WINE TRAVELLER
WINES TO TRY
The following selection, of a few wines among thousands, is based on those available in Australia at the time of writing, plus one or two recent classics.
2001 Château Angélus, A$500
Dark red-black in colour, with purposeful yet enticingly sweet scents. Vivacious initially, with filling warmth and depth as the wine rests on the palate. There’s a chocolate sweetness behind the black fruits, but the transformation to classic St-Emilion meatiness is well underway. No hurry to drink this slowly evolving, substantially built wine.
2001 Château Canon, A$225
Red-purple in colour, with cleanly defined, curranty scents swirled into milky elegance. Light and graceful on the palate, too, with poised, fresh fruits, lifted textures and a silky finish. Ready now.
2001 Château Margaux, A$950
Light, clear red, with the creamy, floral notes of youth now subsiding and a warmer, more cedary profile in the ascendant. The teasing, pretty Margaux character is evident throughout, though. On the palate, this is elegant and medium-bodied but with great intensity. Sustained acidity is balanced by poised central-palate warmth and suede tannins. Ready but will last.
2003 Château Haut-Brion, A$799
Medium-deep red-black. Soft, limpid, sweet, chiffon-like scents, without the gravelly, meat-jus complexities of the typical Haut-Brion: unusually seductive. On the palate, though, there is a more characteristically dark flavour spectrum: fleshy black fruits backed by almost peaty richness, with powerful tannic flanks. Needs long keeping.
2003 Château Montrose, A$178*
Dark black-red, with well-defined, almost architectural aromas interfolding incense and bramble-blackberry fruits. Solid and mouthfilling, yet shapely and accessible too, with innate liveliness of fruit (despite the low acidity – and a pH of 3.9). Well-managed tannins carpet a glycerous mid-palate. Needs long keeping.
2003 Château Pichon-Lalande
Dark black-red, with sexy Pichon-Lalande scents: sweet, rosebud-like cassis backed by svelte oak and inner fleshy warmth. Plenty of depth, wealth and power on the palate, and the fruit here, too, is unusually toothsome by comparison with its peers. It’s hard to keep one’s hands off it now, but it will certainly last well.
2005 Domaine de Chevalier Rouge, A$112*
Dark black-red, with scents of currant and cherry over a background of pounded earth. The typical concentration, power and force of the vintage is evident, with plenty of driving, penetrating depth though softer tannins than many. Cherry fruits give way to a savoury finish. For keeping.
2005 Château Clerc-Milon
Dark black-red, with scents of violets and undergrowth. Powerful, thrusting wine with an almost fiery core and generous tannins: wonderful old-vine depth from this sister château to Mouton. For the cellar.
2005 Château Lafon-Rochet, A$145
Very dark black-red, with plenty of black fruits, graphite and liquid ink complexities. Deep, searching wine of tight-packed intensity; its energy gives it an almost explosive force. Generous in every dimension (acid included). Needs long keeping.
2005 Château Pavie-Macquin
Very dark black-red, with dense yet sweet scents of rich, sun-warmed black and red fruits. Intense and close-textured on the palate, with the same dark fruit (cherry and blackcurrant, with a seasoning of charcoal) backed by generous extract and tannins. It also needs long keeping.
* This vintage may not be available.
PLACES TO STAY
For luxury accommodation in Bordeaux itself, try the recently renovated Regent Grand Hotel in the centre of the city (+33 557 304 444). Some way outside the city on a hillside in the little village of Bouliac is the inimitably stylish Le Saint-James, a delicious blend of modernity and fun (+33 557 970 600). Two well-sited inexpensive hotels in the city are the linked Hôtel de Sèze and Hôtel de Royal Médoc (+33 556 817 242). In the Médoc itself, the grandest place to stay is the Relais et Châteaux hotel Château Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac (+33 556 592 424). Working châteaux where you can rent rooms include Château La Lagune (+33 557 888 277) in the south, and Château Loudenne (+33 556 731 797) in the north. Most memorable of all are the wonderful tree-houses of Château de Malleret (+33 556 462 948, for children aged six and above only). In St-Emilion, the most luxurious accommodation in the town is the Relais et Châteaux Hostellerie de Plaisance (+33 557 550 755). The beautiful Château Franc-Mayne (+33 557 246 261) offers boutique-style accommodation with themed rooms a short distance from town as well as being a working château.
