Last time I had this was at a Magdelaine vertical a year and a half ago. It was incredibly promising, but also extremely tight, and I scored it 96+.
I was meeting a couple of friends, but the box of Jouan went missing (later found) so I pivoted and brought the Magdelaine.
The year and a half brought some profound change to the wine but it totally justified the earlier score. Probably could do with a couple of years as the wine did smooth out in the glass over a couple of hours.
The nose was red black fruit, smoke leather, licorice and a slight note of leafmeal. Complex as hell, I was dipping my nose into the glass constantly to take in its perfume. The complexity followed through onto the palate with a little added mint. The finish was long and layered. Balance overall was close to perfect. Now 97+
But Magdelaine’s successor isn’t made by Rolland, it’s made by the same people that made Magdelaine… still puzzled why so much distaste for Belair-Monange?
I have no doubt that the Moueix have a grand ambition to push Belair Monange to be a Grand Cru A. They have the best of Pomerol, and a top Saint Emilion would make a lot of sense. But you don’t get to be an A making wines like Magdelaine. So Belair Monange is distinctly more modern, and will probably make it in the next classification.
Over the last decade, we have lost all the great traditional Saint Emilion.s. Going dark has been Figeac, Canon and Belair/Magdelaine. They are not bad wines now, but there is nobody left that embodies traditional Saint Emilion. So for those who love Magdelaine, watching it morph into another formulaic Saint Emilion, was a bit of a betrayal.
Belair Monange has so far left me cold. I did buy some 2011 recently based on the strength of Gilman’s endorsement and that it sounds like it was made like the Belair of old, just with better skill/selection/cellar management by the Mouiex team. But I haven’t tried those yet as I’m waiting for shipping weather.
Well I have no insight into the thinking chez Moueix. If they’re shooting for an A classification that seems unwise since the credential has been worse than worthless since the Pavie/Angelus promotion, as Cheval and Ausone immediately apprehended. Seems odd to spoof Belair/Magdelaine for a worthless credential but leave Trotanoy alone just because there are no credentials to be had in Pomerol. But stranger things have happened in Bordeaux.
Do you think they have left Trotanoy alone? While it is not as modern as Belair Monange, it is certainly a richer, more modern wine now that Christian is no longer in charge.
And there was certainly talk in Bordeaux of a promotion, but the rumor mill decided it was too soon, but almost a certainty in the next one.
And while you and I don’t give a damn about the classification, it is still a big deal in Saint Emilion. Figeac, Pavie and Angelus all raised prices after their promotion, and although the market was soft for the 2022s (particularly Angelus) five years from now. I am sure the prices will have stuck.
And to show what a big deal it is, look at the law suits by those being demoted. Hubert de Bouard himself was convicted in 2021 of corrupting the 2012 classification. Lots of money, lots of prestige lots of lawyers.
The real problem for Magdelaine is that is just wasn’t selling at anywhere near a respectable price. The 2008 is one of their greatest vintages, and even mid the mid 2010s you could get the wine quite easily for less than $80- and far less than that with some frequency.
Trotanoy has never had any such difficulty and so it has been largely left alone- or at least that was the case with the late 2000s vintages which are my most recent TNs off the top of my head.
Much as I love and miss Magdelaine and wish it were still around, the market spoke loud and clear- and continues to do so. While the prices for older vintages have gone up quite a bit- given the fact the production of the Grand Vin is 1/2 to 2/3 that of Petrus and we are in a hyper market where all kinds of no-name wines are selling for a fortune, older vintages of Magdelaine are still very cheap.
I am just a few bottles away from having what I need to complete the last 2 tastings of what will comprise a complete vertical of 1970-2011 plus a smattering of older vintages, and just a couple of weeks ago in the UK I was able to source some pristine neck-fill bottles of the 1949 and 1959 (Chateau bottled) for less than $500 each plus some hard to find 70s vintages for less than $100 each. Those are shockingly low prices- but there it is.
Over the last decade, we have lost all the great traditional Saint Emilion.s. Going dark has been Figeac, Canon and Belair/Magdelaine. They are not bad wines now, but there is nobody left that embodies traditional Saint Emilion. So for those who love Magdelaine, watching it morph into another formulaic Saint Emilion, was a bit of a betrayal.
I have been curious about Bordeaux for a while, but it’s hard to get a read on which chateaus are still traditionalist – it seems like styles change rapidly based on market trends, so you may get a traditionalist wine in one vintage, then another is completely spoofed.
In terms of what I’m looking for, two of my favorite Bordeauxs I have had were a '70 Pape Clement and an '85 Palmer, especially with regard to their gracefulness and weightless intensity. While I know most Bordeauxs aren’t going to have their level of complexity and intensity, I was wondering whether there were any chateaus that still made wine at least similar in weight and texture to those (I’m guessing Leoville-Barton, Talbot, perhaps others?) I know Pape Clement, for example, most certainly does not anymore.
