St Julien didn’t quite knock me out in 2010 as it did in 2009 but then that was an amazing, atypical year. And that doesn’t mean that this isn’t a great vintage here or that the quality is uneven. The appellation remains the benchmark for homogeneity. Great wines have been produced at Chateau  Léoville-Las-Cases and Chateau Léoville Poyferré, both terrific are. Chateau Gruaud Larose is also looking wonderful in 2010, as good, but different from 2009 in fact. Chateau St Pierre also looks strong very strong. Still there is a lot of grip here, even the best wines, so fresh was the acidity and considerable the tannin in this fascinating vintage.

Keen watchers and traders on the fine wine market will be familiar with the rise in price of Chateau Duhart-Milon Rothschild over the past year. Part of the Lafite stable, Duhart-Milon has been an extremely fine Pauillac for the past twenty years or so and up until recently it was reasonably inexpensive. The 2005 could be had for £300 [$500] a case when it was released in 2006 – now you won’t get much change from £1500 [$2400] for the very same wine. Much of this increase has been in the past twelve months since arrival of the 2009 vintage.

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.