chateau Tour Baladoz

Bordeaux En-primeur 2024 Highlights – Part 3: Tasting the Wines of Chateau Tour Baladoz Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

It is certainly no secret that 2024 was yet another very complicated viticultural vintage. A very wet year, especially during the autumn and winter months, this wasn’t however the whole story as appellations like Pauillac, for example, actually experienced less rain than its 10-year average. After the drought affected vintages of 2018, 2020 and 2022, the 2024 growing season got off to a promising start before the onset of spring brought hail and the early signs of what was to become a season-long battle with mildew disease pressures. 2024 represents the lowest yields across Bordeaux since the forsaken 1991 vintage. 

A grey and gloomy May saw cool temperatures that slowed vine growth and resulted in uneven flowering, especially for the Merlot vines. But as summer finally arrived in late June, the mood shifted. Drier, sunnier conditions settled in through August and into September, bringing with them a welcome window for ripening, particularly beneficial for Cabernet Sauvignon, which was harvested in improved conditions right up into mid-October.

Speaking to various vignerons about the vintage, many are quick to avoid generalisations, explaining that the conditions in their own vineyards could, in many instances, be vastly different from conditions in their near neighbour’s. Success in 2024 was about timing – timing of spraying, strict fruit selection and of course down to one’s very own terroir and soil types in the vineyards. In general, gravel and certain types of clay were well-equipped to deal with over-saturation – gravel soils naturally having excellent drainage, whilst some types of clay can retain more water, preventing it being returned to, and diluting, the fruit. Limestone soils, like those found on the cote at Chateau La Croizille and neighbouring Chateau Tour Baladoz, also worked well producing wines with freshness, classical restraint, and structure.

It is almost certainly this willingness to talk up the vintage as well as emphasize the individuality of various Chateaux terroirs, that has led to the 2024 vintage being coined a “micro-climate vintage”. As always, quality will be varied and surprises will be plentiful, but there is no denying that the conditions favoured premium Chateaux in the Medoc, Saint Emilion and Pomerol, where strict selection for Merlot was essential, while Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc often flourished in the drier, later ripening conditions, often yielding wines with great promise.

Chateau Tour Baladoz 2024, Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé, Bordeaux

This youthful Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé displays a gracefully classy aromatic profile with a vivid perfumed fragrance of dried violets, rose petals, and sweet white blossom over compact dark black berry fruits, damson plum, blueberry, and black currant confit nuances. There is a pronounced dusty, limestone minerality neatly intertwined with the dark berry fruits before slowly yielding once again to a stern graphite mineral vein. The palate is lip-smackingly bright and vibrant, the acids mouth-wateringly crunchy and crisp, underpinned by sleek tart blue and blackberry fruits, hints of black cherry and drying mineral limestone tannins. A well-managed, thoughtfully extracted expression of Saint Emilion Merlot that is undoubtedly moulded in a cooler, more elegant acid driven style than even the 2021. This juicy mouthful should flesh out further with more time in barrel and offer plenty of accessible medium-term drinking. Drink from 2026 to 2036+.

(Wine Safari Score: 92-93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Chateau Tour Baladoz wines are available to ship direct from the Chateau to merchant. Please contact Anthony Crameri for current vintage list and prices:

anthony_crameri@orange.fr

Chateau Tour Baladoz Produces Another Stand-Out Saint Emilion Grand Cru in 2018…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Château “Valados” first appeared in “Le Producteur” in 1841, and was included in the first edition of “Cocks and Feret” (Bordeaux and its Wines) in 1850 under the name of “Baladoz”. From 1874 to 1922, the estate was known as Château Baladoz until a tower was erected and adopted into the name.

In certain parts, vines are grown at an altitude of up to ninety metres, almost the highest in the appellation, with more vines planted on the clay and limestone plateau that dominates the estate. Originally categorised as between the first and second crus of St Emilion, the estate later settled in the Grand Cru category.

Anthony Crameri from Chateau Tour Baladoz alongside the Chateau’s ancient limestone cliffs.

The property, located in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, was purchased by Belgian wine trader Emile De Schepper in May 1950 and included 5.56 hectares of vines. The new owner spent his first year renovating the cellars and making improvements to the vineyard. In the early years, the wine was exclusively exported to Belgium, in barrel, where it was bottled in the owner’s cellars in Ghent. The current cellar master and manager is the ultra talented Jean-Michel Garcion, who was appointed in 1992 and now also overseas production at sister estates Chateau La Croizille next door and Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere in Margaux.

The 2018 is a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.

70% of the Tour Baladoz vineyard is planted on the plateau, with the remaining 30 % situated on the slopes of the valley over deeply submerged rocks. Here, the challenge lies in making a wine that is as mineral as the geological environment in which the vines grow. The soil base varies from pure chalk and marl, which reminiscent of certain terroirs in the Champagne region, to freestone that appears occasionally and is noticed because of the colour variation in the clay. Here, the Merlot grape thrives and comprises 70% of the vineyard planting with Cabernet Franc (20%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%) making up the remainder.

