Question: What is the latest on the reclassification in St. Emilion?

Answer: Yes I answered this same question here on September 29, 2021 referring to substantial changes coming in the future to the 2012 ranking. However your question is most topical because the INAO has just released the new 2022 classification. Pleased to see Figeac raised to the highest level of Premier Grands Crus Classe A joining Pavie with 12 other Premier Grand Crus (not A) and 71 Grands Crus Classe. Promoted to this latter Group is Montlabert with an old Canadian connection where your scribe first stayed way back in 1970. It was profiled on this Blog here on April 26, 2021. There is an excellent update on the new classification posted on wine-searcher.com. plus cluboenologique.com with more details and reactions.

Always enjoy the educational opportunity for a horizontal wine tasting to assess how a maturing vintage from a specific wine region is developing. Such a retrospective presented itself with red Bordeaux 2006 held by La Commanderie de Bordeaux for a dinner at Tutto restaurant in Vancouver on September 6, 2022. This vintage is now 16 years along from a challenging harvest often during September rains following a cold wet winter, hot dry sunny June & July, and a cooler August with more rain & less sun than average. This year had difficulty following the fantastic outstanding 2005 vintage but generally resulted in overall better results than the unripe greener large crop 2004 & delicate earlier drinking 2007. On release 2006 was called another “6” vintage comparing it to 1996 & 1986 but hasn’t developed as well as those two worthy ones. Today 2006 is perhaps likely to be most successful for late Cabernet Sauvignon Pauillac and early ripening Merlot Pomerol (less Cab Franc) but some very good wines can be found as well from Pessac-Leognan and St. Julien. The style of the reds tends towards burly hefty structure being rather tannic and needing time to round out. Whites did better with cool August weather preserving that wonderful zesty acidity. Some personal notes:

2010 DOMAINE DE CHEVALIER BLANC PESSAC-LEOGNAN: Gorgeous blend of SB (70) & Sem (30) concentrated balanced and complex! One bottle is very pale, fresh, and youthful plus another has more yellow tones while others are in-between but all are excellent. This is exactly the aged bottle variation problem that caused Olivier Bernard to switch from cork to Diam closures.

First Flight 2006 RED:

LE BON PASTEUR POMEROL: Home estate of Dany & Michel Rolland. Higher 90% Merlot with highest 13.5 abv in this Group. Simpler terroir for a Pomerol with less complex bouquet but easy drinking lovely ripe fruit. Good example of how subjective wine tasting is because some liked this best in the first flight though your scribe ranked it 4th. Delicious with beef short rib agnolotti course.

CALON-SEGUR ST. ESTEPHE: Usually depends on more Merlot (here 33%) in their perfect blend but showing rustic menthol medicinal notes. Good bit dumb but mixed feelings. 3rd.

PONTET-CANET PAUILLAC: More brilliant severe selection work by Alfred Tesseron and his team with one of the top wines of the vintage. Still backward but so intense, tannic and buckets of clean fruit so Pauillac waiting to explode. No rush. 1st. Wine of the Night.

RAUZAN-SEGLA MARGAUX: Another lovely wine from Chanel showing rounder charming and elegant. This is more forwardly just now starting the plateau of drinkability. Enjoy. 2nd.

Second Flight 2006 RED:

LEOVILLE-BARTON ST. JULIEN: Property has always been such an amazing value. One bottle here has a touch of TCA but others show solid purity of fruit inviting with that typical L-B iodine spice note on the nose. Another classic in the making full of rich powerful fruit with robust tannins but so well balanced. Patience needed. 1st.

GRUAUD-LAROSE ST. JULIEN: Found it OK but a bit briary with loosely disjointed lower fruit level. Where is dense fruit and that classy complex text-book cedar cigar box bouquet of the marvellous run of treasures from 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1986? Disappointment for me yet others preferred it as best in this flight. 4th.

BRANAIRE-DUCRU ST. JULIEN: Underrated dependable property with delightful fragrant perfumes of St. Julien in a lighter charming style. Successful in 2006 at good value. 3rd.