PLACES TO EAT
Bordeaux’s most memorable, professional and friendliest restaurant is La Tupina (6 rue Porte de la Monnaie, +33 556 915 637), though you should expect uncompromising renditions of classic dishes of south-west France, often meaty and offal-based: this is not a place for vegetarians or faint-hearted diners.
Avant-garde chef Jean-Marie Amat used to cook at the Saint-James, but now has his own highly theatrical restaurant Jean-Marie Amat at the Château du Prince Noir in Lormont (26 rue Raymond Lis, +33 556 061 252). Hard to find but worth the hunt is Nicolas Magie’s La Cape (9 allée de la Morlette, +33 557 802 425). Bordeaux’s longest-serving classic French restaurant is Le Chapon Fin, (5 rue Montesquieu, +33 556 791 010), now owned by Jean-Michel Cazes of Lynch-Bages and flourishing under head chef Nicolas Frion. The most ambitious restaurant in the Médoc is that at Château Cordeillan-Bages (see details above), which is intricate and playful in a contemporary style; chef Thierry Marx has earned it two Michelin stars. For a total contrast, try the ultra-traditional classic French food at the unforgettable Lion d’Or at Arcins (Place de la République, +33 556 589 679), though this would be best avoided by vegetarians or indeed anyone who believes that the customer is always right: chef Jean-Paul Barbier is entertainingly tyrannical in his small kingdom and has a short way with dissenters. You can, though, bring your own wine, which is unusual in France.
In St-Emilion, Philippe Etchebest has earned two Michelin stars for his elaborate but accomplished cooking at Hostellerie de Plaisance (see details above). There are plenty of cheaper options in the town, though, including the nearby wine bar L’Envers du Décor (11 rue du Clocher, +33 557 744 831), Les Epicuriens (27 rue Guadet, +33 557 247 049), and the pretty, wisteria-shaded terrace of Logis de la Cadène (3 place du Marché au Bois, +33 557 247 140), which also has rooms available if you wish. In Entre-Deux-Mers, La Poudette in Pujols (1 Bernadigot, +33 557 407 152) is consistently popular, as is Les Maronniers in Montagne, St-Emilion (30 le Bourg, 0033 5 57 74 60 42).
RECENT BORDEAUX VINTAGES
2009
Unquestionably one of the three great vintages of the past decade: lush, rich, hedonistic wines which will be both enjoyable young as well as lasting well. Available on a pre-arrival (en primeur) basis at present. 10/10
2008
A stop-go summer (a disappointing May, early June and August, but with a fine mid-June and July), salvaged by generous late September weather. Much better wines than expected. 7/10
2007
A miserable summer, though hard work in the vineyards and on the sorting tables after harvest meant that the best producers have managed to create tasty, fresh-flavoured wines for drinking young. 4/10
2006
A difficult end of season after a fine start to summer meant a small crop and patchy results. The vintage is at its best in Pomerol, but the most assiduous producers throughout the region have released good wines. 5/10
2005
A great Bordeaux vintage whose wines will have impressive staying power. Brighter acidity than either 2000 or 2009 gives the wines a vivacity and freshness unparalleled in the past decade, but this is backed by depth and texture, too. 10/10
2004
As in 2002, a warm end-of-season repaired the damage of a damp and sometimes cool summer, though yields were potentially much higher this year than in 2002 or 2003. Careful buying can unearth some gems, particularly in Margaux and Pessac-Léognan. 5/10
2003
A very hot year (for Bordeaux) proved too much for many of the merlot-based Right Bank wines, which are baked and flaccid; buy Pomerol and St Emilion from this year only after trying the wines first. In the Northern Médoc, by contrast, the combination of later-ripening cabernet and clay sub-soils has made for some magnificently broad, ripe yet structured wines from St Julien, Pauillac and St Estèphe. 9/10 (northern Médoc) to 2/10 (Pomerol).
