Vintage report from Chateau Angélus

Hubert de Bouard is celebrating the erection of his new bell tower (right). We are looking forward to visiting the estate in April, but in the mean time, the chateau have kindly provided a vintage report and their first impressions of their vat tastings.

'This new vintage experienced some difficulties at the outset: weather in springtime was chaotic, with chilly, wet conditions, causing the flowering period to be particularly spread out over time. This was followed by a cool start to summer without much sunshine… all these factors suggested a late vintage. However, the months of August and September were extraordinary and any inconsistency due to bad weather at the beginning of spring was erased. These months even enabled a very healthy and ideally ripe crop to be gathered. The harvests were done in October, from the 8^th for Merlot grapes, whereas the last Cabernets were picked on 18^th October.

First impressions

Angélus 2012 is marked by exceptional pureness of fruit, structure is perceptible but soft,

both for the Merlots and for the Cabernets. It is a great vintage which will have required tremendous vigilance, a great deal of work in the vineyard, and for which the summer was a decisive moment.

A great vintage, most certainly easier to express on earlier-ripening terroirs such as those of Château Angélus.'

Southwold 2012

The great and the good of the wine trade (and yours truly) recently descended upon the little Suffolk seaside town of Southwold for yet another epic blind tasting.

This year was the turn of the 2008s. Initially tasted in the spring of 2009 in the wake of Lehman Brothers’ collapse and the first credit crunch, some merchants boycotted the tastings altogether. J&B made the annual pilgrimage, and with certain caveats, we liked what we saw. It was evident that the estates with the best terroir and the deepest pockets fared best. Some lesser properties displayed green notes - not unsurprising given the cool growing season.

Angelus released before Easter and the First Growths released soon after at very attractive prices. This gave the campaign some impetus, but it was when Robert Parker raved about the wines that the campaign really took off. In retrospect, Big Bob was a little over zealous; the two subsequent vintages, which can both stake claims to being potential vintages of the century, rather overshadowed the 2008s, so the downgrades came as no surprise.

Over the three days we tasted over 250 wines by commune. I am not permitted to disclose average or other individual’s scores, but I can disclose by own thoughts, so what follows is my personal view from the tasting and is not necessarily the consensus of the group. 2008 is a very mixed bag. There are many highlights, particularly in the northern Medoc and Pomerol. Wines that showed extremely well for me included: Cos d’Estournel, Montrose, Calon Segur, Lafite, Mouton, Lynch Bages, Pontet Canet, Pichon Lalande, Leoville Las Cases, Leoville Poyferre, Langoa and Leoville Barton, Ducru Beaucaillou, Gruaud Larose, Lagrange, Palmer, Margaux, Haut Brion, La Mission Haut Brion, Carmes Haut Brion, Domaine de Chevalier, Malartic Lagraviere, Le Pin, Petrus, Eglise Clinet, VCC, Evangile, Providence, La Fleur Petrus, Hosanna, Cheval Blanc and Tertre Roteboeuf. Particular mention should go to Angelus and Pichon Baron, both were real over-performers.

As to the character of the wines, there were a few changes and themes. I noticed a sweeter character to the fruit in the flights of St Estephes and St Juliens, however, this was not evident in the Pauillac flights. I have no evidence, but estates are permitted to add up to 15% of the final blend from other vintages and there was a decidedly 2009 style to some of these... They will no doubt give much early drinking pleasure. The top wines from the Medoc are more structured than I remember. This could be a result of press wine added to the blend. Tannins are ripe, but they are big and solid and acidities are high. This should bode well for long keeping, but one required a bit of stamina to taste through some of these flights (maybe I’ve just gone soft after the 2009s and 2010s...).

After the palate-pounding two days, we tasted a couple of flights of Sauternes to finish. The first flight of less well known estates didn’t really do much for me. The final flight including the likes of Yquem, Climens and de Fargues was considerably more interesting. It was a tiny crop, I believe yields were as low as 3hl/ha and most of the fruit came from the first two picks as latter tries encountered problems with frost. Yquem, Suduiraut and Guiraud topped my list; all displayed ample sweetness, lovely precision, pure flavours and great balance. It is a somewhat overlooked Sauternes vintage, but don’t dismiss the 2008s, these are charming wines.

