Mes Primeurs

Mes Primeurs Wine Shop



Saint Emilion, France


30-12-2010

It was my last day in Bordeaux, and after a couple of days of feeling less than myself due to a stomach flu, I was determined to enjoy the sunny, albeit cold, day in the Bordeaux area.  I recalled my time on Christmas day with Margaux, and thought it would be a good opportunity to return and see the town of Saint Emilion in a different light…with open shops.  I boarded the train with my ticket stamped and was off for my destination.  The stop was at the bottom of the little hill leading up to the town, and so a bit of walking was required.  This actually worked out quite well as I was able to locate the famed site of one Chateau Ausone.

It’s a funny thing I realized wandering through the village, there are a lot of places centered around wine, but not really any places set up to taste wine. There is a wine museum, but they don’t really pour wine, just sell it. I was recommended one place my James Molesworth of Wine Spectator, but it was closed for some time for the holidays. I asked the museum people where I could go and they pointed me to a place, which did have many open bottles, but said that I could not taste there, even with the offer of paying a tasting fee. I laughed inside and thought that the whole time spent in France I got nothing but warm reception and on the last day it might be all changing. The guy told me to go across to their partner shop and ‘maybe you can taste there.’



And so I walked across the way and found a young gentleman named Julien, who was happy to accommodate my request. I had to laugh again because he walked back across the way to the 1st shop to grab open bottles to pour! It gave me a chance to look at the collection, and immediately noticed some great selections. The best part was it was not only Bordeaux, but some stellar Burgundies as well. Nonetheless, he came back with 4 bottles and the tasting began...

1) Chateau La Chenade Lalande-de-Pomerol 2007



This is a property under direction of the same person who directs Chateau L’Englise Clinet, one of the most well known Pomerol house. The wine was a basic building block wine, from the commune to the direct north of Pomerol proper. Merlot based with loads of tart red cherries and some subtle earth. Again build like and designed to be an entry wine, basic and easy drinking.


2) Chateau La Fleur de Bouand Lalande-de-Pomerol 2004


Here again we have a wine from Lalande, but with a little more age on it. Also 2004 was a better overall year than 2007. This property is owned by the same people that own the famed Chateau L’Angelus of Saint Emilion. I immediately got that impression as the wine was dark and richly extracted much like the wine from L’Angelus. The flavors were dark and well structured and the wine overall still was able to remain in balance.

3) Chateau Cadet Piola Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2001



Here is a winery I know very little about. I can say that 2001 was a good vintage for Bordeaux, but it is like 2006 in that it is shadowed by its previous year. 2000 was an amazing vintage, one of the best in recent times, until 2005 and most recently 2009 came along. 2001 is a solid vintage and shows great Bordeaux flavors. All the flavors in this wine were in balance and it was showing great bottle age, definitely in a good position to drink now. Makes me want to see what some of my 2001’s at home are doing….

4) Goulee by Cos d’Estournel 2006


So here we go across the Gironde to a Left Bank wine to finish up. This is a new project (2004) from Chateau Cos d’Estournel, the famed 2nd Growth of Saint Estephe in the far north of the Haut-Medoc. The wine is majority Cabernet Sauvignon, and has the simple Medoc appellation label. This is because the vineyards for this wine lie just across the commune boundary of Saint Estephe, and thus cannot be included, even though produced by a chateau in the commune. Not a bad thing necessarily for the savvy consumer, as it might get a bit more lost on a shelf and turn out to be a bit of a gem of a find. The wine was pure and honest, with intense dark red fruits and strong minerality tones. The tannins were youthful, but already had achieved some polished qualities. For about 25 Euro a bottle from a big famous house like d’Estorunel, I was happy with the product in the bottle.

Margaux and her Notes

All that being said I was pleased with my decision to take the day trip to Saint Emilion and get a better feel for the town. Like I said I got to see some of the most famous vineyards in the whole commune, and taste a good sampling of wines. I think it subconsciously even made me feel a bit better. I even got a free train ride back as I didn’t buy a ticket and the conductor on the train didn’t make me buy one when I got on, Salute!