2002
A cool summer, salvaged by a fine end of season. The wines have improved in bottle, acquiring flesh and depth. A vintage of attractive classicism, for mid-term drinking. 5/10
2001
A heavier crop and a slightly cooler year than 2000 means that 2001 isn’t regarded as a great vintage; it is, however, a very good one, its hallmark being remarkable natural balance and poise. Most wines are delicious now. 7/10
2000
This was a great, classic vintage whose wines increase in attractiveness every year: ripe, textured and deep. 10/10
Fine previous vintages: 1998 (Right Bank), 1996, 1995, 1990, 1989, 1986, 1985, 1982.
The beauty of Bordeaux
Few vinous destinations can compete with the stature, history and romantic allure of Bordeaux. Andrew Jefford, UK wine writer and pre-eminent authority on the region, reveals three superlative wine drives that capture it all.
‘By the water’: that’s what the name of the world’s most celebrated wine region signifies. It’s not exactly delta country, but earth’s most common element is never far away here. Two stately rivers, the Dordogne and the Garonne, segment the region, finally joining forces in Western Europe’s largest estuary, the Gironde. And then there’s the pounding, fretful Atlantic: Bordeaux is where the Bay of Biscay, famed for its squalls and storms, grinds away at the hinge between Europe and the Iberian Peninsula.
Even when you’re nowhere near a quay or a beach, you’ll still nearly always feel evidence of water’s presence. Bordeaux’s skies are vast ocean mirrors; its light shimmers like nacre on clear days, turning as milkily opaque as pearls when the onshore wind is up. There’s brightness and warmth, of course, but you’ll also feel a tempered, moist quality to both light and heat here. Summer nights are mild. The stones beneath your feet, too, have watery origins: most have rolled hundreds of kilometres from the heights of the Pyrenees and the Massif Central during recent ice ages. Many of Château Mouton Rothschild’s vineyards appear to be planted in vast shingle banks. The vineyards of Château Haut-Brion lie in gravels as finely sorted as those raked to perfection in a Kyoto temple garden. And when bedrock finally breaks the surface, as it does most memorably in St-Emilion, then that, too, echoes with the soft sigh of shallow Oligocene seas, now mutely packed into limestone. You’ll see it everywhere as you stroll around Bordeaux, since St-Emilion’s limestone quite literally built the city.
There are three great tours to make if you’re visiting Bordeaux: you could call them the cabernet road to the north, the semillon road to the south and the merlot road to the east. Let’s take each in turn.
The cabernet road begins in the shabby industrial zone just north of Bordeaux. Before too long, though, the warehouses tidy themselves away, and soon you’re on the D2, the country by-way which takes you past some of France’s grandest private addresses. Château Cantemerle, with its wrought-iron railings surrounding forested parkland, marks the start of this run of classed-growth properties: the greatest strip of cabernet-growing land in the world. Soon, famous name succeeds famous name. Occasionally a small detour is necessary, as it would be in Margaux if you want to see the subtle rise in the gravels which marks the difference between a first growth and its modest neighbours like Château La Gurgue or Château Marquis d’Alesme-Becker, or you can look (through railings) at the neo-Palladian magnificence of Château Margaux itself.
