The vagaries of the 2011 season effected St Emilion in pretty much the same way as it did the rest of Bordeaux. A precocious start in spring got the vineyards off to a flying start. Extremely high temperatures at the end of June, recorded at 44C in the shade at Chateau Figeac, caused problems and would have stalled vine growth. Cooler and wetter weather in July and August helped spur things along but clearly the fluctuating climatic conditions necessitated a huge investment of labour in the vineyards in terms of canopy management and the like to maintain a healthy crop. There was also some localised rain at harvest which would have proved problematic although here, as elsewhere, September was generally sunny and warm.

Vineyards at Chateau Beau-Séjour Bécot in St Emilion

The wines of St Emilion felt less promising than I remember tasting a couple of years back in 2009 at UGC. Again dryness to the tannins here and a forced/overly worked style of winemaking seemed the main [and considerable] drawback. That said a few looked pretty good and had harmony and balance. Others too thick and extracted. Those that opted for elegance over extraction have fared the lest, like Chateau Figeac, as usual, and Chateau Canon and Chateau Magdelaine.

Chateau Figeac produced majestic wine in 2009

I came away from the primeurs tastings in St Emilion last year a little bewildered. There were undoubtedly great wines produced in this vintage but at that stage for me it felt very difficult to assess St Emilion, at least in such glowing terms as in the Médoc, Pessac and even in neighbouring Pomerol. The problem was with the tannin, thick, dense and chewy and, wow, such a lot of it, just how would these wines settle? Admittedly over-extraction and over-ripeness are not new concerns for this appellation, but it did concern me when I first tasted these 2009s. It wasn’t a problem across the board by any means but there were many that felt overdone.

With the first Bordeaux 2010 releases starting to trickle out [at prices that seem on par to 2009] I’ve culled my tasting notes down by score for the vintage for the top thirty reds, the a dozen likely best value reds and then a dozen best dry and sweet whites as I saw it. It’s a snapshot obviously. Hope it’s helpful. The full notes for each chateau review can be found either by backtracking down the previous posts, through the search box or down under the Bordeaux Vintage 2010 profile.