The wines of the "Association des Saint-Emilion Grand Crus Classés" arrived on May 14 and have been tasted the day after, together with some few samples from other Châteaux. Again a very exciting tasting, confirming the quality of this vintage.
”9m 17d ago
2017 is a vintage bringing back Bordeaux to its roots, offering a very classic wine style with lower alcohol levels than in the previous years but with often excellent aromatic expression. 2015 and 2016 have surely been better vintages than last year, but based on a first impression 2017 seems to be better than 2014. The evolution will show, that 2017 is far from becoming a "forgotten vintage". Some nice surprises will be waiting for us.
”2y 8m ago
The time of the Primeur tastings in Bordeaux is not only a chance to rate the first wines of the vintage. Very often the Négociants and Château owners also show wines from previous vintages. Château Trottevieille was not only presenting the traditional ten years old wine, but also a 1947, first vintage of the estate in ownership of the Castéja family. Clarence Dillon was presenting the 2017 vintage at the end of a tasting showing all the vintages of Château Quintus and Dragon de Quintus since the first vintage 2014. Some exceptional bottles such as the great vintages of Château Figeac served in big formats left deep impressions. And some fine wines for every day have been the reward for the intense work with the young 2017 vintage. It was a pure pleasure to taste the mature wines as they offer a very huge array of aroma and flavour. This makes life easier to find the correct word. For the very young wines, the variation of aromatic compounds is much more restrained. Another aspect is the rating. I will never rate a wine "en primeur" with the mark for perfection, 100 points. As the wine is young and has a way to go, perfection not the right judgement. A ripe wine however can get this perfect rating.
2y 9m ago
BORDEAUX VINTAGE 2016 / Tasting "en primeur" is a challenge every year. The wines tasted are showing a tendency only and it is still the beginning of a longer process of evolution and maturation in the barrels. There might be some changes during the next year and a half until the wines will be bottled, but already today the tendency is quite clear. For most of the red wines it will be an outstanding vintage, a vintage for Cabernet, old vines, limestone and clay soil. It was a challenging year for the vintners. An incredibly wet spring was worrying the winegrowers and at the beginning of June, the spirits were down. However warm and dry weather between June 3 and June 11 creating an close to ideal situation for the flowering and good weather conditions starting in mid June changed the nature of the vintage. The fine weather continued into July and August. The month of August was featuring hot weather and a remarkable amount of sunshine but the absence of rain let to water stress. Heavy rain in mid September set an end to water stress and when the sun returned on September 20 the vintage was saved as there was excellent weather till to the end of the harvest. The effects were various. the white wines are on a good quality level and display fruit and flavour but the acidity is lower than in previous vintages and the white wines show an opulent and rather soft style. The noble sweet wines are extremely pure and are more on the rich and powerful side than on the freshness. For the red wines originating from the right terroirs and old vines, the vintage an be called outstanding. Water stress was managed well on limestone and clay terroirs, Cabernet varieties did extremely well and old vines found water even during the stressful dry periods of summer. In some few red wines the tannins are slightly harsh, almost bitter, a result of water stress and/or intense extraction. In general the red wines are on an excellent level with an advantage for the left bank, mainly the Médoc area, and the classic great terroirs of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol.
”3y 10m ago
4y 10m ago
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