A September to Remember in Bordeaux

By Michael Godel

As you will see over the coming 20,000 words in this report, the trip summarized is not your average, every other week excursion to another wine region in Europe. No, this lengthy article will in fact describe a personal opus, an epic, once in a lifetime journey to Bordeaux. A five-day fantasy traipsing through the clay and gravels on both banks of the Gironde Estuary to come away fed, nurtured, nourished and experienced in the history, breadth and depth of the place. May as well just list the properties straight away because the itinerary is what need be considered legendary. In Pauillac – Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Pichon Baron, Château Haut-Batailley, Château Lynch Bages and Château Pontet-Canet. Saint-Julien – Château Léoville Poyferré and Château Lagrange. Saint-Estèphe – Château Cos d’Estournel, Château Phélan Ségur and Château Montrose. Margaux – Château Margaux and Château Brane-Cantenac. Pessac Léognan – Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion and Château Haut-Bailly. Saint-Émilion – Château Bellefont-Belcier (Vignobles K), Château Cheval Blanc, Château Pavie-MacQuin, Château La Confession and Château Troplong Mondot. Pomerol – Château Clinet and Château La Croix St. Georges. Visits, meals and great wines shared with two prominent négociants – Nathaniel Johnston & Fils and Compagnie Médocaine des Grands Crus. A sum total of 22 properties with more than 50 estates’ wines poured and tasted.

Selective histories and size matters

We begin with the large, rich and famous. With the 1924 vintage, a then 21 year-old Baron Phillip de Rothschild launched the program of having each bottle of Château Mouton Rothschild’s label designed by a different (and very famous) artist. The estate is comprised of 700 hectares in Pauillac, also in ownership of 40 with Château Clerc-Milon. At Mouton 80 percent is cabernet sauvignon, with (16) merlot and (4) cabernet franc. Mouton Cadet was created in the 1940s. Château Phélan Ségur was originally owned by and Irishman and purchased in 2018 by a wealthy Belgian who made his fortune in containers (Europe and Africa). There are 114 hectares total, 40 of vines split up into four plots, two up to the furthest northern edge of Saint-Estèphe and two further south nearer to the Gironde estuary. Incidentally no relation to Calon-Ségur. The newest ownership at Château Montrose dates to 2006, by Martin and Olivier Bouygues who came from Telecomm and poured significant investment into the property.

Château Batailley is at the southern border of Pauillac, across the road from Lynch-Bages, abutting Saint-Julien and it is the tower that marks the entry into the appellation. It was acquired by the Cazes family in 2017 with Jean-Charles now at the head. The name Batailley comes from the fight during the 100 years war between the French and the English. The chateau was separated in 1942 and the western part became Batailley, nearly 100 years after the 1855 classification. Was owned by the Bourie family and is now the only classified (5th) growth that became one before being split in two. Speaking of classifications, no discussion considers a paradox as great as that of Château Haut-Brion and Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion. One is classified while the other is not and yet the latter sits on a property occupied by the former but is arguably one of the finest terroirs in the entirety of Bordeaux. One only has to taste the last five vintages of that Grand Vin to wonder how it can possibly not be qualified as a classified growth. The modern turning point for it’s current status and affairs can be traced back to 2010 when its was purchased by Patrick Pitcher. Another Péssacc-Léognan estate is Château Haut-Bailly with vines dating back to the 1400s and today’s über modern facility was built by the Wilmer family, bankers from Buffalo (New York) who purchased the estate 20 years ago. The property is home to some of the first vines planted after Phylloxera, some now as old as 120 years.

Bordeaux’s total plantings are approximately 100,000 hectares and in Saint-Émilion the average vineyard holding is between five and six. That makes Vignoble K’s Château Bellefont-Belcier seem large at 23. Still that size is just half of Château Quintus with their 45 hectares – that puts it in large company. In Saint-Émilion the land decides the classification, not the estate which is the rule in the Médoc and across appellations on the Left Bank. If you add land in Saint-Émilion you have to make a different label and vinify in a separate cellar. Vietnamese-born Peter Kwok has started at Château Haut-Brisson, moved through Pomerol and Castillon and now owns Château Bellefont-Belcier along with Château Tour-Christopher. Each of the estates are a small unit, independent and self-functioning.

