Red Wine
- Details
- Published: 21 July 2016 21 July 2016
Talking to Emmanuel de Saint Salvy from Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
What can we expect from the 2015 vintage in St Emilion?
2015 is a very interesting vintage because at the same time we have a very full-bodied vintage but with a lot of fruit… we can drink it today.
Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2015 Vintage: Interview with Emmanuel de Saint Salvy from Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé
What can we expect from the 2015 vintage in St Emilion?
2015 is a very interesting vintage because at the same time we have a very full bodied vintage but with a lot of fruit… we can drink it today. It is a really fruity and good balanced vintage. 2015 was a very dry vintage but the water [rain] arrived at the good moments. We had a cool August with cold nights that maintained the freshness and gave us fruit, balance, minerality and acidity in the wine. This is very important to balance between the sun at the beginning of the year and the cold at the end.
2015 will be a very special vintage, we are sure of this!
How does 2015 compare to the recent top vintages of 2005 or 2009?
Often it is very difficult to say it exactly like this one or compared to that one but I think the 2015, for the Grand Cru Classé of St Emilion, for me it is 2010 plus because… it is a full-bodied vintage and we have really really great fruit and really very great balance… so for me it is 2010 plus!
Can you tell us the best time for drinking these fine wines?
Each wine you can drink in so many different times and you can like a different type of wine… you can drink the same wine very young, [when] medium [aged] or very late. Some vintages you can drink more quickly than the others.
What is your personal favourite vintage for enjoying right now?
My personal is the last one, 2015… sure, I think for me it is the greatest vintage we’ve had for 20 years. But that is very personal to my chateau because… we progress, we plant and replant, so at one moment the vintage arrives with a lot of work and all this together can make the best wine as possible.
Tasting notes For Chateau Bellefont-Belcier Saint Elion Grand Cru Classé 2009 and 2015:
Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, 2009
Lovely almost translucent ruby colour. Ripe plum and cherry, coffee and old leather aromas. Quite delicate and elegant with lovely length.
Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, 2015
Darker than the ’09 with attractive perfume of herbs, thyme, lavender. Oily mouthfeel, the gorgeous balance of fruit, acidity and smooth tannic grip contributing to an overall seductive power.
More great wines from the 'Association De Grands Crus Classes' tasting:
There is no doubt that 2015 was a great vintage that will be exuding quality and class for years to come. The wines exhibited in the City of London were too many to list all but here are a few of particular interest:
Chateau Laroze 2009 and 2015 - both superb vintages with layers of complexity from fruit to leather in the 09 and seeductive power in the 15.
Chateau La Tour Figeac 2005 and 2015 - both great wibnes - the 05 still had glowing youth, bright red fruit, gripping tannin and enduring length. Lovely.
Chateau Fonplégade 2010 and 2015 - The 10 is youthful, balanced with fruit, tannin and delicate oak. Enjoy now and, if you buy enough, for the foreseeable future. The 15 has delicious intense fruit, power and length. So good!
Chateau Clos De Sarpe 2007 and 2015 - The 07 is dark brown / brick red, a great mouthful of strawberry and hints of chocolate ready to drink now and very tasty to boot! The 15 is a light ruby colour, bright blackcurrant on the nose and to taste. Great mouthfeel of tannin, fruit and power.
Chateau La Marzelle 2012 and 2015 - The 15 is really where its at here. Vibrant fresh berry fruit and a layer of dark chocolate give this wine mysterious charm. Many years of pleasure ahead for drinkers of Chateau La Marzelle 2015.
Discord in Odesa; pruning at Shabo goes on!
Last week a picture was posted on Twitter of vines in Shabo, a large estate that lies to the west of Odesa on southern Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline. The image seemed benign at face value but the reality, of course, is that the city of Odesa has been bracing itself for attack by Russian forces.
An aperitif by the coliseum
As COVID-19 conspires with the grimmest of winds and rain to force a societal retreat behind our own front doors, the word ennui springs to mind. The muddle of displeasure is pierced when Natalia hands me a large bulbous glass of a liquid I do not recognise.
Artichoke pasta and very fine Pigato
Britain’s lamentable exit
On the eve of Britain’s official departure from the EU, my partner and I decided to explore a small town on the Italian Riviera where thewintry cold doesn’t feel so much like cold war bite.
I had warned my significant other that I would be having an inverse departure party, a release of the sanity valve if you like!
Soave: volcanic wines with elegance and longevity
Sitting inside the ancient castle walls inside the town of Soave, a short drive from Verona in northern Italy, the unique slightly almond aroma of the indigenous grape, Garganega, rises gently from my glass. The castle sprawls up the side of an extinct volcano that gives the region its variant soil structures that mark out the better quality of Soave wines.
An American In Paris; Tanisha Townsend (@GirlMeetsGlass) discusses podcasts, Paris wine bars, & what she's drinking at the moment
Tanisha Townsend decided to move to Paris 4 years ago after regularly passing through the city en route to the world’s most famous vineyards. In fact, it was about 2 years ago at the Printemps de Champagne Bouzy Rouge tasting in Reims that I saw (who we shall now refer to as) GirlMeetsGlass chirpily speaking to her web followers on Snapchat.
Wine tasting in Galicia: The pilgrims search for Albarino
The cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, the final resting place of Saint James, rises out of the landscape, infested with antiquity. The rambling steep streets give way to shafts of dramatic light, emblazoned chapels, and tightly packed tapas bars, dusty, as old novels pressed together in antiquarian bookshops.