This was an extremely satisfying and strong appellation in 2009. Along with Pauillac and St Estèphe, St Julien is a contender for commune of the vintage, and has produced wines of great richness, intensity and strength in 2009. I’d be delighted to have almost all of these wines in my cellar. Given the slightly greater emphasis of Merlot in the blend here, the wines are usually a bit more approachable at early stage tastings and have more mid palate richness than the Pauillacs. They were certainly very flattering to taste and showed that there was also terrific ripeness in St Julien in this vintage.

Just returned from a week-long trip to Bordeaux to taste the principal wines from the 2009 vintage and I have to admit that these wines are amongst the finest young reds I have ever tasted.  It is a truly extraordinary vintage in the Médoc, the best ‘Cabernet’ year in living memory. It is a vintage in which many of the classed growths are nudging nearly fourteen degrees in alcohol and yet somehow manage to display extraordinary levels of balance.  It also looks extremely good in Pessac-Léognan, is beautiful year in Pomerol and has produced the best sweet wine vintage for Sauternes and Barsac since 2001.

Word on the steps of the major Chateaux is that 2009 is indeed an extraordinary year for red Bordeaux. What! I hear you say, another ‘legendary’ vintage maturing away in the vats of these great estates? First it was 2000, then 2003 the big heatwave year which was seen as a contender for a while, only to be trumped by 2005, described by virtually everyone at the outset as the best Bordeaux vintage ever – except Robert Parker – though he later revised his opinion upwards too. I got wrapped up in it all and bought as much as I 2005 could afford. I don’t regret it, but I’m not sure I can afford to do it all over again. But then again, do I want to miss out in such a potentially great vintage?  So what is the story about 2009 then?

Blimey – I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to type up these notes. Way back last September on a balmy late summer’s day above Smithfield’s meat market in London, Stokes Fine Wines introduced a new estate that they now represent – Man O’ War Vineyards – a quite extraordinary new Kiwi property from Waiheke Island down in the south. It has some of the most picturesque vineyards in all their fine lands [see photo above, courtsey of them]. Wine maker Duncan McTavish, who looks like he may have been a useful Rugby prop forward, introduced the wines in a  direct and engaging manner which spoke volumes for his passion and enthusiasm. French wines were his reference points, specifically the Rhone and Burgundy – and this came through in the wines.