2013 Vieux Certan, Poyferre, Branaire

And the 2013 campaign draws to a close

Whilst Bruno Borie waits to see whether frost affects his 2014 crop (Bruno, it doesn't matter, no one's going to buy Ducru anyway), the rest of Bordeaux's elite are today enjoying the French bank holiday. Yesterday saw the release of two of our final favourites of the vintage, Leoville-Poyferre and Vieux Chateau Certan, putting the beleaguered 2013 campaign almost out of its misery (where's Pichon Lalande?!). Whilst bloggers and blaggers in their spare bedrooms up and down the country bemoan the death of en primeur, we are consoling ourselves with the thoughts that:

a) it could've been worse
b) there were good sales of a small number of the best wines
c) like the '01s, '04s, '06s, and '08s (and next the '11s and '12s) before them, these wines may humble the naysayers
d) it was better than the 2002 vintage campaign of eleven years ago, and it may yet surpass 2004's
e) it's all over, and the delicious 2011s we bought two years ago are now arriving…

This has been the week of catch-up for the proprietors of St-Julien. Judging by the price none of them (not even Patrick Maroteau - who owns it ) seems to have realised that Branaire has made one of the best wines in the commune. Perhaps it's because the style of the vintage suits this, the most Burgundian in profile of all the St-Juliens. In any case, it's the value buy here this year. Didier Cuvelier never strikes me as being the sort to make one of the most seductive wines of Bordeaux and yet that's precisely what he's done with Leoville-Poyferre again in 2013. His 2012 was a rare disappointment, but it appears he's determined to put things right with this, our favourite wine of the vintage in St-Julien.

The latest from Le Pin is that three barrels of wine make the grade but won't be released en primeur. In the meantime, the next best thing is Vieux Chateau Certan, which is every bit as graceful as its maker despite the vagaries of the vintage. As Alexandre Thienpont says, it is fine, fruity, balanced and silky. His son, Guillaume, explained that the vintage was a competition between the ripeness and the rot. Since the Merlot is ripe earlier, that was the best fruit, and it makes up a record 92% of the blend. Just 900 cases will be produced, as opposed to 4,000 normally. /AR

Offered subject to confirmation for shipment spring 2016