I used to save the best to last. When I first started visiting the cellars of Jean-Luc Thunevin I’d turn up at the end of primeurs week. What a fool I was. Now it’s the first place I head to in St Emilion. It was interesting hearing Jean-Luc’s thoughts on the 2017 vintage. In places unaffected by frost, on the best terroirs he reckons it’s the equivalent to 2014 and even 2015 in places. Importantly Château Valandraud itself was not affected by the late April freeze. Other properties that Thunevin advises were, including some of his own properties such as Clos Badon in St Emilion and Le Clos du Beau Père in Pomerol. If volumes are down, in many cases quality is good to very good, judging from the wines tasted in Thunevin’s cellars. I love the energy that he manages to generate in his own wines and for Valandraud fans [read Jean-Luc fans] his 2017s do not disappoint. 

There are good wines to be had in Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac in 2014. Eleven wines tasted blind shown by the Grand Cercle last month in St Emilion had attractive fruit tones, freshness and a fair bit of ambition. These wines appear to have early to medium term prospects but are probably best enjoyed in their youth when they are vibrant and full of fruit. That said several have the structure to age for up to a decade. The picks for me were Château Dalem, Haut-Carles, Château La Vielle Cure and Château Les Trois Croix in Fronsac and Château Moulin Pey-Labrie and Château Gaby in Canon-Fronsac.