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Château d'Aiguilhe
1999
Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux France
80% Merlot / 20%
Cabernet-Franc. 100% new casks with 18 months growth.
Bright ruby color. The wine looks pretty thick in the glass.
Floral and red fruit
nose. Quite
tannic but the fruit
balances well. Nicely done but slightly too
alcoholic in my view. A pleasant
rustic and virile wine.
84/100
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Domaine de l'A 1999
Cotes de Castillon, Bordeaux France
60%
Merlot / 25%
Cabernet
Franc
/ 15%
Cabernet
Sauvignon
Clear ruby hue. The
nose is a bit closed at the opening but widens gradually in the glass revealing spices and mint fragrances. Harmonious
attack mainly dominated by pepper. Smooth and long
finish. Because of the relative youth of the property's vines (20 years old on average), the wine lacks some concentration. Nevertheless with such a natural class, Domaine de l'A. will undoubtedly become one of the most promising estates of the decade!
88/100
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Château Puygueraud 1998
Cotes de Francs,
Bordeaux France60% Merlot
/ 40% Cabernet-Sauvignon
Ruby hue. Bouquet dominated by strawberries and blackcurrant. Harsh tannins but well
balanced overall.
Bitter by the end. Will certainly improve in 2 - 3 years.
85/100
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Ch. le Pin-Beausoleil
- 1998
A first example of a " vin de garage "
80% Merlot
/ 10% Cabernet-Sauvignon
/ 10'000 bt - 6'000 square meter.
Le Pin-Beausoleil is owned by Arnaud Pauchet since 1996 and 1998 is the first
vintage
totally monitored by Derenoncourt. The curiosity about this 1998
vintage is that both Cabernets were deposited in the same vat and grown together. The result is astonishing!
Deep
purple colour. The
nose delicately reveals red fruits and citrus
aromas. The wine is relatively concentrated,
rich and
fruity with an
elegant
finish. Very
fresh and feminine.
87 / 100.
This bottle is actually worth around 30 EUR; undoubtedly an excellent price / quality ratio (will that last with all the current frenzy around the "garage wines"? - Lets hope Parker doesn't discover this one too soon!).
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Château Gigault Cuvée Viva 1998
Premières Côtes de Blaye, Bordeaux, France
80% Merlot
/ 10% Cabernet-Franc
/ 10% Cabernet-Sauvignon
Dark hue. Complex
nose dominated alternatively by
vanilla,
tobacco leaves, spices, and black fruits. Solidly
balanced and
fresh. Promising but doesn't reveal its full potential yet.
86/100
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Les Grands Maréchaux 1998
Premières Côtes de Blaye, Bordeaux, France
80%
Merlot/ 10%
Cabernet
Franc/ 10%
Cabernet
Sauvignon
Discrete but
fruity
nose. Balance
structure showing a lot of vitality. The wine is nice but a bit linear for the moment. The growth process has been monitored very closely and this Grands Marechaux 1998 will hopefully look friendlier in 2 - 3 years.
85/100
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Clos de l'Oratoire
1997
St-Emilion,
Bordeaux France Grand Cru Classe
The first time where Derenoncourt has supervised the wine from the beginning to the end of the growth process. Very bright hue. The
nose is characterized by
vanilla /
oak aromas. Very ample and
fruity. Maybe a lack of
fat in the middle of the mouth (a general problem with the 1997
vintage). A perfect
ripe wine, which actually bodes well with a nice meal.
89/100
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Clos de l'Oratoire
1996
St-Emilion, Bordeaux France Grand Cru Classe
An example of the kind of wines produced before the Derenoncourt era. Dark ruby color. The
nose is mainly dominated by
oak and
cedar.
Forward
body falling quite sharply by the end. The wine is pleasant but has little concentration. The
texture is far less complex than the Clos de l'Oratoire 1997. That's quite surprising as the 1996's are globally supposed to have a better quality.
85/100
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TOP
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Château Pavie-Macquin 1997
St-Emilion, Bordeaux France, 1er Grand Cru Classé
Bright purple colour. The
Merlots very
elegant
delicate and
ripe, almost roasted. Rounding tannins which could be better
balanced by more fruit. Nevertheless, this Pavie-Macquin is nice and
fat. Typically a wine to choose with a great meal. Drink 2002 - 2010.
88/100
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Château Rol-Valentin
1998
Saint Emilion - Bordeaux
France
The second " vin de garage " of the session. 10,000 - 12,000 bt / year. Derenoncourt does a very meticulous follow up during the whole wine making process. The berries have been picked similarly to the
Sauternes technique, grape by grape over several weeks depending of their maturity.
Very dark hue. Complex
nose expressing blackcurrant and mint. Highly concentrated with a perfect
balance between
acidity and fruit. Very long
finish with some chocolate tones. A great wine!
90/100
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Château La Mondotte
1997
Saint Emilion - Bordeaux France Last and maybe the most renowned wine of the evening. The colour is
deep and purple. As I dip my
nose in the glass I have the impression of being over a basket full of black and red fruits - blackcurrant, mulberry, cherry. There's plenty of sun in this wine. Perfect
body slightly roasted, very
ripe and strongly structured given the
vintage. The tannins are smooth and
fat. An impressive wine!
