Ch. Saint Pierre
4GCC
Saint Julien
2016

The producer

Saint Pierre has an early history of fragmentation and re-unification, following years of family disputes. In 1982 the estate is finally acquired by Henri Martin (founder of Ch Gloria) – who had a lifetime dream of owning a Cru Classe property – and who invested lots of energy and funds in restoring the property and vineyards. Saint-Pierre remains the smallest, and least famous, of the Classified Growths in the appellation but today performs well above its weight.

The 4^th Growths estate is located in the village of Beychevelle and the only 17 hectares of vineyards are dominated by 75% Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Following around 18 months in 50% new French oak barrels, this is a richly tannic wine with layers of rich, dark fruits and oak spice. Cellaring is highly beneficial.

This is very good Bordeaux at an agreeable price.

The wine

The Saint-Pierre blend is comprised of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon with smaller amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and is followed by 14-16 months of ageing in 50% new French oak barrels. One of the most robust wines of the Saint-Julien appellation, Saint-Pierre is a firmly tannic wine with layers of rich, dark fruits and oak spice; cellaring is highly beneficial. This is very good Bordeaux at an agreeable price.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.