Saint-Emilion’s Vaunted 2005s Are Bargains — Seven Winners
ByReview by John Mariani
Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) — It is a good sign when you walk into
a tasting and can smell the wines even before you see them.
That was the case at a recent tasting of 2005 and 2006
Saint-Emilions held by the Wine Media Guild at New York’s
Felidia restaurant. The air was perfumed with the fruit of
merlot and cabernet franc (in Saint-Emilion called bouchet),
emerging from bottles and glasses. Tasters ranged the room
sampling 21 examples of two excellent vintages — the brilliant
2005 and the almost as fine 2006.
With few exceptions the wines had irresistible fragrance,
good balance, and a true taste of the terroir in this Right Bank
Bordeaux region, often snubbed by oenophiles who consider the
Medoc far superior.
There are some universally admired Saint-Emilion wines,
like Chateau Ausone, Angelus, and Cheval Blanc, but the
exasperating classification in the region doesn’t help the
average consumer to zero in on consistently fine estates. The
system includes Grand Cru, Grand Cru Classe, and Premier Grand
Cru Classe — whose estates may be reclassified every 10 years,
most recently in 2006.
Still, Saint-Emilion seems a region right for its time: Its
wines mature faster than Left Bank reds, which typically contain
more tannic cabernet sauvignon, so they are ready to drink with
pleasure within a few years of the vintage. Also, except for the
most prestigious labels, they are very well priced, with plenty
of wonderful bottlings under $50, many as low as $25. All the
wines I tasted had an ideal alcohol level of 13 percent to 14
percent.
Here are some of my favorites.
Taste of Terroir
Chateau Cormeil-Figeac Grand Cru 2005 ($39) — solidly knit and
still evolving through its tannins, this has the good gravelly
taste of the terroir.
Chateau La Bonnelle Grand Cru 2005 ($30) — a great price for a
terrific Saint-Emilion, revealing a wave of black pepper beneath
a big splash of fruit and the smoothness of an 80 percent
merlot, 20 percent cab franc blend.
Christian Moueix Saint-Emilion 2005 ($27) — Moueix is famous
for one of Bordeaux’s greatest, most expensive wines, Chateau
Petrus in Pomerol, so it’s nice of him to provide us with a
first-rate, inexpensive basic Saint-Emilion in a snazzy label.
Lush, forward and ready to drink.
Chateau Fonplegade Grand Cru 2006 ($50) — A rich, full-bodied
example of how much power Saint-Emilion can muster, with 91
percent merlot, 7 percent cab franc, and a 2 percent dose of cab
sauvignon. It needs time to achieve equilibrium but it’s a
keeper.
Good Structure
Chateau Laforge Grand Cru 2006 ($45) — a fine example of the
2006 vintage, which is only a notch below the effusively praised
2005. It is simply a tasty red wine with good structure and will
be considerably better in a year or two.
Chateau Grand Destieu Grand Cru Classe 2006 ($40) — A hugeness
of fruit balanced with good acid makes this a wine to start
drinking this autumn with roast beef and venison.
Chateau Le Carre Grand Cru 2006 ($100) — This is pricey for a
Saint-Emilion in the Grand Cru Classe, but it is pretty gorgeous
and still youthful, and the tannins are still sleeping.
Present at the tasting was Olivier Nouet, president of Adams
French Vineyards, owned since 1995 by Stephen Adams, a former
U.S. banker. (Chateau Fonplegade, above, is his estate, among
six.) Nouet reported that the 2007 vintage, initially derided as
terrible, is showing some virtues in a few estates. The 2008
will be “a great vintage,” and he predicts 2009 will be
“absolutely beautiful,” owing to perfect weather.
It’s delightful to see that the hype over the 2005 that
promised high prices has been ameliorated by the global
recession, so that these wines are ideal for drinking right now,
or soon, at prices that get nearly into the bargain range. Let’s
hope that holds true of those 2009s when they’re released.
(John Mariani writes on wine for Bloomberg News. The
opinions expressed are his own.)
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O Bon Vin