Espirit de Puisseguin

This Saint Emilion satellite wine is a cuvee thought to be assembled from left overs in the region. I expected the 2009 vintage to be ripe, rich and inviting. The pictue on the label is of the Puisseguin Hotel

I'm disappointed with this offering. Having drunk lovely imports at 5 - 8 euro a bottle. This was tried during the 25% disco promo, so £7.99

Nose pretty benign for a ripe vintage - doesn't open in the glass.

Acidity good, but the wine and the oak tastes tired. May be made in huge old oak muids that are stale. The wine starts off ok, but the fruit in middle palate disappears very abruptly. Rather savory after that 1st flush, with an astringent finish that ends with the taste of old soggy cardboard.

The cork is one of those made by compressing tiny pieces with glue, rather than whole cork.

May be this is a dodgy bottle. Weirdly enough, the Merlot & Cab franc flavour tastes as green after the 1st flush as some of '06 cheapos which were produced from a much less ripe vintage.

I am a claret drinker, but I can't recommend this as a right bank merlot glugger, I'm affraid. Probably ok with red meat casseroles. May improve with time.

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Duncan

Not Ready at all.....

This was not a dodgy bottle. For satisfaction and harmony, the wine does improve dramatically when open over night. I still think the traditional oak muids were well past their best (or whatever they were) and the wine had lost its freshness because of them. The wine would have been a lot more expensive with say, a third in newer sweeter oak.

Best drunk 2012 - 2013, and consumed with hearty casseroles or roast beef.

As a nation of wine enjoyers and supermarket / warehouse retailers, somehow we all have to accept that wine cannot always be consumed immediately. An ugly duckling - matures to a bird of beauty, by which time there are a whole lot of shallow grade D celebs to crow over - Duh !

There is a dichotomy here of course, as the supermarkets want consumers to buy and drink, buy and drink....etcetera. Very few retailers want to spend money on storage and cellaring, the trad merchants are almost gone......so .... cheap claret gets a slating.

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Duncan

This wine is developing in Leaps and Bounds

It is so much better now. There is a lift to the fruit and the oak has integrated properly.

This wine is now representative of the easy and enjoyable 2009 vintage.

On the 2nd Day, the wine is a satisfactory claret with depth, and a certain sweetnes to the middle palate from young merlot, that makes it accomodating for those new world drinkers who may wish to venture outside of the box.

I drunk the wine after grilled whole sea bass - so maybe I was in taste buds heaven already

Recommended now. I hope there isn't bottle variance. The wine... Very different than it was 4 months ago, perhaps the cabernet franc has come round now - it can be slow.

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Duncan