Gavin Lennard's Vintage Update - Bordeaux Pre-Release
Thursday, April 30, 2015 in News
It’s all happening in Bordeaux. After three years of declining interest and troublesome vintages, the 2014 En Primeur campaign is off and running and reigniting interest in this most revered of appellations. Over the last week or two we’ve seen reports from the likes of Antonio Galloni, James Suckling, Andrew Caillard M.W. and Decanter’s Stephen Spurrier, all lauding the vintage. Themes of freshness, fragrance, the clarity of Cabernet and the quality of Cabernet Franc abound.
Overnight, the pace of releases has picked up with several of the big guns now out: Mouton, Palmer, Angelus and Lynch Bages to name a few, along with some perennial favourites like Lafon-Rochet and d’Armailhac. Today then, we’re pleased to offer you our first tranche of selections from Bordeaux 2014. And the good news is that prices are generally holding at or around the same low levels as last year.
Below is a ‘hot-list’ of selections, but you can click through to website for the complete list. With some big names now in play, we expect the releases to gather pace over the coming days and we’ll keep you updated as best we can. But do keep an eye on our website. Each night we’re up late securing the top Chateaux; each morning we’re adding them to the website.
We already know that 2014 is the best vintage since 2010. If you also exclude the great ’05 and ’09 vintages, it is quite possibly the best since 2000. Antonio Galloni summed it up well as a vintage displaying, ‘exquisite aromatics, finely sculpted fruit and polished silky tannins’, a sentiment widely echoed. Time to get back in the game!
Cheers,
Gavin
Chateau Mouton-Rothschild
Pauillac, 1st Growth
A candidate for wine of the vintage: ‘intense, classic, generous, supple, velvety, soft-yet-muscular, elegant-yet-powerful’ 98 points, Andrew Caillard M.W.
Chateau Lafon-Rochet
St-Estephe, 4th Growth
One of the star communes and a great value buy: ‘blueberry, graphite, vanilla, voluminous, supple, juicy, long’, 93 points, Andrew Caillard M.W.
Chateau Prieure-Lichine
Margaux, 4th Growth
‘Coffee, blackcurrants, vanilla, espresso, chocolaty, minerally, long’ 93 points, Andrew Caillard M.W.
Chateau L’Evangile
Pomerol
Owned by the French branch of the Rothschild family (the Lafite side)
‘Intense, plum, olive, graphite, mocha, slinky, lovely’, 96 points, Andrew Caillard M.W.
Chateau d’Armailhac
Pauillac, 5th Growth
Owned by the English branch of the Rothschild family (the Mouton side)
Chateau Coutet
Sauternes-Barsac, 1st Growth
A perennial favourite of ours: ‘grapefruit, honey, vanilla, supple, butterscotch, long clear acidity’, 94 points, Andrew Caillard M.W.
