2022 Chateau Coudert Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 750 ml

Château Coudert’s excellence starts with the terroir: The estate sits on the highest hill of Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, a famed village just east of the town of Saint-Émilion itself. The elevation and slopes on the property provide an ideal climate to grow vines—and the view is so nice that the Cartes family lives in the château. Importantly, it sits in the band of clay-limestone soils that begins in Pomerol to the west and defines most of the best wines of the Right Bank.

This terroir wasn’t always realized to its fullest potential. The Cartes have owned Château Coudert since 1961, but it’s only with the current generation that they’ve taken a run at the most monied of their peers.

It started when they hired Jean-Philippe Fort, around 15 years ago. Fort is a legendary enologist in Bordeaux, who works for the even-more-legendary Michel Rolland. The well-traveled Rolland stays in the spotlight, as befits his personality and his pages of 100-point scores. Fort, on the other hand, is Rolland’s specialist in Saint-Émilion, keenly focused on the area.

Best known as the winemaker for Château Angélus, the iconic 100-point estate less than 10 minutes down the road, Fort specializes in deep, rich, muscular bottles with silky textures. This is the style that made Angélus a favorite of Robert Parker, and Fort has worked his magic here. The Château Coudert sees aging in a full 90% new French oak, to polish the blend to perfection and overlay a seductive mixture of dark chocolate and spice onto the dark fruit.

2022 is going to go down as an absolutely legendary year in Bordeaux. “A Place Beyond Praise” is how Vinous titled their report on the vintage, which they declared “serves as a timely reminder that when Bordeaux fires on all cylinders, it is untouchable.” It was a warm, sunny year that winemakers across the region managed to harness perfectly, delivering lush textures, plenty of fruit, and surprising vibrancy given the solar nature of the year. 

 This is a phenomenal under-the-radar Bordeaux. Enjoy it.