L’Esprit de Jean Voisin AOC Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, 2016

Château Jean Voisin lies to the north of the SaintÉmilion appellation, close to the Barbanne tributary and the boundary with Montagne SaintÉmilion. Fifteen hectares are planted in one lot around the Château on the plateau of Saint-Émilion. Purchased by the Chassagnoux family in the 1950s, the family more recently brought in the skills of consultant Hubert de Boüard to improve their wines. Adopting Hubert’s typical approach of obsessive attention to detail, the vineyard is broken down into 19 plots, each of which is farmed and grapes vinified separately. L’Esprit de Jean Voisin is produced from grapes from 5.5-hectare plots on sandy clay soils with ferrous blue clay veins. I am informed that only 10% of the wine was matured in new oak barrels although I found a distinctly intense oaky character with lots of smoke and spices. Produced from 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, it is medium to full bodied with fine-grained tannins and flavours of dark fruit and savoury marmite. It is concentrated and will benefit from more time in bottle before drinking.