We continue our Wine in 5(ish) series with one of Bordeaux’s most famous appellations… Saint-Emilion!
Watch to learn about… The history of the area (it’s named after a hermit!)… What makes a wine eligible to be called a Saint-Emilion… How to identify the worst, best, and middle-of-the-road wines from this region… And why it might not stack up against the other appellations on our leaderboard…
Transcript:
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:26:06
Hello and welcome to your new Bonner Private Wines video, where we learn together everything that you need to know about wine, weekly. I'm your host, Julien Michel, Bordeaux trained winemaker. Yes. I spent the past 25 years or so making and tasting fine wines all around the world. After making my debut as a winemaker at Chateau Margaux, one of the top first growths of Bordeaux, of course.
00:00:26:06 - 00:00:47:20
So I like to think that I know a thing or two about Bordeaux. And today we're continuing our wine in five series. Five things that you need to know about all the top wine appellations around the world in about five minutes or so, generally a little bit more. In previous episodes, we looked at Pauillac and we looked at Margaux.
00:00:47:20 - 00:01:13:16
We also explained the Spanish Rioja and Italian Barolo. I did spend some time in Spain and in Italy in my career, and now I want to look into an even more famous appellation of Bordeaux, Saint-Emilion. At the end of the video, we'll rate Saint-Emilion on our World Wine Appellations Leaderboard to see how it ranks in terms of the quality of its wines in the world compared to others like Margaux.
00:01:13:16 - 00:01:36:17
And we'll talk about the most expensive Saint-Emilions that you should probably taste before you die. While they whine, we wine. Let's get into it.
00:01:47:12 - 00:02:11:22
Saint-Emilion is, first of all, a village or a small town located on the right bank of the Bordeaux region. So we're going to expect merlot dominant. But we'll discuss that in a minute. And around the town is quite a large vineyard area that forms the Saint-Emilion wine appellation. And I’ll want to get back to how large Saint-Emilion is, because it's actually pretty large unexpectedly.
00:02:11:22 - 00:02:32:10
So let me know in the comments if you'd like me to talk more about this in the future. In a future video. Three interesting facts about Saint-Emilion. One. The Romans were the first to plant vines here in the third century BC, so it's a long time ago and you do still find Roman ruins scattered in the local landscape.
00:02:32:10 - 00:03:00:00
The town of Saint-Emilion owes its name to a hermit named Emilion, who lived in a cave in the eighth century. His monastery eventually grew into the thriving medieval town that we see today. Thirdly, in 1999, the first time in the world a vineyard was registered on the World Heritage List by the Unesco as a world cultural Landscape.
00:03:00:00 - 00:03:14:20
Yes, first time a vineyard became a world cultural landscape. Quite a global recognition for a vino.
00:03:14:22 - 00:03:50:09
And yes, we are on the right bank of Bordeaux. So merlot is dominant because the soil, as we'll discuss more in a minute, is quite cold. So Cabernet Sauvignon doesn't do as well here because it ripens slower and later. Still, unlike the next door Pomerol appellation that uses almost exclusively 100% merlot, in Saint-Emilion most wineries use a blend, as is common in Bordeaux, mainly Merlot, but also blending in some Cabernet Franc, which accounts for a third of plantings here, and sometimes some Cabernet Sauvignon too.
00:03:50:14 - 00:03:58:06
A little bit.
00:03:58:08 - 00:04:23:12
And the soils of Saint-Emilion. Ooh, that's a nice looking wine — are often presented as based on limestone rock. So clay and limestone soil. But it's actually way more complicated than this, being such a large appellation. You find a variety of soils. If you look at the map of soils, you will see that, yes, on the Saint-Emilion plateau, as we call it, on the hill,
00:04:23:12 - 00:04:46:00
well, the village, is it is very limestone rich, and vines grow on the limestone rock, which is where most of the top chateaus are. But around that hill you have large plains with clay soils, others with more sand and gravel, and areas where it's a bit of a mix of everything, because all of this was deposited by the river.
00:04:46:02 - 00:05:06:09
As a result, the wines of Saint-Emilion are quite diverse in fact. If you are enjoying this content by the way, please take a second to give us a like and support. It's a small gesture from you. It's free, but it helps us a lot. Are you done yet? Let's continue then. We've covered the soils.
00:05:11:00 - 00:05:39:11
And Saint-Emilion wines are exclusively, yes, red wines. No whites or roses there, they are dense and generous reds. Quite fruity, thanks to the Merlot with the typical really dark cherry flavors, but also complex and compact thanks to the addition of some Cabernet. Most premium Saint-Emilion wines are aged in oak barrels for a year or two, but they do not have to be. The most affordable examples, and there are cheap
00:05:39:11 - 00:05:59:06
Saint-Emilion wines, are another thing that I would actually like to discuss further in future videos. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to hear more details about Saint-Emilion once we're done with this one and what exactly you'd what you'd want me to cover. Yes, back to the video. Cheaper examples can just be matured in tank.
