Cat in St-Émilion: June 2023

06/07/2023
For someone studying the WSET Diploma, I haven’t visited many vineyards or wineries. A few in England (day trips where the priority was how easily you could get there on a train from Zone 1) and a trip to Georgia last year (which I promise to write up at some point.) Luckily for me, a family trip to France provided a perfect opportunity to start putting this right; and where better than Bordeaux? Probably one of, if not THE, most renowned regions in the world of wine; and also the region that the WSET seem to cover in the most detail over their syllabus. All in all: a fine starting position.

But where to begin?

With an area as large and well-known as Bordeaux, it’s hard to know. Google ‘Bordeaux wine tour’, and you’ll get 36 million results (I just tried.)

Left Bank or the Right Bank? Then which appellation? Then which vineyard(s)? Full-day tour, half-day tour, in a group, individually, how many can you fit in a day..?

Fortunately, I work with Richard, who has been visiting Bordeaux for three decades and has plenty of insight and helpful contacts. A big thanks here to Max Sichel, who came to visit us in London for one of our wine dinners a year or two ago, and was incredibly generous in setting up visits with the châteaux. I had no car, and only a day or two on which I would be able to visit, so it wasn’t the easiest to plan; but Max managed to get me set up to go and see Château Quintus, Château Pavie, and Château Angélus the day before I headed home - all in St-Émilion.

(After all, if you only go for one day, why not go straight to the top?)

For anyone who hasn’t had this drummed into their heads via WSET, St-Émilion is known for exceptional vineyards producing some of the world's most sought-after and highly regarded wines. It’s located on the right bank of the Dordogne, around the medieval village (now a UNESCO world heritage site) that gives it its name – complete with with windy little streets and an underground stone church. The soils in the area are mostly clay, which in Bordeaux means that it is mostly planted with Merlot - and quite a lot of Cabernet Franc as I was to discover. There are about 800 châteaux in the appellation, and just in case the general Bordeaux classification isn’t confusing enough in its own right, then St-Émilion doesn’t help matters by following its unique classification system.

The St-Émilion classification system was first created in 1954, when it consisted of twelve Premier Grand Cru Classé and 63 Grand Cru Classé. It’s an interesting - and on the surface seemingly very fair - system, in that it is updated every ten years to keep it current, the last classification taking place last year in 2022; but of course, with so much prestige and money attached it is nowhere near as simple as that. There are frequent legal battles and controversies, but if you want more detail on that then it is very much worth a Wikipedia deep dive.

Premier Grand Cru Classé A (this tier is divided into A and B) is the top tier, and there are now only two châteaux in this category: and I was going to get to visit one of them (as well as one that was in that top tier until last year when they chose to withdraw from the classification completely – more later!)
Onto the visits.

Our first appointment was 10am at Château Quintus. We were staying in Bordeaux city centre, which meant that we had to catch a train to St-Émilion. These run regularly and are cheap, although if you do this yourself then remember to book a few days in advance as the tickets get more expensive a day or two beforehand. As is fairly normal when visiting France these days, there were lots of protests ongoing, which meant our planned train was cancelled and we had to take an earlier one; reaching St-Émilion at 8am. Not an issue, time for croissants and coffee in the village.

Our plan was to rent bikes, however it turns out that French bike rental companies partake in the usual wonderful French work-life balance and do not actually open until 10am; on foot it was. We had one quick turnaround between two appointments but were prepared and ready to run between vineyards if that was what it took - thankfully this was not required given the 30 degree heat. Please let me emphasise that this is not how I would recommend visiting Bordeaux… but needs must, and where there is wine there is a way.

The first stroll out to Quintus was beautiful. We had seen the vineyards from the train but up close they were even lovelier. Arriving during the ‘flowering and fruit set’ stage of grape development, there were no grapes yet, just rows and rows as far as the eye could see of perfectly manicured and trellised vines being worked over by men and women on very narrow tractors, on foot, or with horses. A quiet buzz of activity hummed away as we arrived at Quintus, where we were greeted by a huge and unexpected bronze statue of a dragon.

Château Quintus holds the classification of Premier Grand Cru Classé B. It is owned by Domaine Clarence Dillon, a prestigious family-owned company with a lot of history in the Bordeaux wine industry and currently led by Prince Robert of Luxembourg. It was formed in 2011/12 when they acquired and combined three estates, in total encompassing 42 hectares of vineyards, planted with a combination of Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes.

