Château du Retout Haut-Médoc 2014

Tempus fugit.

It is a phrase which meant little to me in my youth, but it seems to me that as each year flashes past – and in case you had not noticed, 2024 is done, and we’re already on to 2025 – its truth seems undeniable. It was looking back at my notes on my first-ever visit to meet Hélène and Frédéric Soual of Château du Retout, prompted by pulling the cork on this weekend’s wine, which drove home the veracity of this Latin idiom, as I suddenly realised twelve years have since passed.

I remember the visit with fondness. The property is located in Cussac-Fort-Médoc, one of several communes sandwiched in the ‘No Man’s Land’ between the appellation of Margaux, to the south, and St Julien, to the north. My few hours here followed the usual schema – tour the vines, then back to the cellars to taste the wine – but finished with an unexpected discovery, a really excellent white wine.

Having decided to turn a small vineyard planted to red varieties over to white, Hélène and Fréd eschewed the usual unimaginative choices. I think this was a wise decision; after all, who needs yet another Sauvignon–Semillon blend from the Médoc? Instead they chose to plant Savagnin, Mondeuse Blanche, Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Gris; the result was a super white blend unlike any other, and which easily eclipsed the quality found in supposedly more noble whites from a number of grand cru classé neighbours. I have followed the Souals and particularly their white wine ever since; I endeavour to taste it regularly, and have drunk a fair few bottles at home.

But I’m not here to talk about the white today.

Château du Retout Haut-Médoc 2014

After all, the raison d’être of any Haut-Médoc property is of course the red wine, and while I have been checking in on this estate for at least ~~eight~~, sorry I mean ~~ten~~, no, sorry, I mean to say twelve years, I have been increasingly impressed by the quality of their red grand vin.

The wine is sourced from across Retout’s 34 hectares, of which at least 32 hectares are planted to red varieties (while the white project is significant, it remains a small one). The gravelly vineyards of Château du Retout, which run up a gentle slope at the peak of which sits a ruined 13th-century windmill, are perfect for Cabernet Sauvignon. Of course there is much more to any left-bank Bordeaux than the blend, but when looking for a wine to drink while waiting for your caseloads of Palmer and Ducru-Beaucaillou to come around, the wines of the more Cabernet-focused cru bourgeois châteaux should surely be your first port of call. And Château du Retout certainly fits the bill; Cabernet Sauvignon has a modest majority in the vineyard, and convincingly dominates the blend.

Looking back at my old notes I see I have previously been impressed by the quality of the 2014 Château du Retout, noting that it was one of the best vintages I had ever tasted from this property, a judgement made on tasting the wine as a barrel sample – probably on a visit to the property during the primeurs – and as a bottled wine, tasted with the Alliance des Crus Bourgeois du Médoc in London a few years later. As I recently reported on a selection of wines from the 2014 vintage in Bordeaux, revisited at ten years of age, I figured there was no better time than now to take another look.

In the glass the 2014 Château du Retout, now ten-years old, still displays a dark and confident colour for the vintage, one which was marked by a difficult summer, but ultimately saved by a later flourish of warm weather through September. I find a beautiful confidence on the nose, with Cabernet aromatics to the fore, all dark and smoky fruit especially currant, blackberry and black olive, lifted with blackcurrant leaf, liquorice and tar complexities. This character no doubt reflects the blend, which is 76% Cabernet Sauvignon with a generous 16.5% dollop of Petit Verdot (which might explain that rich colour), and just 7.5% Merlot. A dry, smoky and structured palate follows, with a bold tannic grip which lurks beneath a blanket of tar, olive and blackberry again, with a fine poise in the finish. The modest texture is what links it to the vintage, as it has the light-footed midpalate that is typical of 2014, but this does not detract from the savoury, tannin-laced style and the delicious flavour profile I find here. This is a fine result which is drinking well now, although if given another five years in the cellar I am sure this will only improve. The alcohol on the label is 13%. 91/100

I suppose one benefit of time flying past is that wines that only recently seemed too young to drink have suddenly seen out a decade in bottle and are good to go. So I look forward to more encounters with the 2014 and 2015 vintages during 2025.