St-Emilion

The ancient and beautiful town of St-Emilion is one of Bordeaux’s most seismic wine region, on the escarpment above the Dordogne. It lies on the sand and gravel plateau, flows steadily into Pomerol, and sloping down on limestone slopes to the plain.

It is much visited and makes rich red wines, that are much less austere than the Medoc ones, with the best made in ripe and sunny seasons almost sweet as they mature.

The grapes are mainly Merlot and Cabernet Franc, with Cabernet Sauvignon having problems to ripen in the climate and the damp, cooler soils. The wine takes less time to mature, a little longer than Pomerol with four years of a poor vintage, and eight upwards for a good one.

The classification is much more rigorously followed, with every 10 years the rankings are revised. In the 2012 classification, there are 4 Premier Class A, 14 Premier Class B, and 64 Grand Cru Classe, with Pavie and Angelus just promoted to Premier Class A.

Other St-Emilion can be named Grand Cru without Classe, so careful inspection on the label is required to distinguish. There are increasingly some wines that operate outside the classification but still highly sought after, however.

These include the likes of Tertre Roteboeuf, with the trend of producing more concentrated, smoother and less rustic wines. Another new wave began in the early 1990s with the emergence of Chateau Valandraud.

The unfiltered, concentrated wine from a few tiny parcels is the first of St-Emilion’s garage wines, quickly spawning a large army, a few definitely established reputation but many came and went without much recognition.

The formula is to produce extremely obvious wines in minute quantities of generally less than 1000 cases to create demand. There are also some new investors coming into the field, including Michel Rolland, Stephane Derenoncourt and Piscal Chatonnet, with some of the wines made in modern style similar with California’s Napa Valley.

There are two distinct districts of St-Emilion, one on the border of Pomerol, on the western edge of St-Emilion’s sandy and gravelly plateau, with the most famous estate being Cheval Blanc, predominantly Cabernet Franc blend. The neighbor is the big Chateau Figeac who is closest to the quality level, a very fragrant wine from even more gravelly soil with more Cabernet Sauvignon.

The other group, the Cotes St-Emilion, occupies the escarpment around and to the east of the town, towards St-Laurent-des-Combes. It is a south-facing slope from Tertre Daugay via the Pavies to Tertre Roteboeuf.

Here resided Chateau Ausone, the jewel of the Cotes, one of the finest estate overlooking the Dordogne, with the cellar under the vineyards. The Cotes may not be quite fruity as the ‘Graves’ wines from the plateau but at its best they are perfumed and generous, typically more alcoholic than Medoc.

In a relatively short time St-Emilion has transformed to a hotbed of ambition new labels, but there are still wide number of moderate fame and consistent wines at relatively affordable prices.

I have tasted the following wines from St-Emilion:

Aromes de Pavie	2009
Chateau Balestard La Tonnelle	1997
Chateau Barde-Haut	2006
Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot	2007
Chateau Berliquet	2001
Chateau Cap de Mourlin	1994
Chateau Clos de l'Oratoire	2007
Chateau Clos de Sarpe	2006
Chateau Corbin Michotte	2001
Chateau Cote de Baleau	2000
Chateau Fombrauge	2005
Chateau Fonroque	2005
Chateau Grand Corbin-Despagne	2004
Chateau Grand-Pontet	2005
Chateau Haut-Corbin	2000
Chateau La Fleur Morange	2000
Chateau La Gaffeliere	2003
Chateau la Serre	2006
Chateau la Serre	2006
Chateau La Tour Figeac	2006
Chateau Larmande	2005
Chateau Le Prieure	2002
Chateau Magdelaine	1998
Chateau Monbosquet	2002
Chateau Moulin du Cadet	2005
Chateau Pavie	2002
Chateau Rol Valentin	1995
Chateau Soutard	2006
Chateau St-Georges Cote Pavie	2004
Chateau Valandraud	2003
Chateau Villemaurine	2004
Clos des Jacobins	2005
Couvent des Jacobins	1998
Tertre Roteboeuf	1999