I’m sorry not to be off tasting the 2024 vintage in Bordeaux this week. Logistics have defeated me this year. Still, with an ocean of fine Bordeaux on the shelves [and quite a bit in my cellar] I thought this would be a good time to review some old favourites that I’ve recently drunk. First up a property from Bordeaux’s left bank. I’ve been following Château Meyney for years in Bordeaux’s St Estèphe appellation. It’s one of the best wine values in a district that has a really good price quality rapport. Personally, I’d put Meyney right up there behind the leading super seconds of the appellation Château Calon-Segur, Château Cos d’Estournel and Château Montrose. Château Meyney is qualitatively on a par with the well-known Château Haut-Marbuzet, if significantly different in style. To my palate is often more refined than the other crus classes Château Lafon Rochet and Château Cos Labory.

I’ve recently tasted Château Meyney 2018, 2016 and 2014 vintages and I have cases of the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 in the pipeline. I’ve also had the 2009, 2010 and 2013 vintages in recent years – all impressed, even the 2013 which was one of the last properties to pick in that wet growing season. Way back in the mid 1990s I was treated to magnums of the 1970 and 1961 by Australia’s legendary wine guru James Halliday when I was working a vintage at Coldstream Hills in the Yarra Valley. They were remarkable wines – thick and strapping at twenty-five to thirty years of age.

Château Meyney lies on beautiful terroir overlooking the Gironde right next to Château Montrose. The soils are quite different but the aspect is similar. The property has been owned by Credit Agricole’s CA Grand Crus organisation since 2004 and winemaker [now group executive director] Anne Le Nour has been instrumental in the renaissance at Meyney over the past decade or so. Below are my recent thoughts on the 2018, 2016 and 2014. I hope to follow up with an even more comprehensive vertical tasting soon.

If you’ve bought the 2018 Château Meyney, hang on to it! The wine is backward at present but has layers of fruit and extract and a formidable tannic structure that suggests decades of life ahead of it. If you do want to take a peek at it now, give it three hours in a decanter and pair it with some ribeye steak. I’m leaving the remainder of the case I’ve bought for a couple of years in the cellar before I investigate another.

The 2016 Meyney is a much better bet to broach as it’s just starting to open now. This has wonderful refinement and balance and plenty of attractive aromatics and shows the lovely balance of the best wines in this remarkable vintage in Bordeaux. This Meyney also needs a few hours in a decanter to show its best, but it is more evidently approachable than the 2018. It’s a strong wine which will improve over the next five years at least, and be in good shape well into the 2030s.

The 2014 vintage was a fascinating one in Bordeaux. A mixed summer weather-wise was followed by a gloriously sunny and warm September which significantly turned things around. The wines showed well early on in primeurs tastings and were offered at good prices. This was absolutely the case with Meyney that was offered at £20 [$25] a bottle at the time. Of all the red districts St Estèphe produced the best wines in 2014, partly as it is often late to harvest and it really made the most of the dry sunny weather in September and October. The Cabernet was especially good and makes up the 55% of the blend. Today Meyney 2014 is a marvel. The wine is drinking wonderfully. It remains bright and fresh but age has brought harmony to the wine and the refinement you find in a wine twice the price. This is a 2014 definitely worth buying if you see any remaining stocks on merchant’s shelves.

The following notes were taken over the past couple of months on the wines drunk. If you want to look at some earlier notes taken on the wines of Château Meyney, click on the chateau profile on the site here.

Château Meyney, St Estèphe, 2018

Deep and arterial; colour tight to the rim; spices and black fruits but evidently very tightly woven at present; the aromatics need some coaxing out in the glass; palate has terrific concentration, evident structure and a boatload of chewy tannin. My advice is don’t broach a bottle from this vintage just yet. This wine needs another three to five years to open up and soften the tannin and will age well for two or three decades. Like many ‘18s this appeards to be developing slowly. [42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 18% Petit Verdot, 14.5% alc]. Tasted November ’24. 93+

Château Meyney, St Estèphe, 2016

Deep and opaque at centre; colour tight to rim; pencils, tar and wet rock; deep; plenty of plush fruit on the palate; evident structure and depth; lovely texture on the mid-palate; plenty to this. Tannin, whilst evident, has more harmony currently than the ’18. Lots of finesse here. Excellent wine. This is drinking well now given a bit of time in a decanter. Nicely balanced with some freshness too. No hurry to drink this now but if you have a case, do start to investigate. [49% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Petit Verdot, 14% alc]. Tasted March 2025. 94+

Château Meyney, St Estèphe 2014

Still opaque at centre; deep and colour tight to the rim; pencil shavings, ripe plums and other black fruits; really quite plush for Meyney; opens up in the decanter nicely; inky notes alongside the black fruits and tar and wet rock elements; palate really textured and open now; plenty of fruit and depth. Dense but agglomerated tannins on the finish. Should have bought two cases of this en primeur as I’m almost through what I bought early on. Terrific stuff. [55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 15% Petit Verdot, 30% new oak, 14% alc]. Tasted December 2024. 94