Saint-Emilion wines stay aggressive in Asia
THE official festivities of the bi-annual VinExpo Asia Pacific Hong Kong normally commence with the staging of the most prestigious by-invitation-only Jurade de Saint-Emilion Gala Dinner (held since 2010) on the eve of the wine fair.
I was one of the 600 attendees of this formal black-tie dinner organized by La Jurade de Saint-Emilion in partnership with the Commanderie de Bordeaux of Hong Kong. Jurade comes from the word jurat (juror or affidavit) but in the context of Jurade de Saint-Emilion it roughly means “the gatekeeper” or “anointed authority” of the Saint-Emilion region.
This gala dinner was held for the fifth time at the Grand Hyatt Wanchai Hotel, right next to the Hong Kong Convention Centre where the VinExpo Asia Pacific was hosted.
THE JURADE DE SAINT-EMILION HISTORY
La Jurade de Saint-Emilion, the wine region’s brotherhood of wine, traces its history back to a royal charter issued in the early 12th century by John Lackland, King of England. The charter empowered the local notables, called the Jurades, with economic, political, and legal rights to Saint-Emilion. In exchange for these rights, England was granted the Privilege des Vins de Saint-Emilion or the first priority to have access to the already much sought after wines of Saint-Emilion.
The Jurade played an important role in the region’s wine growing and its economic growth, including oversight of its fine wine production. Saint-Emilion is the oldest Bordeaux wine appellation (dating back to the ancient Romans), and was also the first Bordeaux appellation to be exported.
The Jurade’s authority lasted until the French Revolution of 1789. In 1948, the Jurade of Saint-Emilion was revived and it has stayed strong and relevant since then.
The Jurade still proclaims the Ban des Vendanges or vintage festival every September, aside from other wine related activities, and the Jurade continues to serve as the quality control authority against fraud and wine making violations in the region.
Since 2008 the Jurade also became involved with the promotion of the satellite Saint-Emilion appellations of Lussac Saint-Emilion and Puisseguin Saint-Emilion. The Jurade de Saint Emilion is currently a much larger brotherhood composed of over 3,000 members, with around 130 Jurats (the Saint-Emilion core) and inductees from wine merchants, media personalities, celebrities etc. from all over the world — all playing the roles of brand ambassadors in promoting Saint-Emilion wines.
INTERNATIONAL EXTENSION
The Jurade de Saint-Emilion has done an amazing job in propagating the reputation of Saint-Emilion wines all over the world. This has been done through the opening of chancelleries, or basically international chapters, in different countries outside of France, including the UK, USA, Malta, Hong Kong, China, and, just this year during the Jurade de Saint-Emilion Gala Dinner, Singapore and Malaysia.
The traditional induction ceremony this year (done before dinner) took quite long — over an hour before completion — starting from the parade of the Jurats wearing the traditional red ropes with white trims, to the speeches, the introduction of each of the 40 new inductees, and the actual oath-taking. Since this was for VinExpo Asia-Pacific, all inductees were, not surprisingly, from Asia, with the majority coming from mainland China. China is already among the top three import markets of Saint-Emilion wines, and could potentially be its largest importer in just a few years to come. It was nice, too, for Southeast Asia to have its own Jurade chancelleries with the addition of branches in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Saint-Emilion wines have really come a long way against the more popular Medoc wines. Chateau Cheval Blanc has always been one of the most recognized wines of all time, but now we can also hear the wines of Chateau Ausone, Chateau Pavie, Chateau Angelus, Chateau Figeac, among others mentioned in the same breath as Chateau Lafite, Chateau Latour, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Mounton-Rothschild and its right bank counterparts.
THE 2018 GALA DINNER SELECTION
The five-course sit-down menu was really exceptional, with each of the first four courses paired with two Saint-Emilion Grand Cru classe wines, in an all-red wine dinner affair.
We had a very auspicious first course to start the dinner proper, with dry aged Galician beef carpaccio, shaved foie gras, marinated fig and brioche croutons drizzled with black truffle dressing. This was followed by a duck confit tortellini soup, a lovely flavorful moist lamb loin, an artisanal selection of cheeses from the famous cheesemaking company Philippe Olivier, then a sweet dessert at the end.
The wines served were (in order of serving): Chateau Cadet Bon 2011, Chateau Destieux 2010, Chateau Laroze 2010, Chateau La Tour Figeac 2006, Chateau Grand Mayne 2005, Chateau Dessault 2000, Premier Grand Cru Classe B Chateau Troplong Mondot 2010, and another Grand Cru Classe B Chateau Valandraud 2011.
As a bonus, we had two extras, namely a Chateau Fleur Cardinale 2013 magnum (courtesy of owner Ludovic Decoster), and the superb Chateau Figeac 2009 magnum (courtesy of Yann Schyler of negociant Schroder & Schyler).
The eight featured wines were all great, but the two wines for me that came out really well (excluding the bonus Chateau Figeac 2009) were: the Chateau Grand Mayne 2005 which had an alluring nose of mocha, fresh blueberries, good complexity, and which was very silky and juicy all the way to the finish; and Chateau La Tour Figeac 2006, which had the nose of violets, figs, and supple tannins to be enjoyed now. The others may have been a bit too young to show their best taste forward.
This was also the second time I had the Chateau Valandraud 2011, and I am a huge fan. The nose of this 2011 remained the most luscious and concentrated among the lot, but just needed some more time for the quality to surface on the mid palate and finish.
Admittedly this was an excellent lineup, but I saw the list from the 2014 Gala Dinner, which was even more eye-popping, and consisted of more Premier Grand Cru wines including Grand Cru Classe A Chateau Pavie 2001 and Chateau Angelus 2006, borderline Classe A (current Classe B) Chateau Figeac 2005, and Classe B Chateau Beau Sejour Becot 1989.
Saint-Emilion wines’ reputation has been growing in our part of the world, and the collaboration of the Jurade de Saint-Emilion with the most successful Asian wine event, Vin Expo Asia-Pacific, only augurs well for the future of these wines in the region. Sadly though, I believe the region needs to be able explain why almost every bottle of Saint Emilion says Grand Cru, including, unfortunately, the presence of cheap, seemingly diluted, and not very palatable wines from the region. There should be a concerted effort to distinguish Grand Cru from Grand Cru Classe, or otherwise the term Grand Cru will lose its significance in the label. Medoc wines had no problem with this.
I want to thank Ludovic Decoster of Grand Cru Classe Chateau Fleur Cardinale for the kind invitation to this gala dinner.
The author has been a member of the Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux or FIJEV since 2010. For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, and other wine-related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com. He is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sherwinlao.