It was December 15, 1998 when the Château Cheval-Blanc estate was sold to LVMH Chairman and Belgian Businessman Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault. He is the founder, chairman and CEO of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury goods company. The land has likely been producing wine since before the 100 Years War, possibly as early as the 1400s. It had been purchased and designated as a chateau in 1832, which in terms of historical Bordeaux is relatively late. The owner was ahead of his time having designed drainage systems from the 1830s to the 1850s to deal with the heavy clays. The name Château Pavie Macquin comes from a combination of the place and the legend Albert Macquin, an agricultural engineer who popularized grafted plants which would save the vineyard after it was ravaged by phylloxera. Pavie Macquin was classified as the first Grand Cru Classé Saint-Émilion. “If you underscored the classification,” says current generation proprietor Cyrille Thienpont. “then the explanation was bad.” The last classification brought together Pavie Macquin and Pavie Macquin-Decesse, not just Pavie Macquin and Pavie. Château Troplong-Mondot is owned by an insurance company called SCOR.

From the 11th until just a century ago the L’Eglise de Pomerol was located right at the site where Union des Grands Cru de Bordeaux President Ronan Laborde’s Château Clinet sits today. Pomerol’s size is 815 hectares shared between 120 producers and bottlers though some do sell in bulk to Bordeaux wine merchants. You can’t age or bottle wines outside of Pomerol and agents must also buy finished wines to label it as such. The word Clinet comes from the name of a seeded fruit that existed in the time of Christ, as did vines in the area. Most production is much smaller as compared to Saint-Émilion and the Médoc, the exception being Pétrus at 35,000-40,000 bottles and prices are highest in the appellation. The two complimentary varieties of merlot and cabernet franc dominate though Clinet farms 25 percent of their vines to cabernet sauvignon. Vines planted in 1950 that survived the (-20 degrees celsius) 1956 February freeze are still in production, in top shape, give small berries and are rarely susceptible to mildew. Laborde notes a true salty-mineral quality in Clinet’s cabernet sauvignon.

Heterogenous terroirs, varietal adjustments and climate events

Using the name Bordeaux and the word elevation in the same sentence may seem like an oxymoron but all things being relative the search for subtleties begins with the unseen changes in landscapes. A “butte” is as small a mountain as you might find and yet still proffer up an indication of elevation. “Cos” is a small hill from Old French, though no Google search (without a qualifier) will tell you that. The name Cos (with the S pronounced) refers to a “hill of pebbles” in Gascon dialect and the name Cos d’Estournel was given in 1810 by Louis-Gaspard d’Estournel. At Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion seven of the 15 “city” hectares are defined as a “Cos.” In the 16th century this was the site of Château Haut-Brion. At the time the owner gifted the property to the order of the Carmelites Blanches. There may or may not have already been a “Cos” then. In Pauillac soils are arid, of sand and gravels and just a small amount of limestone and clay at the 26m high “mountain of Pauillac.”

Château Pichon Baron’s Pauillac terroir includes clay and also chalk beneath which makes for two-way conversions of both water retention and drainage. Château Phélan Ségur’s northern blocks are truly gravelly overtop heavy clay subsoils, more clay than those closer to the Gironde. The clays are really helping with the challenge of extreme heat days (18 of them over 40 in the summer of 2023) by maintaining water and freshness. At Château Tronquoy the soils are really gravelly with larger stones like Châteauneuf-du-Pâpe, a truly unique terroir for Saint-Estèphe. More clay composition at the surface in the Tronqouy soils as opposed to sister property Montrose (and also Dame de Montrose) where that clay lays lower, below the sand and gravels. Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion’s city vines do not cool down like the 35 hectares found in the countryside though they are are still within the limits of Pessac-Léognan. The Bordeaux city vineyards are generally three degrees warmer, especially at night and the Grand Vin is produced from these vines. The blue clay here is special, much less “sticky” than Pauillac and integral to the ripening and development of the cabernet franc. Horses are used in the vineyards to reduce the amount of tilling, tractor and machinery disruption.

