Hi all,
Just back from our annual holiday in Soulac, on the tip of the Médoc. As Neal Martin pointed out in a Vinous Chablis article last week, in mid-pandemic, much was the same, much was different. The resorts were just as crowded as usual, but with far less foreign tourists and far more French. Social distancing on Atlantic coast beaches is the norm every year, so no problem there. In towns, people’s behaviour was troubling, to say the least, with few masks worn except in shops and only then after it became compulsory, a week after we arrived. We were not surprised to learn from locals that there were several clusters of Covid cases in the area, with a large campsite forced to close in a neighbouring town. None of this had appeared in the French media and there is clearly a lot of reluctance to admit that there are problems.
Apart from the usual surfing and cycling, we wanted to repeat last year’s fun châteaux visits. This was both difficult to organize and very simple. The difficulties stemmed from the large number of châteaux which were closed to visits (eg Pichon Comtesse and Mouton). Those which were open, however, were more than happy to see us - very few visits were being booked, mainly I suspect because of the change of clientele. There are lots of French wine aficionados but they are not the sort to take their holidays in the Médoc, so the vertiginous drop of the number of foreign tourists had a big impact, especially the high rollers we saw last year.
This year, we focused on Saint Julien and Margaux, with three visits to “conventional” domains and one unconventional. I’ll do them in separate threads to avoid boring the pants of you with a really long one.
Château Beychevelle
There are several types of visit - we chose the “Secrets of the Winegrower” tour, a private visit costing 45€ per adult. Our visit began with a sort of slideshow/film, in the former cellar, with a commentary by our guide, about the history of Beychevelle. It was very well done, much more interesting than the usual potted history you get. Then we were taken outside to see the vines and as luck would have it, the domain’s two horses were busy working the soil between the rows of vines:
Here you can see the vines and how advanced the grapes are this year, with the impressive new winemaking facility in the background:
I’m no expert, but the vines here and elsewhere looked a lot less burnt than in 2018 and 2019. There is a heatwave beginning today, but otherwise the heat has been less intense this year and I suspect that the rainy spring allowed the soil and vines to take on bigger reserves of water. The rain also explains 2020’s big problem everywhere in the Médoc - mildew.
We then visited the space age winemaking facility and new cellar underneath:
Once you have seen one cuvier and cellar, you’ve seen them all - but this was certainly the most attractively designed we had seen.
Then we went back into the old château and descended stairs into the old cellar, underneath the garden. This was wonderful - like going back in time: the lights didn’t work so we all had to use our phones’ lights. Unlike in most châteaux, Beychevelle’s private collection is really in a proper underground cellar, with natural temperature control and bona fide cobwebs.
Finally, we arrived at the tasting room where we could remove the masks. Very cleverly, our guide had decided to make us do a blind tasting of four wines. They were mixed up, but not hard to identify because of the colour and aromas, so we did pretty well.
The first wine was Les Brulières 2015, their Haut-Médoc (we got the wine and vintage right!). Not bad but nothing special, easy to spot because it lacked the St.Julien spice, like a decent CB but more expensive.
The second wine was Beychevelle 2006 (right wine, wrong vintage - we guessed 2004). Quite advanced, surprisingly so, with lots of suave forest fruit but a tinge of autumn leaves.
Next up was Amiral de Beychevelle 2016 (we nailed this one!): much more St;Julien than the Brulières, very spritely and clean, but not memorable.
Finally, Beychevelle 2010. After the Amiral, easy to spot, and clearly younger than the 06, with that high-toned spicy character typical of other 2010s, so we guessed right. Much more impressive than the 06, the fruit was tauter and this is clearly going to be great in a few more years.
The tasting was really good fun and an excellent exercise for our girls, going to and from the four glasses to understand the differences.
Finally, we visited the beautiful gardens:
In the distance, you can see the Gironde - Beychevelle is one of the most visually attractive properties in the Médoc. We left our guide and went to buy a picnic, which we had at the Port de Beychevelle, at the bottom of the garden:
Here you can see a traditional carrelet. Looking at a post of last year’s visits I realise I posted almost the same photo then too - but this one has no clouds! If you are visiting châteaux in Pauillac or Saint Julien, I highly recommend buying sandwiches or salads in the main bakery on the quai at Pauillac and then heading here. It’s not hard to find, you just follow the road after Beychevelle’s entrance. There are lots of picnic tables and benches. The only problem is that you need to get there early because the locals come and take all the spaces by 1pm. But the setting is wonderful, as you can see:
The Beychevelle visit was fun, but the only thing missing, like everywhere else, is a visit of the château itself. This is mystifying. In the Loire, there are dozens of châteaux to visit, many of which are fairly insignificant. In the Médoc, most of the châteaux are a lot younger but with massive interest for wine lovers - but none of them can be visited. It’s a huge waste. Obviously I can understand not wanting coachloads of tourists trampling all the carpets, but showing just a few rooms would make a big difference to the experience. Virtually none of the châteaux are lived in and the fact that they are only opened for corporate jamborees and other snooty receptions just reinforces the impression of the gap between the producer and the clients. I did write to the UCGB to suggest they bring the topic up at their next meeting - always worth a try!
Anyway we thoroughly enjoyed our visit of Beychevelle and although it’s the most expensive, I highly recommend it, especially if you are visiting with non-geeks (normal people!). The wines however did nothing to change my opinion about Beychevelle though - good but not exceptional and vastly over-priced for the quality.