A few kilometres past Margaux, the gravels thin and the water table rises; you’ll unearth better wines inland at this point (in Moulis and Listrac) than down by the river. Once the gardens of Beychevelle swing by on your right, though, the D2 becomes a road paved with gold again. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou beckons distantly, surrounded by a gaggle of trees; the eager Bartons throng the highway; then the grand walled vineyard of Château Léoville-Las Cases and its neighbours blanket the gravel flanks. Soon Château Latour’s turret is visible, once again on the right, sonorous with understated authority, and you’ll then pass the bourgeois mansion of Château Pichon-Comtesse and the fairytale grandeur of Château Pichon-Baron on the left.
Pauillac itself is a modest vineyard-worker’s town, but there is more excitement along the D2 once you’ve passed La Rose Pauillac co-op: Château Mouton Rothschild then Château Lafite, both on your left. The road then turns and rises into St-Estèphe, where the flamboyant chinoiserie of Château Cos d’Estournel, with its tasselled pagodas, in effect marks the end of the great Médoc show. Château Montrose and Château Calon-Ségur lie a little further north and the D2 will take you through the vineyards of the latter, but in general the pulse of grandeur is now mysteriously missing from the gravel banks – though those of, for example, Château Verd-ignan or Château Coufran look promising.
The semillon road begins with a drive south out of Bordeaux on the N113, along the left bank of the river Garonne. It’s a trail cabernet-lovers might also like to take, since the early part goes through Pessac-Léognan, not just the home of the only Bordeaux first growth outside the Médoc (Château Haut-Brion), but also the source of some fine red blends characterised by their gravelly, earthy tang, as well as complex whites based on a blend of sauvignon and semillon. The further south you go, the more importance semillon assumes, until eventually you reach Barsac and after it the little town of Preignac, where you take a right turn, on either the D109 or the D8, to get to the heart of Sauternes. This is the land of botrytis in the vineyards and sweet, golden wine in the glass, provoked by the mists which roll off the river in the autumn. Most properties also produce a dry semillon-based white, too, often bearing the initial of the château name (as in Y – or Ygrec – from Château d’Yquem, G de Guiraud and S de Suduiraut).
The merlot road begins on one of the city bridges across the Garonne, ideally the N89. A swift drive across the regions of Entre-Deux-Mers and Graves de Vayres leads over the Dordogne and into Libourne. The route I recommend you take at that point would be the D44 to the little hamlet of Catusseau: the perfect point from which to tour Pomerol, source of many of the wine-world’s reference merlots. The land here seems almost featureless, though the gravel plateau on which most properties are sited eventually rolls down and away to the little river Barbanne in the north. The one unavoidable landmark is Pomerol’s church spire, which assumes an almost admonitory dominance over its commune quite at odds with the sensual allure of the wine: rich, voluptuous, low in acid, tannin-textured in youth but with an almost Burgundian softness in maturity.
That’s less than half the merlot story, though. Return to Catusseau again and take the D244 for a short distance before turning right onto the D245, just after Château La Conseillante. This is the gateway between the two appellations – and you’ll quickly see Château Cheval Blanc, the most Pomerol-like of all St-Emilions, lying away to the left, fringed by aristocratic cedars. There is, in fact, even more cabernet franc than merlot planted in its vineyards, but something in the soil here (gravel, sand and clay) contrives to make the wine one of silken softness. Across the road from Cheval Blanc lies Figeac (of which Cheval Blanc was a part until 1832), where both cabernets unusually occupy 70 per cent of the vineyards: chunkier, sturdier wine from more uniformly gravelly soil. The D245 eventually joins the D243, from which you need take just a short drive up to the town of St-Emilion itself.
If Bordeaux has an unmissable tourist visit, St-Emilion is it. Ancient (its origins are Roman, many of its historic buildings late medieval, many of its houses 18th century), pockmarked with cellars and caves yet also scattered with almost as many towers as a Tuscan hilltop village, it is a wonderful site to wander about, taking the many paths and alleyways which link its different levels. It’s not, though, a driver’s town: leave your car at the car parks near the church at the top of town first. If you want to buy wine by the bottle, you’ll be spoiled for choice here as the town is packed with wine merchant’s shops, though don’t expect bargain prices.
