Saint Pierre 2015

This 17-hectare estate has been rejuvenated by owner Jean-Louis Triaud and is certainly producing some of the top wines from the appellation today. I tasted the deep, inky-colored 2015 Château Saint-Pierre twice and it’s reminiscent of the 2010, only with more elegance. In 2015 the wine is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc and it spent 14 months in 50% new and 50% once used barrels. Chocolate covered dark fruits, damp earth, tobacco leaf, and lead pencil shaving-like notes emerge from this huge, concentrated beauty that has building tannin and a huge mid-palate. It’s an incredible wine that builds with time in the glass, has no hard edges and is going to 3-4 decades of life. Bravo!

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.

Saint-Pierre is quite possibly the most under the radar wine in Saint-Julien. The 2015 is fantastic. Rich, powerful and explosive, with tremendous depth and structure, the 2015 has so much to offer. Wild cherry, tobacco, leather, smoke and grilled herbs add shades of nuance, but it is the wine's intensity and pure pedigree that stand out most. The 2015 is decidedly powerful, but it is also quite vivid and exceptionally beautiful. The blend is 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc.

Saint-Pierre is the smallest of the classed growths in St-Julien, with just 1 ha under vine, and parcels near Ducru-Beaucaillou and Beychevelle. Jean-Louis Triaud directs the property with a sure hand. Elegant blackcurrant aromas and a touch of dried herbs and tobacco. Initially plump and full-bodied, but robust tannins soon kick in and this gains weight on the mid-palate. Sturdy, chocolatey finish, and fine length.

The 2015 Saint-Pierre is a blend of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc matured for 14 months in 50% new and 50% one-year-old barrels. Deep garnet-purple in color, it offers expressive blackberries, black currants and stewed black plums on the nose with suggestions of menthol, rare beef, black olives and tobacco. Medium-bodied and tautly structured with ripe, grainy tannins and a lively backbone with vibrant, muscular form, it finishes long and savory.