Wine Words & Video Tape

Wine, Words and Videotape

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Posts Tagged ‘Chateau Cheval Blanc’

Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: St Emilion

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

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There can be no doubt that outside Pomerol, St Emilion has put in the strongest performance in 2012. There is great beauty to the best wines. The vintage was not without its own problems of course as detailed in earlier posts – various heavy bouts of rain in October; the difficult start to the growing season which lead to uneven and protracted flowering; the risks of mildew in early July and botrytis in October. The most attentive and diligent have triumphed and the quality of the best Merlot is stunning.

Bordeaux 2012 Primeurs: Chateau Cheval Blanc

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

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There is delicacy and finesse on offer at Cheval Blanc in 2012. It is not a blockbuster but offers freshness and attractive balance and it should put on further weight. It’s certainly not as dramatic as some other efforts in St Emilion in 2012. The blend is in favour of Merlot here this year [54%], a clue as to the character of the vintage and perhaps how the Cabernet Franc turned out. I suppose the real question here is price. Cheval Blanc has priced extremely firmly in the past few vintages but will there be a Mouton-like reduction in 2012?

Bordeaux 2011 Primeurs: St Emilion

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

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.

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