2009 Chateau Tertre Daugay Saint Emilion 750 ml

2009: Perfection in St.-Émilion … Spectator’s 92-95pt Bargain of the Vintage

In the spring of 2010, on the eve of the release of the colossal 2009 Bordeaux, American importers turned tail and ran, scared off by the FX markets and wild-eyed Chinese speculators. Stateside collectors turned a cold shoulder towards the Right Bank of the Gironde, opting instead to their invest their dollars on the Silverado Trail.

Five years later, however, the tables turned. Here’s why.

With the release of the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignons, Napa Valley prices skyrocketed, with nearly every highly rated wine fetching over $100/bottle. The dollar completed its remarkable comeback against the euro, surging 25% between April 2014 and February 2015. Suddenly, the 2009 Bordeaux still resting in the same cellars where they’d been bottled in 2011 seemed “cheap.” WineAccess went on an unprecedented buying spree on the Place de Bordeaux, laying into hundreds of cases of Robert Parker 98-100 pointers, as well as a few eye-popping under-$40 bargains.

The pre-release symposium held in Bordeaux in March 2010 told us all we needed to know about the potential of the 2009 vintage. Professor Denis Dubourdieu, the president of the faculty of the University of Bordeaux’s school of enology, had long suggested that there were five elements of a perfect growing season in Bordeaux: early flowering, a hot and dry summer, early veraison (in Saint-Émilion, the grapes changed from green to purple at the end of July 2009 instead of mid-August), a bit of rain at the end of the growing season to fend off hydric stress, and a warm and dry Indian-summer finish. After describing the 2009 growing season in detail, Dubourdieu concluded that 2009 was five for five.

At Château Tertre-Daugay, superstar flying winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt oversaw the making of one of the most voluptuous St.-Émilions in history, earning a rave 92-95 point review from Wine Spectator.

The 2009 Château Tertre Daugay is dark ruby-purple to the edge. Gorgeous aromatically, featuring a luscious mix of blackberry, dark plum, graphite, and tobacco, gently tinged with cedar. Fabulously opulent in 2009 — like all the top Pomerols and Saint-Émilions of the vintage — packed with gobs of black raspberry jam, black cherry, and licorice, finishing with plush, silky tannins. Drink now for its youthful purity, or do as we’re doing and lay this one down until the late 2020s.

92-95 points from Wine Spectator. There are 384 bottles still resting quietly in the cellars in Bordeaux. We took them all. $39 for a short time this morning. Shipping included on 4.