Arthur Sellers Bulletin Archive
We are truly excited to bring you the 2009 Château Valade and 2010 L’Etendard de Château Valade from Les Vignobles Valade - two outstanding Grand Cru Saint-Émilions from two stellar Bordeaux vintages.
It was just four weeks ago we were dining with our good friends Diane Beaman and David Larone at the delightful L’Huitrier-Pie restaurant in Saint-Émilion where a bottle of 2005 Chateau La Garelle Saint-Émillion Grand Cru made the ultimate sacrifice. The next morning we drove a few kilometres to meet up with Héloïse Pacaud and Cédric Valade to tour their Saint-Émilion Grand Cru vineyards and taste their latest vintages.
All that inspection and conversation worked up an enormous thirst, so after a quick tour of the modern, pristine winery we repaired to Paul and Lorette’s (Cédric’s mother) home in nearby Belvès de Castillon for a little tasting. As I heroically sampled away on behalf of our wine club members (abetted quite capably by Mr. Larone, I might add), Lorette was preparing a sumptuous lunch in her country kitchen. A spring salad featuring white asparagus and delicate shrimps preceded rare sirloin steak grilled over an open fire; all washed down with a lively house Rosé (not for export, sadly), a lovely dry Chablis and of course the fine Castillon Côte de Bordeaux and Grand Cru Saint-Émilion reds from our hosts’ cellar. After a fresh fruit salad, a swig of coffee and appreciative and fond farewells, your tippling troubadours set off for the Dordogne and Bergerac country. We’ll save that story for a future breathtaking tale from Arthur’s Cellar!
Equal care is taken in the winery. A new cellar was built in 1991 and extended in 2001 that includes all of the modern equipment that can be found in the best French estates. Winemaking includes pre-fermentation maceration at cool temperatures, gravity flow transfer, gentle pneumatic pressing and so on. The wines are aged in French oak barrels carefully selected to marry with the unique characteristics of each vintage (I was particularly impressed by the excellent use of wood in each of the samples I tried).
The 2009 and 2010 Vintages in Saint-Émilion
The ‘Wine Spectator’ rates the 2009 vintage in Saint-Émilion at 96/100 and 2010 at 96-99/100, both classic.
The Les Vignobles Valade Wines on Offer
We are very pleased to offer you two truly wonderful Saint-Émilion Grand Cru from Les Vignobles Valade – the 2009 Château Valade and the 2010 L’Etendard de Château Valade (the second wine of Château Valade). Cédric has also created a mixed case for us that includes two bottles of the 2009 Château Valade and four bottles of the 2010 L’Etendard de Château Valade. Each comes in six-bottle cases.
The St-Émilion vineyard classification system is somewhat confusing and unwieldy. One shouldn’t be overly impressed by term St-Émilion Grand Cru. It is simply a sub-appellation of the larger St-Émilion appellation that was created in 1954, some nineteen years after the creation of the broader St-Émilion designation. It does have more stringent production standards designed to improve the quality of its wines. However, make no mistake about it - the Vignobles Valade wines are indeed grand.
A couple of notes of caution – first these are not your father’s St-Émilions and second, I do hope you have a cellar and can keep your cotton pickin’ fingers off them for at least a couple of years, preferably more. Both of these wines are huge, full-bodied, fruit forward and complex mouthfuls that really should have a few years of rest before assaulting. But I can assure you that these superbly well made wines will reward you many times over for your patience and self-control.
2009 Château Valade - Saint-Emilion Grand Cru – 14.5% Alc./Vol. $48/$294 per case of six This is a really wonderful wine. It is comprised of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc rigorously selected from the estate’s best plots of vines averaging well over twenty-five years of age. The wine is neither filtered nor fined and is aged in oak barrels (80% new and 20% one year-old) for twelve months. It is a dark plum colour, almost inky with a huge, almost hyper-concentrated nose of stewed plums and black currents, cocoa, cedar, tobacco, forest floor, wet stones, mint and vanilla. It all carries through in the mouth with lovely, silky tannins - big, round and very long. This very well-made wine clearly illustrates the wine maker’s mastery of oak. Remember, it is in its infancy and really should be hidden away for three, preferably five years. If the temptation to try a bottle is too much, decant it in the morning for the evening’s meal. It will be a perfect match for confit de canard and game. Only 8,000 bottles were made. Order your St-Émilion Grand Cru treasures now.
Château Valade Sampler – 14.5% Alc./Vol. $38 /$234 per case of six This is a great way to sample both of the Valades’ superb, St-Émilion Grand Cru wines. You receive two bottles of the luscious 2009 Château Valade and four bottles of the delightful 2010 L’Etendard de Château Valade. Great wine; great value. Order your St-Émilion Grand Cru mixed six-pack now.
The above prices include a small handling fee.
‘Wine Spectator’ Rates the 2010 Châteauneuf du Pape from Domaine Roger Sabon
Those of you who ordered the 2010 Châteauneuf du Pape from Domaine Roger Sabon will be delighted by what the ‘Wine Spectator’ has to say about them in the their May 2013 issue (see the attached excerpt).
Please pass this bulletin on to others you think might like to secure some very up and coming Saint-Émilion Grand Cru (I think they have already arrived).
Many thanks and cheers,
Jim and Hélène Arthur’s Cellar Wine Club jaswalker@arthursellers.com www.arthursellers.com www.ofrance.ca
