2014 Château Saint-Pierre

Tasted blind. Deep garnet. Intense black fruit with a note of black olives adding savour. Very dark and concentrated on the palate. Intense but not particularly charming. Chewy tannins, plenty of freshness. Needs time. (JH)

This vintage always benefits in a vertical from coming after the 2013, but no question that this is a excellent wine with dark fleshy fruits and slate-textured tannins. Confident powerful, nuanced, rich, balanced. A signature St Julien vintage, with smoked cigar box from the opening notes, balanced but expands and rises from the mid palate onwards. 50% new oak.

The 2014 Saint-Pierre has the most fruit-driven bouquet of the flight of Saint Julien wines with copious red cherries, boysenberry and fig-like scents. It certainly is the one with the immediate appeal rather than intrinsic complexity. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, quite solid tannin that provide good backbone to support the weight of fruit. There is a lot of extraction here but everything remains nicely proportioned and there is more than enough freshness towards the finish. This should not be under-estimated and it will provide long-term drinking pleasure. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.