Hey, it’s Alistair here. Today I wanted to take you through a prominent appellation in the Bordeaux wine region, St. Emilion.
I have a plethora of St Emilion samples to wade through in the coming fortnight, and having already sampled a few I am really confident that even in this heterogeneous vintage, there will be some sublime wines to be found.
St. Emilion
St Emilion is undoubtedly one of Bordeaux’s most picturesque and charming towns. An afternoon spent strolling its steep cobbled streets is something to savour indeed. Whilst we await the storm of En Primeur 2020 releases, it is looking like this warm vintage has provided excellent results (possibly better than the Left Bank) for the {read more} Merlot/Cabernet Franc dominated blends from this majestic medieval UNESO World Heritage site.
St Emilion is a complex and varied appellation which at it’s heart sits on a limestone plateau, this then spreads outwards into gravel and clay soils. As with many regions throughout the world, ripe, plush and opulent wines became the norm in St Emilion from 1990’s. The rise of these ‘garagiste wines’ polarized opinions and traditionalists were left somewhat disenchanted with the appellation. Yet now there is a real sense of change, of striving for freshness and expression and this must surely be welcomed. I am certainly beginning to take note again.
In the colder years wines from St Emilion can often be unforgiving and tough going, but somehow keep some sparky freshness in the warmer vintages such as 2020– largely thanks to the water retaining properties of the clay and limestone soils. They also still possess an innate ability to age in these riper years, whilst still being more approachable in their youth than their Left bank counterparts. And that is for me a huge positive, seeing as the best from ‘the other side’ can take decades to blossom.
- Alistair Cooper,
Master of Wine & Esteemed Critic