Chateau Tour Baladoz 2018 Saint Emilion Grand Cru, 14.5% Abv.

A beautiful vineyard with a few pre-phylloxera vines, a collection of ancient Bordeaux varieties and spectacular limestone caves with vine roots growing through the ceilings. This 2018 is garnet purple and already quite explosive in the glass revealing waves of violets and lilac, black plum, mulberry, salty black currant and buttered brown toast nuances. On the palate it shows an accessible opulence of red and black berry fruits, fine chalky mineral tannins and a steely vein of acidity that guides you to a long, fresh, nervy finish with further notes of vanilla spice, graphite and crème de cassis. A really wonderful, high quality expression of Saint Emilion that will seduce a legion of Bordeaux lovers. Drink now and over the next 10 to 15+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Old Vine Bordeaux at Its Very Best – Tasting the Ancient Vine Chateau Tour Baladoz Cuvee Le Centenaire 2010…

~ Greg Sherwood MW ~ Leave a comment

Château “Valados” first appeared in “Le Producteur” in 1841, and was included in the first edition of “Cocks and Feret” (Bordeaux and its Wines) in 1850 under the name of “Baladoz”. From 1874 to 1922, the estate was known as Château Baladoz until a tower was erected and adopted into the name. In certain parts, vines are grown at an altitude of up to ninety metres, almost the highest in the appellation, with more vines planted on the clay and limestone plateau that dominates the estate. Originally categorised as between the first and second crus of St Emilion, the estate later settled in the Grand Cru category.

The property, located in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, was purchased by Belgian wine trader Emile De Schepper in May 1950 and included 5.56 hectares of vines. The new owner spent his first year renovating the cellars and making improvements to the vineyard. In the early years, the wine was exclusively exported to Belgium, in barrel, where it was bottled in the owner’s cellars in Ghent. The current cellar master and manager is the ultra talented Jean-Michel Garcion, who was appointed in 1992 and now also overseas production at sister estates Chateau La Croizille next door and Chateau Haut Breton Larigaudiere in Margaux.

70% of the Tour Baladoz vineyard is planted on the plateau, with the remaining 30 % situated on the slopes of the valley over deeply submerged rocks. Here, the challenge lies in making a wine that is as mineral as the geological environment in which the vines grow. The soil base varies from pure chalk and marl, which reminiscent of certain terroirs in the Champagne region, to freestone that appears occasionally and is noticed because of the colour variation in the clay. Here, the Merlot grape thrives and comprises 70% of the vineyard planting with Cabernet Franc (20%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (10%) making up the remainder.

While one of the great wines of the neighbourhood is certainly the Chateau Tour Baladoz, they also produce miniscule amounts (1,000 bottles) of a special cuvee called Le Centenaire St. Emilion Grand Cru from vines over 100 years old on average. But the great rarity is the cepage with this incredible wine being made up of a blend of 60% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec, 3% Saint Macaire and 2% Bouchales, the later two varieties being incredibly rare ancient Bordeaux varieties. After fermentation, the wine is aged for 24 months in 100% new French oak barriques.

Chateau Tour Baladoz Cuvee Le Centenaire 2010, St Emilion Grand Cru

A wine of such rarity and corresponding cost (circa £325 per bottle) always commands respect before the cork is even drawn. Coming from probably the greatest modern red wine vintage in Bordeaux’s history, certainly since 1982 though many argue since 1959 and 1961, this wine automatically had a lot of expectation thrust upon it. Already 8 years old, it has a bright ruby garnet rim and a slightly opaque earthy red black plum coloured core. Tasted from Bordeaux Riedel glasses, the nose was initially reticent as many youthful 2010 reds still are, but in true right bank style, was quicker to reveal its charms than perhaps some left bank Cabernet Sauvignon dominated blends. The aromatics are very precise showing beautiful cherry blossom, parma violets, red cherry sherbet and subtle exotic earthy notes of mechanic’s diesel rag. Super complex, noticeably different but thoroughly spell binding. The palate is cool, ultra sleek and beautifully polished but like the nose, has an exotic twist of Caribbean red berry fruits, red cherry, purple rock candy, tart cassis and a Fanta grape twist. Texturally, it’s as fine as it gets with classical old vine power and concentration twinned with dense satin soft tannins and Bordeaux first growth balance. But this wine represents a whole that is clearly much greater than the sum of its parts and a lot of this must surely be attributed to the noteworthy ancient, and now almost extinct, Bordeaux varieties in the blend. A privilege to taste a rarity like this. Drinking now to 2045+

(Wine Safari Score: 98/100 Greg Sherwood MW)