The wine region fans out from the town in every direction for some way: this is by far the biggest of Bordeaux’s top-quality appellations. Many of the grandest properties (notably Château Ausone, but also châteaux Pavie, Pavie-Decesse and Pavie-Macquin, as well as Belair, Magdelaine, Beauséjour Duffau-Lagarosse and Angélus) are sited along the côte on which the town sits; it faces due south and angles steeply at Pavie, but curls round to face south-west and slope more gently at Angélus. You can also follow the côte as it turns off towards the east, eventually joining up with the up-coming AOC of Côtes de Castillon, with more fine properties (including the outstanding Château La Tertre Rôteboeuf) sited in snug hill sites along the way. But it’s just as much fun to explore the area behind and to the north of the town itself, known as ‘the plateau’; great properties here include châteaux Canon, Clos Fourtet and Les Grandes Murailles just next to the town itself, and La Mondotte and Troplong-Mondot further east. The latter, in fact, is one of the easiest properties to locate in the whole of St-Emilion, and coincidentally returns us to our starting point: the intimacy of wine and water in this, the Atlantic’s greatest vineyard. The water here, though, is sweet, not salt. Château Troplong-Mondot lies next to the commune’s water tower (château d’eau in French). It is, in fact, the highest point of St-Emilion – and, at all of 110 metres, the summit of quality Bordeaux.
WINERIES TO VISIT
Before travelling to any winery it is essential to telephone or write to make an appointment (most châteaux have English-speaking staff), and the further in advance you do this, the more likelihood you will have of success. The properties I have listed below produce excellent wine, but are also more visitor-friendly than many of their peers. Bordeaux has a reputation for being haughty; in my experience, though, it is simply formal – and if you make the correct approaches, you will generally be welcomed with great hospitality. Never visit anywhere between 12 and 2pm: the sacred lunch hours. Instead, enjoy a good lunch yourself in one of the region’s best restaurants (see below). Don’t expect to buy wine on a château visit, either: for that, you will need to visit the wine merchants.
CHATEAU ANGELUS
33330 St-Emilion, +33 557 247 139.
Few St-Emilion properties have achieved more spectacular success over the past two decades than Château Angélus. It lies on a south-facing site at the foot of the famous côte of St-Emilion; plantings in the vineyard include a sizeable minority of cabernet franc. This is a fine château to discover where the extra efforts go in order to create that exciting difference between very good and outstanding wine, including fastidious vineyard work, fruit sorting and gentle handling.
CHATEAU CANON
33330 St-Emilion, +33 557 552 345.
This beautiful property on the plateau of St-Emilion was created by pirate Jacques Kanon back in the days of Louis XV; it’s now the property of the family which owns Chanel (as is Rauzan-Ségla in the Médoc). It’s the ideal place to get a feel for some of St-Emilion’s finest vineyards – and, if you’re lucky, get a peep at the honeycomb of caves that lie beneath the vine roots. The wines have been steadily improving under Chanel ownership, peaking with a magnificent 2009 which combines sumptuousness and classical grace.
CHATEAU DE LA RIVIERE
33126 Fronsac, +33 557 555 656.
Fronsac (west out of Libourne, across the little river Isle) is a great area to hunt down fine-value Bordeaux in chunky, merlot-dominated style – and you’ll enjoy some superb châteaux architecture, too. You’ll find both at Château de la Rivière. The grand, 16th-century building (built by the then mayor of Bordeaux, Gaston de l’Isle) was restored in the early 18th century by Viollet-le-Duc, and nowadays the wines are made with consultation from the talented Languedoc specialist Claude Gros. There are some magnificent château rooms to stay in here, too (see Places to Stay), and a shop where you can buy the wines of the château.
