2012 Chateau Panchille Bordeaux Superieur 750 ml

An Uncomfortable Call … (and the Right Bank’s 2012 that’s stolen the hearts of NYC’s sommeliers)

We evaluate thousands of wines each year, most in the cellars where they were made.  Few make the cut (we’re told it’s roughly one in fourteen).  Despite the daunting arithmetic, we continue to contact each supplier after tastings, with both good news and bad.

The most difficult emails to write are those sent to existing suppliers who have offered WineAccess one, if not two vintages, that have been well received by the membership, only to learn that the current vintage doesn’t pass the test.  We’re obliged to listen patiently when winemakers call us “cherry-pickers,” buyers interested only in wines from the best years.  We empathize.  

But then, we do what we’re paid to do. We dig our feet in.

While WineAccess cherishes its suppliers, we explain, unlike a typical retailer, its focus has always been on delighting its membership.  Which brings us to the uncomfortable call we were obliged to make a year ago to Pascal Sirat, the brilliant and indefatigable Right Bank winegrower at Chateau Panchille.

We met Pascal in the summer of 2011 at a cafe in Bordeaux. Over espresso and squares of bitter chocolate, he spoke passionately of the resolve that went into the creation of an estate that has stolen the hearts of so many NYC sommeliers.  We tasted Pascal’s 2009 Chateau Panchille, a rich, suave, supple blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc, and cut a deal on the spot.  A month later we wrote our an offer that struck a chord, lighting up the WineAccess scoreboard like a one-armed bandit in Vegas.

The following year, we wrote a follow-up story about Pascal’s even more sumptuous 2010.  Once again, hundreds of buyers purchased solid cases — 38% of whom had pulled the trigger on the 2009! By the time the dust settled, the WineAccess membership purchased nearly 10% of the production off of Sirat’s 17 acres.  Seemingly, at least from Pascal’s perspective, the partnership was now etched in limestone.  

But, as seasoned Bordeaux collectors know, all vintages aren’t created equally on the Right Bank.  2009 and 2010 are now considered the finest back-to-back campaigns in the history of the Gironde.  2011, on the other hand, was challenging.  The 2011 Chateau Panchille was beautifully crafted, and as always, refined and elegant, yet a bit dry and angular.  

When we hit the SEND button, informing Pascal that WineAccess would not be buying his 2011, we were sick to our stomachs, fully expecting that our friendship with was coming to an end.  But as we learned a month ago in Bordeaux, again seated at the cafe where we’d shared those first espressos and squares of bitter chocolate — we’d underestimated the grit of the inimitable M. Sirat.

Robert Parker, in his follow-up vintage report on the 2012s, admitted that he’d underestimated the vintage during his barrel tastings, and posted dozens of upgraded reviews.  The guy the Bordelais like to call “The King” fell on his sword, particularly in regards to the earlier maturing Merlot-dominated blends of the Right Bank, where a number of chateaux crafted 2012s outpointed both 2009 and 2010!

Such was the case at Chateau Panchille.

The recently released 2012 Chateau Panchille is a beauty, much reminiscent of the plush 2010, but with more tension and structure.  Dark purple-ruby to the edge.  Gorgeous aromas of black raspberry, black cherry, violets, and underbrush.  Pliant, supple and juicy on the attack, featuring a plush mix of crushed black and red fruits, silken in texture, finishing with the sneaky tannins so typical of the top Right Bank blends of 2012.  Drink now-2022.

$22 on release.  Just $13.99 on today’s Direct Import, straight from the cellars of Pascal Sirat’s Chateau Panchille. 1800 bottles are up for grabs.