Bordeaux 2014 – Haut Bailly, Gloria & St Pierre, Pavie Macquin & Larcis Ducasse

by David Porter

A whole host of releases this morning includes some of our primeur favourites – Château Haut Bailly hits the market at £425/12. We were hugely impressed by the wine, pert, elegant and polished – a really lovely Pessac, as Jancis says:

‘Rich and substantial but racier than the old Haut-Bailly style. Really very well mastered. Good balance without excess acidity or tannin. Very persistent.’

Compared to available vintages this sits fairly at this price, but is hard to recommend as a completely compelling primeur buy.

Veronique Sanders HAUT BAILLY Blog

Veronique Saunders of Château Haut Bailly

Also out are the fabulous pair of wines made by the team at Domaines Henri Martin – Château Saint Pierre at £310/12 and Château Gloria £210/12. Tasting here was one of the moments of the week, we were blown away by the sheer panache and drive of these wines, at this level, just such a pleasure to taste.

Both are recommended for drinkers, with space to tuck away in the cellar, but Gloria has to be the stand out value buy. St Pierre is more refined perhaps, a tad coy at this stage – but this is elegant and grown-up nonetheless.

St Pierre

Château Saint Pierre

For Decanter Magazine, Steven Spurrier writes of St Pierre: 

‘Lovely fruit with vibrant flavours and a well-structured finish. This château has gained in elegance and depth recently and its 2014 is all in balance for a good future. (Highly Recommended St-Julien.)

And it is hard not to give the last word on Gloria to James Suckling who notes: 

‘This is the best Gloria in years with amazing dark blackberries, minerals, rose petals and spices. Full body, firm tannins and a very long finish. Seamless.’

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Lafite is now on the market, prices as yet unconfirmed – do please let us know if you are interested in it this year.

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Please keep looking at these links for an up-to-date commentary and list on releases -> LATEST PRIMEUR NEWS <- (our commentary on the blog) and Recent releases for all the latest releases in a list with the most recent first.