Patrick Bernard, the cousin of Olivier Bernard (owner of Domaine de Chevalier and President of the Union des Grands Crus), stumbled across Château Peyrabon in 1998 and fell under its charms. We had a similar encounter with their 2009. Over the course of a year, we plough through hundreds of sample bottles sent to us by Bordeaux Negociants. Most are given short shrift. Very occasionally we find something that meets our stringent criteria, and once in a blue moon we find something truly wonderful. Peyrabon 2009 was one of those epiphany moments – we realised we’d found an absolute gem!
We bought as much stock as we could, and it sold like hot cakes. Then we exhausted the reserves of 2010. We tasted more recent vintages, excellent as they were, just weren’t yet in that wonderful place of maturity. We consoled ourselves in the knowledge that in years to come the 2016 and 2018 would one day reach that apogee. And then, out of the blue we heard that the Château had a little bit more stock up their sleeves. Our re-tasting confirmed that it still had the same magic. If anything, with an extra two year’s bottle age it’s even more to our liking: notes of Christmas cake, cassis and gravel leapt from the glass; the palate is still packed with plenty of lavish fruit. The charm of the 2009 vintage is epitomised in this wine; generous, voluptuous and wrapped in glorious, velvety tannins – it’s a wine you just want to keep drinking!