At Quintus we tasted two wines from their 2017 vintage: Le Dragon de Quintus and the Château Quintus. It was a hit and miss vintage for Bordeaux, the region suffered a lot of frost damage, completely wiping out some growers' crops. However (probably worth mentioning if not obvious that everything we were lucky enough to taste on this excursion was a fairly significant step up from what I am used to) we thought the wines were brilliant - elegant, harmonious, very skilled and balanced blends Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The Dragon was more fruit-forward with more prominent smoky oaky notes; whereas the Château Quintus was more subtle, with a hint of floral perfume, herbal and almost green notes coming through from a higher percentage of Cabernet Franc in the blend. Our first visit of the day having been a success we hit the pavement once more and marched onwards to Angélus.

Château Angélus is an interesting estate from the point of view of wine business (this was the module I was studying at the time of my visit.) They were classified as the highest tier Premier Grand Cru Classé A in 2012 but chose to withdraw completely from the St-Émilion reclassification in 2022. On our visit our guide explained that this was due to having enough restrictions in place via the UNESCO heritage status of the area and wanting to be able to make their own choices regarding to the best management of their terroir. They certainly have the brand recognition and status to operate outside of the system, but it a bold decision regardless.

With or without the classification, Angélus stands as one of the most prestigious wineries in St-Émilion. Their history can be traced back to the 18th century, and it has a stellar reputation for a consistent production of exceptional wines. Before we got anywhere near the wines they had already won us over by having the bells from the tower above the door (related to the name, Angelus) chime out the Irish national anthem. A novelty, but amazing! They have a real emphasis on culture far beyond winemaking; with a bottle of wine featured in the James Bond movies, a reception building designed by the same architects responsible for the restoration of Notre Dame, and a series of photographs of individual vines featuring the names of vignerons displayed in the main entrance hall. They are currently renovating the winery to create more space, which meant our tour was somewhat limited, but we had the family history and heritage described to us in detail and got to view a small amount of their wine maturing in oak barrels in a very attractive and high spec cellar.

And of course, a spot of tasting. First, Carillon d’Angélus 2015. Technically their second wine, although they prefer to think of it as their ‘other’ wine, created at a brand new facility they had custom-built. We didn’t visit this site as it is not in the same area, but saw a model and heard about how it is a much more eco-friendly design, free from the UNESCO heritage restrictions mentioned earlier. The Carillon was powerful, lots of black fruit and intensity but still quite fresh - 40% Cabernet Franc (which was cropping up in higher proportions than I expected from my studies so far.) Secondly, their flagship wine Château Angélus 2016. This was my stand-out wine out of a line-up of stand-out wines: almost definitely the most complex wine I have ever tasted, with layer upon layer of flowers, herbs, spices, smoke and prominent black fruit: cherries, plums, figs. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous, such a nice nose that you almost didn’t need to taste it (although that would be madness.)

After that particularly transportive experience it was time for a quick break, so we wandered back to the village for a lunch and a glass of rosé to cleanse the palate, before trotting off for one last visit: Château Pavie, another esteemed winery in St-Émilion, and one that has recently achieved the highest classification of Premier Grand Cru Classé A.

Pavie is owned by the Perse family. We were given a whistlestop biography of Gérard Perse: he started off with a fruit and vegetable stall in Paris, moved into the world of supermarkets just as they really began to boom, and leapt at the chance to sell his supermarkets and purchase a wine estate in St-Émilion after falling in love with the wines from there in his 20s. Quite the rags-to-riches tale. We were shown around the vineyards, looking at the different plots and sites for different grape varieties (Merlot, Cab Franc and Cab Sauv.) Apparently this is often one of the last St-Émilion estates to complete their harvesting, as many of their plots take longer to ripen than elsewhere in the appellation. We also saw their huge fans that they use to blow away cold air and prevent frost damage, something I had read about but never seen. It means that they are usually not too affected by frost, but their poor neighbours on the other side of the road can sometimes suffer badly in the same night. Having the resources to invest in tech like this obviously pays off.

For our last tasting of the day we tried their Château Pavie 2010. My mum had joined me for this visit, and although she is not a big wine drinker she has on occasion shown a taste for older rather than younger wines, so this was ideal. Extremely concentrated, distinct blackberry and plum and dried fruits, great structure from the acid and very present tannins. The blend for this was 70% Merlot (20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon) and the contrast between the power and intensity of this wine versus the relative freshness of the two from my morning visits with a higher presence of Cabernet Franc was noticeable.

Three wineries down and we were done for the day. A final stop for a crémant de Bourgogne and back on the train to Bordeaux. Two days to go until my Diploma exam in Wine Business, and I couldn’t have had anywhere better to do my “active revision”.
I could go on but this has already been plenty long enough. Suffice to say Bordeaux is a fantastic city, St-Émilion is a truly beautiful place, and I’m sure I have many visits ahead of me. Big thanks to Richard and Max for helping me set up the visits – I didn’t make it easy for them but they made it very easy for me.