00:05:59:07 - 00:06:21:05
Yes, Saint-Emilion matured in tank is a thing. Entry level Saint-Emilion will typically age for 5 to 10 years. They age pretty well, while the premium ones are more like 15 to 20 years worth of aging potential.
00:06:21:07 - 00:06:51:04
And the number one most expensive Saint-Emilion wine is called Hommage à Elizabeth Bouchet by famous winery Chateau Angelus at around $1,500 a bottle. And I've covered this wine in my top ten most expensive Bordeaux wines. I don't want to repeat myself too much. You can watch that video here to learn more exactly what this is. After this anecdotal cuvée from the two superstar producers of Saint-Emilion that everyone should know about, Chateau Ausone
00:06:51:04 - 00:07:14:04
At around $700 a bottle, a winery that is quite small, production for the area. It's very exclusive and located right on top of that limestone hill with a lot of Cabernet Franc in the blend. So a truly unique and scarce wine. In the third position is Chateau Cheval Blanc, the little white horse, at $690 a bottle.
00:07:14:04 - 00:07:34:12
A totally different beast, this one located on the fringes of the appellation. For more in the plains, more towards Pomerol than towards the Saint-Emilion village itself. The strength of cheval blanc is that they have a large variety of soils. They have some clay, they have some gravels and limestone, which is great for blending one of the finest wines of Bordeaux.
00:07:34:14 - 00:08:10:04
As a bonus, at fourth and fifth place of the aforementioned Chateau Angelus itself, the grand vin, and Chateau Pavie, both at around 350 to $400 a bottle. That's our top five here. Time for us now to rate Saint-Emilion, so we can compare it as an appellation to other prestigious wines in the world on our Bonner Private Wines Appellation Leaderboard.
00:08:10:06 - 00:08:35:04
Quality gets very high in Saint-Emilion. Always the best chateaux we talked about and many, many more. There are tons of affordable Saint-Emilion that are good, but nothing all that special, as we'll elaborate upon in a second. So it's a seven out of ten only. Prestige is very high. The name Saint-Emilion is known globally. The fact that many visit the beautiful village helps the reputation.
00:08:35:04 - 00:09:05:10
Anyone visiting the Bordeaux area will stop by in Saint-Emilion too, so it's got a very solid reputation, only altered by the fact that all Saint-Emilion wines are not born equal. A $15 example is not as good as a $500 one, despite bearing the same appellation name. It's also a seven out of ten. Prices of Saint-Emilion wines are solid at the high end, although they're not nearly the most expensive Bordeaux wine even for the wines like Chateau Ausone.
00:09:05:10 - 00:09:31:11
The top ones. And again, you find cheap examples, so it's a six out of ten. Saint-Emilion wines are not scarce at all. It's a very large appellation that makes a lot of wine. Now, sure, the top producers aren’t very big. Chateau Ausone, for example, is tiny, while the other top ones like Cheval Blanc Angelus, Pavie, etc. while not small, they will make a few tens of thousands of bottles every year.
00:09:31:11 - 00:09:52:08
But they are smaller than the big properties of the Left Bank. It's a seven out of ten. Finally, our quality price ratio. If you buy a relatively affordable Saint-Emilion, is it going to be good? Well, if you buy a $15, $20 wine, it can be quite nice, but it's not necessarily going to be the best value for money in Bordeaux.
00:09:52:08 - 00:10:17:01
Since you pay for the prestigious name, you pay for the name Saint-Emilion, even though you just giving away a few bucks. If you go for a $40, $50 wine and above, then Saint-Emilion wines are excellent and in line price wise with the rest of the area, so they get a six out of ten and our grand score is 33 out of 50.
00:10:17:01 - 00:10:42:22
That's not that high below all the Bordeaux appellations and all the top world wines. And now I do realize this may sound a little harsh on Saint-Emilion. For my part, I do love the wines, but there are many different Saint-Emilions, and there’s a large diversity of soils, of styles, of prices, and this doesn't help it with the way our ranking works and the way I rank appellations here.
00:10:43:02 - 00:11:00:21
What do you think though? Let us know in the comments down below and start a discussion. As I mentioned, there are a few things that I would like to cover to go deeper into Saint-Emilion. These five lesser known facts about Saint-Emilions. If you'd like to see that, let me know in the comments. Subscribe. Also not to miss it.
00:11:00:21 - 00:11:27:11
Then again, if you want to see how wines like Pomerol, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Burgundy, Napa Wine, compare, this will be coming up on the channel really soon. Drink safe and tasty in the meantime and I will see you soon. In the wonderful world of wine. Enjoy! Cheers.
