2015 Chateau Ormes de Pez Ormes de Pez

The 2015 Ormes de Pez has a very austere nose. The fruit here seems to have ebbed more than its peers. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly grainy tannins. This is a relatively lightweight Ormes de Pez with a strict and conservative finish.

Here the fruit on the opening matches the bright red cherry colour, crunchy and fresh, with textured added by slate-scrape tannins and deeper brambled hedgerow blackberry and bilberry. A little short on the finish, I would look to 2016 vintage of this exceptionally enjoyable wine - but this is juicy and ready to go, with the unfussy earthy edge of St Estèphe. 45% new oak for ageing.

The 2015 Les Ormes de Pez has a refined bouquet of wild strawberry and cranberry notes, touches of oyster shell, a subtle estuarine influence that becomes accentuated with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grained tannin, fresh and quite linear in style with "correct" finish that just lacks the flesh that would render this more enjoyable. Tasted blind at the Southwold 2015 Bordeaux tasting.