2015 St Pierre (St Julien)

The 2015 Saint-Pierre has a well-defined and intense bouquet with black cherry, bilberry and light licorice scents that blossom in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied, cohesive and persistent, with sapid black fruit and a healthy dash of black pepper that lingers on the aftertaste. The 2015 is a long-term proposition. Tasted blind at the 2015 Bordeaux Ten-Year-On tasting.

The belief at the time that the 2014 was better than the 2015 in the northern Médoc is not being borne out with years in bottle (maybe Montrose!). The 2014 at Saint Pierre is excellent, but it's the 2015 that you want to go to if you're lookig for depth and future potential - this is loaded up with nuance and aromatic complexity. 2015 was the year where everything was new at Saint Pierre - newly renovated and expanded winery, more plot by plot vinification with tanks that range from 78hl to 135hl, with vertical press to replace pneumatic press, plus an expanded barrel cellar that allowed more than half of the press wine to be aged separately in barrel before being added to the blend. 50% new oak for ageing, harvest September 21 to October 7, Eric Boissenot consultant.

The 2015 Saint-Pierre has a scintillating nose of brilliantly defined black fruit with superb mineralité . You can feel the energy coming from this bouquet. The medium-bodied palate is precise and pixelated, displaying fine-grained tannin and wonderful balance, leading to an exquisite, detailed, almost Margaux-like finish. Utterly graceful. This impressed me so much just after bottling, far more than in barrel, and assessed blind against its peers, it represents a convincing argument that Saint-Pierre is becoming one of the go-to Saint-Julien crus. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.