91/100
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EPILOGUE
Last and maybe the most renowned wine of the evening. The colour is
deep and purple. As I dip my
nose in the glass I have the impression of being over a basket full of black and red fruits - blackcurrant, mulberry, cherry. There's plenty of sun in this wine. Perfect
body slightly roasted, very
ripe and strongly structured given the
vintage. The tannins are smooth and
fat. An impressive wine!
Alain Bringolf -
for Winemega.com |
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Further articles on Winemega
Bordeaux wine tasting by topic
Bordeaux wine tasting by Chateau
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TOP
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The rise of a self made man
Immediately, one feels that the enologist isn't here to impress the crowd. In his early forties and revealing a rather discrete attitude, Derenoncourt soberly expresses himself in a precise and technical manner to illustrate his theories and views in making modern wines. Respectful to nature, one can easily find several similarities between the now famous enologist and his most cherished old vines. Cooperating closely with over 20 renowned estates - he admits to accompany his wines "all the way from the bud to the glass" - Stephane Derenoncourt doesn't hesitate to question some of the Bordeaux growers' conservative and secular habits. In very few years he has become the prime wine-consultant for very different kind of producers - from the so called " vins de garage "
(Rol-Valentin,
La Mondotte, Le Pin-Beausoleil) to much larger and classical chateaux
(Canon la Gaffelière,
Clos de l'Oratoire, Pavie-Macquin and more recently Prieuré Lichine in the
Margaux region). Similarly Stephane's wife Christine
consults Chateau La
Tour-Figeac, a well-known
Saint Emilion Grand Cru. Beside their intense consulting activities, the young couple owns one of Bordeaux's most recent revelation:
Domaine de l'A., a modest 4,000 square meter estate in the
Cotes de Castillon region praised by many wine specialists including
Robert Parker himself.
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A native from the Northern part of France where beer is more common than wine, Derenoncourt arrived in Bordeaux by
luck in 1982. Literally fascinated by the technical aspects of the wine, he passed the next 10 years of his life learning all the steps of the wine making, from the basic work in the vineyards to today's prestigious status of wine consultant for some of the most legendary labels. A few years ago, the man was severely criticized and snobbed by the local establishment. But faced with the quality of his wines, many producers started to show some polite interest before rapidly implementing some intense cooperation.
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Simple methods
Derenoncourt's approach is based on a "realistic" bio-dynamic method, an approach respectful of the nature's energies and where the fruit's natural
yeast is totally preserved. He is now considered as one of the forerunners for introducing specific oxygenation methods. As an enthusiast for stronger wine textures, he recommends to let the wines grow within their
lees. But his greatest secret is finally quite straightforward:
"make sure to have a maximum of flexibility in your work!". His schedule can completely change from one day to another depending on issues like weather conditions, vintage's characteristics or availability of the chateaux's technical staff. Following the example of the Sauternes
sweet wines, the red grapes
may, if needed, be harvested optimally in 3 or 4 times depending of the berry's ripeness. At this stage, Stéphane Derenoncourt avoids any brutal manipulation of the fruit such as mechanical destemming or mass crushing. The berries are simply deposited in the
fermentation vats. According to his words, when full
the vats look like huge caviar boxes! This approach allows a better oxygen flow within the grapes and guarantees a much easier control of the
fermentation's temperature.
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Total flexibility required
The wine making continues with a long period of growth on its
lees
(12 - 18 months). But in his view it is essential to modulate the wine's
growth according to the
vintage characteristics. The 1999's (and
presumably the 2001's) don't have the 2000's impressive
structure.
Derenoncourt therefore limits the
rackings to a minimum after the
malolactic
fermentation preventing less concentrated wines from any risks in oxydation. Consequently he sometimes lets them grow for a 10 - 15 months period without any human intervention!
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Research in perfection
Stephane Derenoncourt works a lot on improving a wine's impression in mouth.
"A well monitored growth helps to get a smooth and
rich impression on the
palate". Unfortunately as of today only empiric measures can be taken to improve the wine's
finish.
"All this remains more or less mysterious to us winemakers and I work a lot to try to improve this particular
aspect". Precision could be Derenoncourt's motto, always in search of the subtle
balance between strength and elegance.
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The dangers of over-extraction
Our guest is pretty dubious with the new fashion for over-extracted wines. The danger is to exaggerate the process and finally to bottle a kind of wooden juice mixed with large quantities of blackcurrant syrup. In his opinion over-extraction hurts the wine's molecules. Unfortunately, many tasters are sometimes bluffed during the wine's prime age by its impressive velvety smoothness and by its
powerful
structure. Unfortunately, these wines don't really bode well with food and
are pretty boring. Their capacity to age well still remains questionable at this point.
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This exceptional event was a unique opportunity to meet Stephane DERENONCOURT, perhaps one of the most controversial wine makers at the moment in Bordeaux. The evening was as usual remarkably organized by Jacques PERRIN
(
