed Taylor, “Le Pin. A wine I actually enjoy drinking. I have a bottle of this most weekends. Sometimes a magnum. It’s great with Tex-Mex, or a barbecue. I love coming here to see where its made, in its cute little winery, even if I liked the old house Jacques once used rather more. Although, being frank, I would prefer to arrive with Neal Martin in his Ferrari 812 Superfast, as I did last year, than with you in this motorised lawnmower. Don’t you have any notion of style?”
To quote John Grant, in Diet Gum (Love is Magic, 2018) that was a rhetorical question.
“Sorry to disappoint,” I sighed, “again.”