^{Union des Grands Cru de Bordeaux President Ronan Laborde of Château Clinet}

Château Montrose is 85 hectares planted closest to the estuary of vines that in terms of vigour are truly self-regulating. No bunch thinning is necessary, especially for highly concentrated cabernet sauvignon. This part of Saint-Estèphe on average runs a week to 10 days behind for harvest times. There are 40 hectares, 21 under vine, 19 still to be planted, 65/35 cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Studies in dug hole pits has convinced the team to add a small portion of petit verdot, to make up two percent of the overall mix. Redevelopment has been ongoing seen 2017 though the Bourie has already reconstructed the winery. Château Haut-Batailley in Pauillac started covering between rows with cover crop between in 2020.

In the area of the Saint-Émilion chateaus occupied by Quintus, Pavie and Ausone the soils are mainly clay-loam with limestone near or on top of the surface. At Château Bellefont-Belcier terraces have been constructed because of the higher limestone content. The vineyards of Château Cheval Blanc are a result of how the tertiary period left behind a salty limestone plateau which extends from Cognac through the Right Blank along the Gironde Estuary to central France. The retreating river left behind gravels that were dragged over each other and so Cheval Blanc is a heterogenous terroir that is a mix of sand, clays and gravels. CFO and commercial director Arnaud de Laforcade talks about “the big principle” when he says “we accept and celebrate the variability between plots to create the character of Cheval Blanc.” The cabernet franc and malbec planted at Cheval Blanc was a Right and Left Bank mix but that changed after Phylloxera with the switch to merlot. Much of Pomerol, including the soils of Château Clinet are clay with gravels layered on top. It is well known that merlot is the child of cabernet franc but only recently another genetic parent was (re)discovered through a variety called Magdeleine Noire des Charentes, named after the birds that arrived first to eat mature Bordeaux grapes.

Arnaud de Laforcade pontificates about cultivational philosophy. “We need to rely on ourselves and so all propagating and massal selection is done on the estate – kept to the estate.” A block of 1930 merlot is still in production and in fact any block that makes it into the Grand Vin can’t be uprooted. Of great importance is soil health. “Even if vines are based on poor soils, they shouldn’t be dead soils.” Cover crops are key, to maintain harmony, despite the competition. Clover’s penetrating roots are good for aeration and reduce the need for tilling. White radish for the bees, re-seeded every Spring. Only a shallow till is done in the Fall but not under the vines for fear of increasing humidity and inciting mildew. Trees are planted on rootstocks and pruned in line with the vines. All these tools are current ones and could very well updated in 30 years, possibly less. Bottom line is monoculture is no longer acceptable. Organics and biodynamics are encouraged but the reality is that no solutions are 100 percent perfect. “People who say they will be mildew free because of all these methods are dreamers,” is de Laforcade’s conclusion.

^{Saint-Julien terroir at Château Lagrange}

Different soils and sub-soils within the 45 hectares at Quintus lead to an agricultural approach that is almost “Bourguignons,” meaning a rank and file of estate, village and cru. Same applies to Château Pavie and Château Ausone. No wonder the hills and areas occupied by these estates are sometimes (quietly) referred to as the “Burgundy of Saint-Émilion.” Château Pavie Macquin’s terraced vineyards planted to 80 percent merlot and (20) cabernet franc are marked by a three-toned mix of clays; white at the top, mixed in the middle and brown down below. Pavie Macquin faces the village of Saint-Émilion with 15 hectares at the border which means the clays are laid overtop limestone. At the top the clay measures 14 cm and at the bottom the clay layers with limestone and “tender” limestone. A breezy place which means less mildew and disease pressure but also later harvests compared to the plateau of Saint-Émilion.