Bordeaux 2009 – More scores (the right bank)

Time for more of our results. We asked our eight strong team to list their top ten wines from the right bank, excluding Lafleur, Le Pin, Ausone and Cheval Blanc. This proved even more chaotic than the left bank with 21 properties receiving votes. The results are in and after a little number crunching and it would seem that the J&B team have a taste for Pomerol... Gold, silver and bronze were taken by Evangile, Vieux Chateau Certan and Conseillante. Evangile edged out VCC by a nose, but interestingly only received three maximums to VCC’s four. The only other wine to take the coveted `ten points` was Denis Duarantou’s Eglise Clinet. The remaining seven spots in the top ten were contested between Tertre Roteboeuf, Angelus, Eglise Clinet and four wines from the Moueix stable: Providence, Certan de May, Hosanna and Belair-Monange.

It is also worth mentioning a few wild cards that emerged from our lists. Montlandrie, a new Castillon estate made by Denis Durantou,Tour de Pin, a St Emilion produced by the Cheval Blanc team and the exceptional Roc de Cambes made by Francois Mitjaville from the humble appellation of Côtes de Bourg.

Evangile - 71
Vieux Chateau Certan - 67
Conseillante - 59
Tertre Roteboeuf - 33
Angelus - 32
Eglise Clinet - 31
Providence - 28
Certan de May - 25
Hosanna - 23
Belair Monange - 19
Larcis Ducasse - 13
Figeac - 8
Chapelle d'Ausone - 7
Pensees de Lafleur - 7
Roc de Cambes - 6
Petit Cheval - 3
Lafleur Petrus - 2
Montlandrie - 2
Clos Fourtet - 2
Tour du Pin - 1
Canon - 1

Bordeaux 2009 – The right bank (St Emilion)

Our first taste of St Emilion was Cheval Blanc – what better place to begin. Tour du Pin was pretty, well made and could be one of the best values from the commune. Petit Cheval is outstanding, complex, impressive and down right delicious. The Grand vin then goes and wipes the floor... A tour de force and clearly one of the greatest wines from this illustrious estate.

All good things must come to an end and they certainly did at the UGC St Emilion. Another heavy shower, a pathetic fallacy if we ever saw one, soaked us and our spirits. Let’s start with highs (in no particular order): Larcis Ducasse, Troplong Mondot, Clos Fourtet, Canon, Pavie Macquin and Figeac. There were all too many wines that were unbalanced, outrageously tannic and generally unappealing.

Still under heavy skies, we travelled to Angelus where we were met by pretty girls and delicious wines. What a great stable of beautiful right banks from Hubert de Bouard. First off Fleur de Bouard proved an enormously attractive Lalande de Pomerol, the Grand Cru St Emilion Bellevue was staggeringly good, all velvet and undergrowth, whilst Angelus was seriously slick. From the crowded Angelus to the tight squeeze of Ausone, another of the vintage’s greats, how they achieve a wine of such concentration and focus year in year out is quite puzzling.

As usual we left Tertre Roteboeuf until last, the heady cherry on our flavoursome cake. Tertre was rich but vivid and vital, whilst Roc de Combe was glorious, pushing its sibling as close as ever for sheer intense quality. We had an insightful and thoroughly interesting interview with Francois Mitjavile, this will follow soon.

The Southwold Tasting - Day 2 PM

Having tasted the best the left bank had to offer before lunch, it was the turn of the most celebrated names from Pomerol and St Emilion in the afternoon. The top eight wines all excelled. By a short head Ch Angelus (19/20) was my highest marked wine; it was not included in the earlier St Emilion flights, so this was its first outing. The ripe cabernet franc aromas seduced the taster with succulent yet aromatic wild fruits, silky texture and beautifully defined tannins. Ch Petrus had darker rich fruit and sweet oak aromas, enormous tannic structure, and great promise. Le Pin showed luscious, polished sweetness and the beautiful gravelly minerality contrasted the classy dark fruits and fabulous length of flavours. The terroir of Ausone really comes through in this 2006; exquisite harmony, cool, classy, silky textured, it possesses tremendous potential. Both L'Eglise Clinet and Vieux Chateaux Certan both scored 18/20 only half a mark behind the runners up, more perhaps because of their density and vast tannic structure, however, there is delicious underlying fruit.

Two flights of Margaux followed and were of a consistently high standard - all without fail having ripeness, which was not the always the case with the 2005s. Ch Palmer, which performed so well amongst the 1st growths was less expressive in the appellation flight; tight, firm, and brooding. Pavillon Rouge showed its pedigree; intense and all on finesse. Giscours; explosive ripe fruits and broad shoulders. Kirwan; big structure and plenty of substance. There were also impressive ‘06s from Malescot St Exupery, Lascombes and Rauzan Segla.