CHATEAU LEOVILLE BARTON
33250 St-Julien, +33 556 590 605.
Few properties in the Médoc inspire more affection than Léoville Barton, which is run with debonair charm by Anthony Barton and his family. The cellars have been less extensively modernised than many in the Médoc, and the wines, too, have never departed from classical St-Julien ideals of freshness and poise. They are priced less aggressively than their peers when first released, despite high quality – a further cause for affection. The cellar buildings are sited right next to the road north, making this a perfect first stop as you explore the northern Médoc.
CHATEAU LYNCH-BAGES
33250 Pauillac, +33 556 732 400.
This fifth-growth in Pauillac is widely considered to merit an upgrade to second-growth status, were the 1855 classification ever to be revised (somewhere between unlikely and impossible). It’s an exuberant, broad-shouldered wine of great wealth of flavour as well as consistency, run with zest by the Cazes family. Additional reasons for taking the left turn off the D2 which leads to this property are the chance to visit the Bages Village complex of shops and artist’s workshops – or to treat yourself to a night at Château Cordeillan-Bages (see Places to Stay).
CHATEAU MOUTON-ROTHSCHILD
33250 Pauillac, +33 556 732 020.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild was a Médoc pioneer in many ways, not the least of which was his recognition that those who had made their way to what is, after all, one of France’s less-accessible vineyards deserved a better reception than the haughty one which was standard in his day. As a consequence, Mouton is the most visited of the first growths, and fellow travellers who may be less passionate about wine get the chance to enjoy the art collection and the display of paintings chosen to adorn Mouton’s labels. The wine itself, meanwhile, has been steadily improving after a relatively disappointing period in the late 1980s, with recent vintages indubitably back up to first-growth status. To make an appointment, phone or write to Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, BP 117, 33250 Pauillac, France.
CHATEAU PETIT-VILLAGE
33500 Pomerol, +33 557 512 108.
Properties are small in Pomerol, and it is not easy to get to visit them, but this AXA-owned winery close to Vieux Château Certan is an exception; you can be guided round by Lori Julia, an enthusiastic American. There are wines for sale if you wish, too.
CHATEAU PICHON-LONGUEVILLE
33250 Pauillac, +33 556 731 717.
The chance to admire the grandest mid-19th-century château in the Médoc as well as visit one of the region’s most innovative underground cellars – beneath the pool in front of the château – is one you shouldn’t miss. Especially now that Château Pichon-Longueville is producing some of the finest wine of any of the second-growths: dense, textured yet pure, with well-judged cabernet ripeness and warmth. The tannins here are never less than ample – another reason why the best wines of this property have amazing longevity. This is also one of the few places in the Médoc open on weekends.
CHATEAU SMITH HAUT LAFITTE
33650 Pessac-Léognan, +33 557 831 122.
This property in Pessac-Léognan was taken over by former ski champions Daniel and Florence Cathiard in 1990, and since then has become known not simply for the quality of its red and white wines (the latter includes one of the few pure sauvignon blancs in Pessac-Léognan) but also for the variety of ways in which the vineyard and its products are communicated to the world (via the Caudalie range of cosmetics and Vinothérapie spas). Few wineries in Bordeaux are as welcoming to visitors as this one.
CHATEAU SUDUIRAUT
33210 Preignac, +33 556 636 190.
This 200-hectare property adjacent to Château d’Yquem produces some of the richest and most sumptuous wines in the region; with a consistent record over recent vintages, which isn’t easy to achieve in a region as weather-dependent as Sauternes. Certainly, the most exciting time to visit is October, when you might catch a glimpse of the harvest of well-rotted grapes, one of the most bizarre sights in the wine world. They look grubby and beyond redemption; pressing is accompanied by a black cloud of mould spores; the juice is greyly uninviting – yet the result, five years later, is a beautiful wine of bright gold. Only 92 hectares are planted with vines and the rest of the land is given over to forest and gardens.
WORDS ANDREW JEFFORD PHOTOGRAPHY CIVB + PH. ROY
This article is from the August/September 2010 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.
|
|