You could say that Château Montrose is a typical St Estèphe in 2013. It is muscular and structured with density as well as acidity and grip. It is bold for the vintage. Yet this serious effort is exactly that. It is solemn and lacks a bit of charm and immediate appeal. It is certainly a longer-term wine than many in the vintage. The estate compares it to 1998. La Dame de Montrose has fruity aromatics and a structured palate with plenty of grip. Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande is vibrant and sappy.

Aymeric de Gironde summed up the 2013 vintage perfectly: ‘Normally we make wine to make money, this year you needed money to make wine.’ Production at Château Cos d’Estournel was 50% down, a combination of reduced yields through poor flowering and strict selection at harvest. The grand vin is a bright, fresh effort with pleasing aromatics and a lightness of touch that speaks of the vintage. Pagodes de Cos has a salty mineral tang and attractive vibrancy. Neither are weighty St Estèphe. Cos Blanc is wonderful. A bit like Aile d’Argent at Mouton, it’s the supporting actor here that walks off with the Oscar.

Pauillac in 2013 reminds me of a lesser version 2011. Sound like faint praise? Given the extremely challenging vintage conditions this is a success. There are some very good wines here; some are good values too. Others are a little compact and there is a degree of austerity to a few. Partly this is because of the increased percentages [even for Pauillac] of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blends, partly perhaps also because of less than fully ripe tannin, partly too the combined affect of very fresh acids this year, more so than 2011, 2008 and 2007, the vintages to which 2013 has been already been compared.

Maybe Château Latour has the edge over Lafite and Mouton in 2013 amongst the first growths. As the property has opted out of the en primeur system the wine is not available for sale, but the samples shown by the estate this April looked composed, linear on the palate and correct. The freshness and elegance of 2013 comes through, and while alcohols are comparatively low, there seems a fraction more substance and density here than at the other Pauillac properties. I’ll report in more detail on the current offerings of the château in a later post: 2004 Latour, 2006 Les Forts and 2008 Pauillac.