MONTROSE ST. ESTEPHE: Great property sold by the Charmolue family in the Spring 2006 to brothers Martin & Olivier Bouygues who immediately hired the late Jean-Bernard Delmas (ex-Haut Brion). Typical St. Estephe terroir here but needs time for coarser tannic fruit to blossom out to the best plateau of enjoyment. Almost approachable now with the rack of lamb. 2nd.

Question: What are your thoughts on the Mouton wine project in Chile?

Answer: Yes it is a joint venture started in 1997 with Concha y Toro. Their Bordeaux-styled ALMAVIVA showed a bit too much unripe green Carmenere in the early vintages but presently at the celebratory 25-year mark is producing excellent Cabernet Sauvignon-focused red wine blends in Chile. Now also do a solid second label EPU (indigenous word for “two”) from younger vines usually with more CS and less C than the Grand Vin. For example, the 2020 current release of Epu is 81%CS/12C compared to Almaviva at 68%CS/24C. They have prime vineyard elevated land in the respected Puente Alto region to produce these unique terroir-driven top quality wines. Check them out.

The new list of the so-called “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” has been released. Two initial reactions were joy because a favourite of your scribe is the fantastic GERANIUM in Copenhagen as #1 and surprise that three restaurants in Lima Peru made the Top 50: #2 CENTRAL. #11 MAIDO, AND #32 MAYTA. However, I believe you have to take it all with a grain of salt because how many of the judges do you think actually travelled to Lima in the past year to dine at those 3 Peruvian restaurants. Nonetheless, it is a different cuisine that is finding more popularity around the world. Like the influences of Africa, China, France, Italy and Japan on what has now resulted in the unique cuisine flavours of Peru. In Vancouver we are fortunate to have the new opening of SUYO (Modern Peruvian) meaning “homeland” under talented Owner Chef Ricardo Valverde and his enthusiastic team. Amazing space and dedication in preparing authentic Peruvian dishes yet with a modern twist. Sustainability, lots of vegetables, limes, different causas, outstanding Pisco Sours all so colourful together with exciting intoxicating interpretations. Well done! The opening dinner celebration was so tasty & well presented as the photos show. Super bar area. Wine service by their conscientious GM/Partner James Reynolds was in classy glassware with an unusual mixed progression of reds before whites but actually worked quite well with the matched courses. Aji de Gallina is usually made with walnuts but this one was very creamy with substituted cashews. Check out their website at suyo.ca and be enticed by the opening celebration menu with photos. Are there any Peruvian hot spots in your community?

Question: What are your recommended winery visit ideas for my upcoming several day visit to Montalcino?

Answer: Lucky you Dave. The town of Montalcino in the Province of Siena in Tuscany is a wonderful place to visit and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2004. Visited there several times, the first one way back in the late seventies. At that time there were less than 50 producers compared to 240+ now. The leaders then that I really enjoyed visiting were pioneer BIONDI SANTI at Il Greppo, EMILIO CONSTANTI, BARBI, and POGGIO ALLE MURA (now BANFI), Attended each April many VINITALY Fairs in Verona in the eighties after Brunello received their DOCG status in 1980 and met the principals of emerging favs of ALTESINO, COL D’ORCIA, and MASTROJANNI among others. Long time fan of ARGIANO who we use also for our top Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A couple of developing legends are worth seeking out – CASE BASSE property of SOLDERA (Gianfranco died in 2019) in La Tavernelle and CERBAIONA DI DIEGO MOLINARI. Don’t forget some major wine producers elsewhere in Italy who produce excellent Brunello: ANTINORI PIAN DELLE VIGNE, FRESCOBALDI CASTELGIOCONDO, and GAJA PIEVE SANTA RESTITUTA. My best tip would be to seek out the differences in the many different terroirs you will discover on your trip. Altitude is a major factor together with comparing the structured fresher style in the north to the riper fruit from the southern vineyards. Have fun exploring and comparing the marvellous 2015 & 2016 vintages!