Neal Martin and other new releases
Although it was the Labour Day holiday in France, the trade's focus was still Bordeaux on Tuesday for the release of Neal Martin's notes and scores. Having worked for Robert Parker's Wine Advocate since 2006, Bordeaux's most influential critic defected to Antonio Galloni's Vinous earlier this year. Here are some of his key observations:
- 2017 is a good to very good vintage, but it is not close to 2015 or 2016 in all but a handful of cases
- It is not a Left or Right Bank vintage
- On the Left Bank, the northern Medoc, St-Estephe and Pauillac, appears to have done better than those more southerly, St-Julien and Margaux
- On the Right Bank, the limestone plateau and the côtes did particularly well
- Sauternes shows good potential
- Stylistically… perfumed… plenty of freshness… more black fruit compared to recent vintages… not dense or weighty… they ought to be very approachable… medium-term ageing potential, peaking from 10 to 20 years
- I like this vintage
And an important point regarding the market:
'Release prices separate those whose interest extends no further than selling desired stock as far as negociants and those keen for their wine to flow through the chain to the end-consumer. The latter takes greater heed of market conditions and if priced correctly, finds the distribution system solidly behind their release because at every stage, somebody is making a profit.'
It's 10 days since our preliminary report. The end of last week saw the release of Doisy-Daene and Doisy-Vedrines which, with Coutet, represent the best of Barsac in 2017 in the absence of Climens.
2017 is an excellent vintage for the dry whites and yesterday morning saw the release of Latour-Martillac, which gets my vote as best value dry white of the vintage. I always like the red here too; their 2011 is delicious now and I think the 2017 will provide similar pleasure in 5 to 10 years. Today has seen other top releases from Pessac-Leognan: the ever impressive Pape-Clement, and the vastly improved Malartic-Lagraviere.
The first big St-Julien to release was the ever reliable Branaire-Ducru. It's quintessential St-Julien in the words of Neal Martin, but so is the 2001 and we currently have some perfectly cellared stock available at £550 a dozen. This morning came Langoa Barton, sensibly priced but a long way off the quality of its more illustrious sibling this vintage.
In Margaux, we have the billionaire Perrodo family's Chateaux Labegorce and Marquis d'Alesme. After the sudden death of her father Hubert, Nathalie Perrodo-Samani took over their running aged just 24. Following a massive rebuilding project at Marquis d'Alesme, farming is moving to organic and the wines are gaining recognition. Marquis d'Alesme is one of the twelve wines Neal Martin selected for his ideal "case for a friend" - alongside Montrose, Lafite, Leoville-Barton, Haut-Brion and Lafleur.
Two excellent values in St-Emilion: the Garcin-Leveque family's characterful and ageworthy Barde-Haut and the Kwok family's Tour Saint Christophe, now made by the former winemaker of La Violette in Pomerol.
Through Basile Tesseron of Lafon-Rochet, we've been introduced to Chateau Larrivaux. It's been in his wife's family for 400 years and - amazingly - has only ever been run by women. The couple (pictured) don't subscribe to any formal certification but take a deeply thoughtful approach to their farming since their kids play amongst the vines. At Larrivaux, they encourage bats to flourish since they eat the bugs and remove any need for insecticides. Larrivaux is superbly sited due west of Lafon-Rochet and, like her husband's wine, it has an appealing salinity. The 2017 is fresh with good weight and a lovely touch of sweetness. It's a great value wine and worth looking out for. /AR
Offered subject to remaining unsold; available 2020
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