Chief Executive Officer of Château Troplong-Mondot Aymeric de Gironde introduces the non-eroded soil. “The real specificity is in the clay,” he explains. “It has been measured in square meters per gram.” An original clay, created at the same time as the rocks. The plateau is neo-clay, created by the disintegration of the limestone. Troplong-Mondot is original clay, not sin, a perfect pocket like Pétrus and so much more dense than that of their immediate neighbours. Its so dense it’s hard as rock. “At Troplong-Mondot natural density comes for free,” laughs de Gironde but he’s dead serious. “Here we don’t have to do much at all, if anything we have to be careful not to extract too much power.” The soils remind of Macigno del Chianti or better yet Formazione di Silano so prevalent in creating structured Chianti Classico sangiovese. “We’re now the first to harvest in the area,” says Aymeric. “We cultivate the differences of parcels and build the wines by blending.” The mix is 85 percent merlot, (13) cabernet sauvignon and (2) petit verdot. He has been with TM for six years. “Tasting 1998 and 2004 were great indicators to me for what to do in the vineyard.” On the property of Château Phélan Ségur a weather warning system is in place and the estate heads up a Saint-Estèphe program to release weather balloons in the face of hail storms. Hard not to be reminded of Angelo Gaja who more than 20 years ago was sending helicopters equipped with weather altering technology into the skies above Barbaresco. In the Médoc hailstorms are increasingly problematic and when they strike they can be devastating to a season’s crops.

^{Cabernet Sauvignon in the gravels of the Médoc}

Changing fermentations, elévage and varietal designs

Château Mouton Rothschild’s approach is unique because alcoholic and malolactic fermentation are completed simultaneously over three weeks. Aging is one year in barriques, followed by 50 percent new beyond. There were 92 different block vinifications during the 2022 harvest at Château Montrose. Malolactic begins directly after the alcoholic fermentation – they are contiguous, not simultaneous. At Château Les Carmes Haut Brion the new chapter is written through winemaker Guillaume Pouthier’s infusion methods whereby whole berries and whole bunches are layered mille-feuille style for a new kind of submerged cap way of keeping juice at the top and the most gentle way of breaking down skins without any crush. At Château Cheval Blanc the prefernce is to do all fermentations in concrete vats, remove the skins at the initial alcoholic fermentation and not to handle things simultaneously. The cellar master’s job is to make everything “fine,” not more.

Château Phélan Ségur’s yeast program pays homage to its bacterial history – isolated yeasts strains are propagated from l’Enclos, the heart of the vineyard and historical Phélan plot, then used to ferment only that plot, in that vintage. “The initial results were exceptional , tells Managing Director Veronique Dausse, “and so in the subsequent vintage it was done with other plots in the north.” After three years of comparing to commercial yeasts the realization was had that vintage does not effect outcomes and that indigenous yeasts create more consistent typicity, so long as a cocktail of yeasts are employed from plot to plot, as well as no cross contamination between fermentations. Some merlot in the south have been added this year to be part of the experimentation.

At Château Margaux less and less merlot is being used and so new plantings are mostly cabernet sauvignon but increasingly also cabernet franc. Not yet certified but fully organic practices have been followed since 2019. Depending on the vintage Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion’s new oak usage is 70-80 percent. Château Bellefont-Belcier’s technical director Emmanuelle Fulchi d’Aligny insists on cellar conditions that are clean, clean, clean and low, low, low fermentation temperatures. The wine was classified in 2006, ferments are partially pressed, free-run juice is key, concrete tanks stabilize the wines and they use just 30 percent new oak. Troplong-Mondot’s Aymeric de Gironde uses cold macerations and one-third pumpovers through the course of a day.

