Bordeaux 2025 Primeurs: St Julien
Over the past two or three years the new cellars of Château Léoville-Les-Cases have gradually taken shape, a great white edifice resembling a giant Romanesque hall rising up behind the roof-tops of St Julien. There are an incredible six floors to these new facilities; the reason it does not tower above the rest of the town like some alien skyscraper is that the building goes down as well as up; at least half the building is subterranean. There is a rooftop terrace, a floor for offices, technical rooms and laboratory, a floor for the cuverie, at least two floors of barrel cellars, and in the deep gloom of the deepest floor the Delon family’s personal cellar.
Although I was able to briefly explore the new facility during my visit to taste the 2025 vintage, I never made it down to the very lowest level. Which means my mental image, of a huge wine cellar crammed with magnums and jeroboams of ancient vintages of Léoville-Les-Cases, sealed behind a reinforced cast iron gate guarded by an ED-209 Enforcement Droid from Robocop (obviously the original 1987 release, not the dreary 2014 remake) has yet to be dispelled.
The exterior of the new facility is, in contrast, rather modest; it presents an understated air of old-school functionality rather than trying to make a statement à la Cheval Blanc or Angélus, and I admired the low-key landscaping and planting scheme which enveloped it. At one end of the facility there is parking for visitors, presumably signposted; I write ‘presumably’ because I didn’t see any signs at all, and I parked at the other (wrong) end of the cellars. I brought Twingo to a halt in what functions once per annum as the grape reception area, lining his powder blue nose up with a row of tractors, enjambeurs and other agricultural vehicles, before pulling on the handbrake.
Twingo was silent, but Taylor whispered a few words as I slipped from the driver’s seat.
“I have given you an extra fifteen minutes for this appointment, for several reasons.”
It’s great to have Taylor make all my appointments for me. It really takes the pressure off, and most châteaux are more receptive to musical superstars than downtrodden critics – you only have to look at how the whole of Bordeaux is going ga-ga over the rumoured purchase of a property by Beyoncé and Jay-Z to see that. If the creation of Château Bey-Jay really is on the cards, they can take advantage of a buyer’s market; as we’re momentarily discussing rumours, talk on the rue in Bordeaux suggests that up to half the region’s classed growths are currently for sale, at the right price. It’s an indicator of the perilous state of the Bordeaux market.
Anyway, back to Taylor.
“First, they have the wines of Nenin here as well, so make sure you taste them. Second, there is a new white wine, so make sure to ask to taste that. In fact, don’t even dare come back here unless you have – I suspect not everybody will get to taste it, and Lord knows you need something to get yourself noticed. And last of all, it is inevitable they will want to show you around the new cellars, so take the tour as quick as you can, then get out. If we’re not here when you get out, we won’t be long. Twingo and I have an errand to run.”
“What is it?” I asked, my curiosity more than piqued, before I felt my stomach rumble. “If you’re going to get something for lunch, can you get me something as well?”
Well, I thought, no harm in asking.
“No, I won’t,” replied Taylor, as cool as a cucumber. “I’m your spirit guide, not a Deliveroo driver. Sort your growling gut out yourself. Now, run along and taste the wines like a good boy.”
Of course, I did as I was told, doing my best to ignore my rumbling stomach.
-o-
I visited all five of the second growths in the St Julien appellation, alongside as many of the other classed growth properties in this appellation as was possible. Indeed, as there are only eleven of them, I was able to call in on the majority. Those I did not visit I tasted with the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux.
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