We've all heard of the $1,000+ per bottle Chateau Petrus, the Grand Gru Bordeaux estate that is the stuff of legends. Jean-Claude Berrouet is the winemaker who was the head winemaker at Petrus for 44 years. He retired in 2006 or 2007 and set up his own little estate called Chateau Samion in Lalande-de-Pomerol. Jean-Claude makes the wines the exact same way he made his 44 vintages of Petrus. He tends the vineyards the exact same way he did at Petrus and oh boy does his meticulous attention to detail show up in this absolutely brilliant bottle of Lalande-de-Pomerol. This isn't Petrus, but for $39.99 a bottle on the 4-pack the 2014 Chateau Samion is the finest satellite I have ever had. I don't sell much Bordeaux for a variety of reason, but one is the value is not there as much as in other categories I sell and many Bordeaux have become monotonous, tedious wines and most of all formulaic. But Samion is different. I've gotten emails from so many clients telling me this is one of the best value Bordeaux that they have ever had.
It has huge structure and density along with remarkable purity, depth and kinky, confectionary Pomerol fruit with incredible precision and refinement. This is the most refined Samion ever. Total Pomerol love. Lovely, vivid nose of raspberry confit, plum, cocoa, earthy, and a skoche of wood that is perfectly integrated. Had that wonderful 2014 acid kicks and extra freshness. It has grip, and by grip I mean tannin that grips your mouth. Which I totally love as Bordeaux, especially young Bordeaux, needs some leftover tannin. It makes me feel like I am drinking Bordeaux! Big, rich, ripe, very finesse-driven palate and terrific structure and purity. Ripe, sweet tannin and almost a zen-like balance. The finish is remarkably long.
2014 is a fantastic Samion and one that will age for 15+ years. I think it is the best one yet. Traditional vintage conclusions don't work here. The 2012, until the '14 was my favorite, the '13 I passed on ('13 is one of the wort vintages since '97 and I won't sell it) as the vintage was too tough and the '09 I like better than the '10. The '11 was a stellar effort in a lighter year. The freshness in these wines is amazing and it really outdoes itself in '14 which is the bets vintage since the '09/'10 duo. The wines has power and freshness due to a cool growing season so combine that with one of the freshest wines in all of The Right Bank and this is a winner. It could be a ringer in a blind Pomerol tasting with wines costing 2-4 times and no doubt hold its own. This is the 5th vintage I have sold of Samion as it is one of the few and favorite Bordeux we sell. This is the first new vintage I have sold since May 1, 2015. It's a once a year offer.
The wine is an astonishing value and crafted by a true master. I have no idea why this wine costs so little or why I was able to get my hands on it. The estate is only 1.2 ha and there isn't much wine. Maybe because Berrouet is well enough off that he doesn't care to market his wines and doesn't need the money. Frankly, I've decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Jean-Claude Berrouet is a unique guy. He is not a fan of biodynamic viticulture at all but more a man that is into into earth energies and the such. Picture him in a vineyard with a divining rod. He is a new age freak without you ever knowing it. He walks around in a suit all day talking about druids and inner earth energies. He is also like a wine professor in that if you ask him a question about wine he will answer you with a lecture. An interesting aside is that when he was flown out to California to set up Dominus (how the winery was going to flow) he insisted they fly out Druids from France to bring good energy to the site since it was right near the San Andreas fault. Yup. But hey, whatever works as he is obviously doing something right. If it takes Druids and divining rods to make world class wine, bring them on.
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