2014 Pedesclaux

The first wine made at the new cellar, the 2014 Château Pédesclaux checks in as 53% Cabernet Sauvignon and 47% Merlot aged in 65% new French oak. It's a beautiful wine in the vintage that has awesome purity and precision in its black raspberries, cassis, crushed flowers, and hints of river rock-like minerality. Medium-bodied, silky, pure, incredibly elegant and seamless, with gorgeous purity and elegance, it's a knockout wine in the vintage.

The 2014 Pédesclaux has a pinched bouquet that even after aeration does not really shine, certainly not like it did just after bottling. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit that sport quite a strong marine-like/brine influence, almost Saint Estèphe in style towards the tertiary, slightly brutish finish that needs a couple of years to calm down. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.

Tasted blind. Slightly greyish crimson. Slightly sweaty, sweet with the tannins a bit rasping on the finish. Not bad but with a little heat on the end. (JR)