CHÂTEAU SAINT PIERRE
2014 4ème Cru Classé Saint Julien
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc. This is only the 4th time they have added Cabernet Franc here, and there is a noticeable elegance to the wine. Great St Julien feel. This packs a lovely punch. Sophisticated, classic shape. A touch of mulberry and lovely cooked plum are perfectly framed by gentle notes of dried tobacco and then a persistent build of fine tannin. Stylish, elegant and really tastes like proper claret. Dense fruit, good ripeness, but no fat here. Recommended. Rating: 93-94 L&S (Apr 2015)
* This is a pre-shipment/primeur offer. All orders are accepted under the TERMS of this offer which differ from the terms of the rest of the site.
The 2014 Saint-Pierre was splendid six years ago. However, this bottle left me and others scratching our heads, perplexed. It has a fresh and vibrant nose, mainly red berry fruit and pencil shavings mixed with cranberry and wild strawberry. So far, so good. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly tough tannins, a bit rustic for a Saint-Julien, and has a somewhat bitter and dry finish that comes as a nasty surprise. Maybe an errant bottle? Tasted blind at the Southwold 10-Year-On tasting. Rating: 88 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2024)
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. Drinking range: 2024 - 2044 Rating: 94 Jane Anson, Decanter (Feb 2022)
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. Drinking range: 2020 - 2045 Rating: 93 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (Mar 2018)
The 2014 Saint Pierre is a bold, rustic wine, but it has also come along nicely. Black cherry, herb, smoke, licorice and tobacco give the wine its dark personality. The tannins are a bit coarse, but otherwise this is a solid wine that shows the darker, bigger side of Saint-Julien. Tasted two times. Drinking range: 2018 - 2029 Rating: 90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Feb 2017)
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, Decanter.) Drinking range: 2019 - 2032 Rating: 90+ Steven Spurrier (Apr 2015)
The 2014 Saint Pierre offers good depth and intensity, even if some slightly angular contours remain. Smoke, tobacco, game, licorice and incense are all pushed forward in a dark, powerful St. Julien. Today, the 2014 comes across as a bit rustic. It will be interesting to see what time brings. Rating: 88-90 Antonio Galloni, www.vinous.com (Apr 2015)
78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc. 50% new oak. 32 hl/ha. Very good Cabernet Franc which ripened well and slowly – only the fourth time it has been included in the grand vin. Very deep glowing crimson. Very Cabernet on the nose with just a hint of oak. Cool and inky. Very restrained and almost timid but there is a good charge of fruit and tannins and no excess acidity. Just ripe enough but with attractive freshness. Focused and set for the long term. Ambitious and sinewy but restrained and backward now. Hums along and is especially impressive on the finish. Super correct. A little dry but not drying on the end at present. Drinking range: 2024 - 2040 Rating: 17 Jancis Robinson OBE MW - www.JancisRobinson.com (Apr 2015)
Depth the nose has a brooding richness and the start of the palate has sweetness. Under the sweet fruit bramble and bilberry refresh the tannins are obvious but fine and well handled then it fills out at the back the finish sweet and black fruited. Drinking range: 2026 - 2040 Rating: 91-97 Derek Smedley MW, www.dereksmedleymw.co.uk (Apr 2015)
This bijou fourth growth always makes great value reds. The 2014 is firmer than stablemate Château Gloria, with compact, hunkered down tannins, plenty of aromatic oak and rich, concentrated black fruits. The latest in a long line of very well made wines. Drinking range: 2020 - 2032 Rating: 92 Tim Atkin MW, www.timatkin.com (Apr 2015)
Château Saint Pierre
St Julien Quatrième cru 1855 At 17ha Château Saint Pierre is the smallest classed growth estate in St Julien. The name is derived from the Baron de Saint-Pierre who owned the estate at the tail end of the 18th Century. He left Saint-Pierre to his two daughters who, after running the estate together for a while, divided Saint-Pierre in two in 1832. The Dutch company, Van den Bussche bought both bits of Saint-Pierre in 1923 and re-united the estate. In 1982, Henri Martin (the man who assembled the Château Gloria from bits of vineyard purchased from various St Julien estates, including Saint-Pierre) bought the estate and he, and his daughter and son-in law Françoise and Jean-Louis Triaudand, have done much to raise the profile of this oft over-looked château. The vineyards are planted to 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc, with the wines being made at Château Gloria. Although renewed reputation has pushed the price up a little in recent years, Saint-Pierre still represents quite good value for some nicely made darkly coloured St Julien.
Please make sure that you have read the terms of this offer which are different from those of the main website. If you are unclear as to what is involved in primeur purchases please do call us, but see the 'practical notes' below.
Ordering
Prices are per case as listed 'in bond London'.
Pre-Orders are a firm commitment from you to buy the wines you order on release, subject to the price being below the upper price of the estimated band on our website. You may also set your own upper price limit, lower or higher than ours. Pre-orders will be fulfilled subject to availability. Providing this firm commitment to us effectively gives you priority.
Wines listed on the website (after any pre-orders and allocations have been fulfilled) can be ordered in the usual way via the website order form or by email or telephone 020 7221 1982, always subject to stock remaining.
Confirmation
All orders will be confirmed by email and are contractually binding unless written cancellation is received within seven days of the confirmation date, apart from pre-orders which are binding if the release price is below the top estimate or other price you have set.
Invoices are raised at the In Bond price, excluding any duty and VAT which will become payable at the prevailing rates on arrival of the wine if required duty paid.
Payment is required on sight of invoice, by cash, cheque, debit card or credit transfer. We reserve the right to charge 2% per month on invoices unpaid after 30 days.
Delivery
- Shipment to our bond (LCB Creek Road) and insurance are included in the in bond price.
- Delivery is free to Lea and Sandeman / Elephant storage accounts, both duty paid and in bond.
- Other deliveries (In Bond and Duty Paid) are also free subject to a minimum order from the offer of £1000, orders below this total will be charged £16.50+ VAT when the wine invoices are issued. We will group deliveries and this is a charge for your entire purchases, not a per-case charge.
- Delivery for 2016 Bordeaux primeurs will probably be completed by October 2019, but we make no guarantee as to specific delivery times, and some of the Sauternes may be later.
Practical notes - how it works
We start a sale in each customer's name and add all their primeur orders to one sale which is invoiced at the end of the campaign (or when the customer wishes) for immediate payment. We and our customers find that having a single invoice for the vintage is the simpler option, but do please note that confirmed orders are still binding as above even if the final invoice has not been issued.
When the wine is shipped, unless previously specified we will assume that delivery is to be to bonded storage with Elephant Storage, but in any case, we will contact you requesting any alternative instructions. If you have another bonded delivery address you would like the wine to go to, please tell us at the time of ordering. If the wines are required duty-paid we will issue invoices at the rates prevailing at the time for the excise duty (currently £25.98 per case) and the VAT (currently at 20%) on the total of the wine cost and the duty.
Half-bottles, Magnums and larger bottles.
One of the additional advantages of buying en primeur is being able to order the wine in the bottle size you want. Even if a wine is only listed in one size, you can order any bottle or case size you want if the property supplies it, but you must order the case/bottle size you require and check that the correct size has been invoiced.
Additional charges are as follows:-
- +£15 per case of 24 half-bottles
- +£15 per case of 6 Magnums (2 bottles equivalent, 1.5 litres each)
- +£35 per individually boxed Double Magnum (4 bottles equivalent, 3 litres)
- +£45 per individually boxed Imperial (8 bottles equivalent, 6 litres) for Salmanazars, Balthazars, Nebuchadnezzars and Melchiors please enquire for availability and price.