2000 Château Saint-Saturnin

Community Tasting Notes (28) Avg Score: 88.9 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Brain Capers's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/26/2023 - Brain Capers Likes this wine:

  Leftover stuffed rolled turkey thigh, thought I’d try last bottle. Have had some wines lately that were too old, and was worried this might be also. Opened an hour before dinner, and took a small sip, not sure. But then with dinner, this is wonderful aged Boudreaux. Just lovely, wow. And I just received 6 of the 2009 from Garagiste. I think this column is worth the read from Alfonso Cevola,
  https://acevola.blogspot.com/2023/10/bidding-adieu-to-longtime-friend.html

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Brain Capers's profile
  • Report Issue

  2/7/2023 - Brain Capers Likes this wine:

  Got the garagiste offering, so here’s the 2000. Really nice, still drinking very well, thank you! Fifth bottle of six, all have been very good. Nice to learn about the wine maker, here’s Jancis quote from the offer…
  Adrien Tramier, owner of the very much more modest Château St-Saturnin had not yet decided on the price of his 2009. This was hardly surprising since, instead of being plugged into the rapacious rhythms of the Bordeaux place, he sells when he feels like it. His average price per bottle from the cellars is under 10 euros a bottle and he was sure that he would not be asking more than 15 euros even for the most sought-after vintage ever, the 2009. His property in the under-populated northern Médoc looks more like a hillbilly encampment than a conventional wine château. There are breeze-block sheds, cylindrical tanks on their sides rusting at one end, larger steel upright tanks in the open air casually jacketed with what looks like silver foil blankets. But there are certainly precedents for excellent wine emerging from such unsophisticated settings. Sean Thackrey's California wines and Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape spring immediately to mind. And I couldn't help noticing the hygiene-conscious footbaths next to the front door. Tramier is unusual in so many ways that it is hard to decide in which order to list them. He uses no oak from choice. He still has some wine in tank from the first year he was proud of. That year was 1975 – yes, the village of Begadan in the northern Médoc harbours some 35-year-old wine in bulk, in extremely appetizing condition. In fact I'd say that Château St-Saturnin 1975 is much fruitier, more interesting and delicious than most of the much more high-flown 1975 red Bordeaux I have tasted in recent years. When I asked how he sold his wine, I was told, “Money is not my aim. Harvests I like, money not so much. Fric? I live very modestly. When you arrive in France with nothing, you learn to do that. I don't lack anything, which is why I allow myself these fantasies of making wine”. Although he is constantly fiddling with it, his basic recipe is to grow the grapes – mainly old, small-berried Merlot with about 35% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc, predictably the reverse of the usual proportions in the Médoc. He somehow manages, however, to keep these extremely ripe grapes completely healthy. He then keeps the fermenting juice on the skins for months rather than days or weeks, exposing the young wine outside to the cold of winter and the warmth of summer. Last June he had only just taken his spicy 2009 off the skins. As you may imagine, his wines taste very unlike the rather austere, light-bodied norm for the northern Médoc – the flavours are all bumptious, frank, tail-wagging fruit without any oak make-up. This has caused a certain amount of friction with the local wine authorities, who have apparently told him, 'Monsieur Tramier, there are 900 growers here. There is only one that disturbs us: you. Your wine is good but it does not belong in the Médoc.' It caused quite a stir locally when his 2005 won a gold medal.”
  And here’s another tasting note I found…
  https://winetomas.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/chateau-saint-saturnin-2001/

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Rick & Ilsa's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/19/2022 - Rick & Ilsa wrote:

  Left at a friends house a few months ago. He had it with grilled beef this last weekend and said it was "good." He's not a big red wine drinker, but glad he enjoyed it. No rating.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Adriana Souza's profile
  • Report Issue

  8/3/2021 - Adriana Souza Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Lots of aroma despite de 21 years.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Rick & Ilsa's profile
  • Report Issue

  4/14/2021 - Rick & Ilsa wrote: 89 Points

  This was a nice third bottle of the night after a filet (beef) dinner for the four of us. Cassis, cherry, dust and maybe a little spice, fully mature, simple, was just fine for what it was.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

View all 28 Community Tasting Notes

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.