^{Infusion fermentation at Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion}

Please don’t call them “Second Wines”

“Calling them second wines is a mistake,” insists Château Haut-Brion’s Guillaume Alexandre Marx, “and it always has been.” All one has to do is consider the farming. “It’s the same as it is for the Grand Vin. Several “other” wines were tasted at chateaus along both the Left and Right Banks and while terms like second and third were conjured, the nomenclature has long since drifted away from these kinds of notions. Today they encompass labels like Château Lacoste Borie, Duluc De Branaire Ducru, Le Dragon De Quintus, Les Forts de Latour, Les Tourelles de Longueville, Les Griffons de Pichon Baron, Pauillac, Verso, Echo de Lynch Bages Famille J M Cazes, Pavillon de Léoville Poyferré, Les Fiefs de Lagrange, Pagus De Lagrange, Les Fleurs du Lac, La Dame de Château Montrose, Margaux de Château Margaux, Pavillon Rouge de Château Margaux, Margaux de Brane Henri Lurton, Baron de Brane Henri Lurton, Le “C” des Carmes Haut-Brion, Haut Bailly II, “G” d’Estournel, “Lions de Sudiuraut,” Les Tours de Belcier, Mondot de Troplong Mondot, Le Petit and Indie de Monbadon. There are dozens more but these are but the examples tasted in the last year.

Older vintages and 150 tasting notes

The collective theme of the last 15 months seems to have focused on maturing, yet far from tiring Bordeaux vintages. Many pours have come from the 2014, 2012 and 2011 vintages. Less than heralded ones it has oft been noted though today the three are drinking beautifully. Hard not to be privy to the notion that the chateaus pouring these wines are in that requiem period of needing to sell some cases sooner rather than later, but the other truth is when wines are showing well they open more doors more than close them. Skeptics would say the opposite but truth is truth and the ’11s and ‘14s especially are in a special place. The terroir is truly there. How do we know? Freshness and transparency. Is that not exactly what to expect from a high quality wine of Bordeaux? At a Domaines Clarence Dillon tasting in Toronto last year Guillaume Alexandre Marx chose 2012 because “it is a vintage I love and it has now entered into it’s drinking window.” Coincidentally speaking the vintage is also one that equates quality with quantity, meaning they are sure to impress and there is still some product to be sold. Other vintages are either not ready, are much scarcer or just don’t meet the quality. Old Bordeaux are the sort to hover right there with rhythmic, syncopated and metronomic pace. Wines that maintain composure with aromatic perfume and the sweet development of acidity while tannins are essentially and fully resolved.

In September 2023 the vintages being poured were mainly 2019 and 2018, though a few 2021s and 2020s as well, while the overall range was greater than what is generally offered out of most regions worldwide. The 18’s are Bordeaux of a warm vintage (though ’19 and ’20 took it further) but there is just something about the wines on the 9’s, especially on the Left Bank. Lush, enveloping productions, in Pauillac so luxuriant they gloss over aesthetic differences between varieties and seamlessly ties them together. For Saint-Julien the wines are chewy, both the wood and also tannin are grand, though also sweet, enticing and overall quite amenable. As for Saint-Éstephe well the wood is big, grip is formidable and tannins remain mired in the gravel and clay, not nearly wanting to release the fruit for accessible play. But the concentration and precision are wholly impressive and the impression left is serious indeed. Not a complicated year but the wines are stiff, know how important this life is and what it will be. A top ranking vintage for Bordeaux as a rule but for Saint-Estèphe the glory is real. For Péssac-Léognan a crazy concentrated and also spicy vintage, of savour, county character, salt and pepper seasoning. Beautiful rusticity, fine chalky tannins and length down a long gravel road.

In Saint-Émilion there is this mouthful of fruit freshness, sharp and pointed acidity that culminates in major tannin adding up to seriously proper tension. The cabernet franc leads, fills, expands and creates what can only be described as an explosion upon the palate. When merlot hits right it transmits as contained and controlled power, especially from the generously wooded 2019s but my goodness the saline freshness, chalky quality and silken tannin wrap up the fruit with a ying-yang of nurture and grip. As for Pomerol, more variegation but every layer is deeper and richer than the last. If 2018, 2020 and 2021 build and build then 2019 is compact, not dense but composed of many films upon films and there is this pressed leathery fruit aspect indicated by the aromatic wealth. People will swoon and die for this kind of luxe Pomerol and the tannins are dutiful, carrying the weight and extending the life of 2019 for what will be many years to come. All this to say stock up on 2019. The following are 150 reviews for wines tasted in Bordeaux back in September 2023, along with three previous 2022 visits from producers and négociants in Toronto.