Top St-Émilions 2005 & 2009

After Hubert de Boüard presented this vertical of his Ch Angélus at Farr Vintners in October, he came up with the idea of bringing a crowd of winemakers and proprietors of the St-Émilion first growths over to London to show off two of the most recent headline-grabbing vintages. So it was that I recently had the chance to compare the 2009s and 2005s from most of the Premier Grand Cru Classé properties and their peers in this extensive Bordeaux right-bank appellation.

I see that I gave the 2009s higher marks overall, although this does not affect my admiration of the...