This is a small snapshot of four wines from St Estèphe. I did look more comprehensively at the appellation in 2019 during primeurs and you can read the report here. Château Lafon Rochet continues to develop well. It was fabulous from cask and remains a seriously impressive wine, one of the best of the last decade.  Château Phélan Ségur is polished and balanced, with creamy aromatics and plenty of extract but it remains nicely polished. Château Ormes de Pez felt a little closed at the tasting, but offered up plenty of chunky fruit on the palate. Château de Pez felt a little angular and pinched on the finish, but I expect this will come good with some time in bottle.

There was plenty of ripe fruit on display in the four bottles of St Estèphe shown by the UGCB last October. I was particularly impressed with Château Lafon Rochet [pictured], showing just how this estate is going from strength to strength. Still Cos Labory, Ormes de Pez and de Pez will offer much pleasure. If you wish to look at my original primeurs 2018 notes and detailed analysis of the wines of Cos d’Estournel click here and for Calon-Ségur click here. In the meantime, I hope to add further notes on additional properties from this appellation now that the wines are in bottle.

Tasting fourteen wines from St Estèphe shows just what a wonderful vintage this is for many properties here in 2019. There is plenty of lush fruit on offer and these are wines with lots of extract, big, ripe tannins and considerable alcohol. I have already posted on Château Cos d’Estournel and Château Calon Ségur, which have both produced brilliant St Estèphe. I was also struck by the quality at Château Lafon Rochet, which has produced a wine of sophistication and class in this vintage. What great strides have been made here by Basile Tesseron over the past decade – starting with an impressive 2009. There are excellent wines to be had from Château Meyney and Château Haut-Marbuzet too. Both have produced typically concentrated St Estèphe in 2019 and are definitely worth seeking out. I also enjoyed with offerings from Château de Pez, Château Serilhan, Château Le Petit Bocq and Château Bernard Magrez. They have all produced impressive wine.

St Estèphe has made some very good wine in 2015 but the appellation has not done as well as in 2014 in my book. This is down to the heavy rain showers in mid September, the residual effect of ‘Storm Henry,’ that arrived on the eve of the Merlot harvest, a key varietal component to many of the wines in St Estèphe. While conditions improved from mid September until early October, how estates and different terroirs responded to these conditions determined the relative levels of success. There are some top wines in the appellation – Château Cos d’Estournel, Château Montrose, Château Calon-Ségur, Château Lafon-Rochet and Château Meyney spring to mind – but there is not the uniformity here for me of 2014, nor the exciting power in the wines. Whether 2015 will claw back some of that ground during elévage remains to be seen.