Chateau Grand Mayne 2009

Another St.-Emilion smart buy for consumers, Grand-Mayne has made a number of top wines (except for a short period when they had some TCA issues). This is a full-throttle effort filled with blueberry and black raspberry fruit, perhaps slightly more oak than oakaphobes would prefer, but a full-bodied, concentrated, ageworthy style. Sweet tannin, low acidity and ripe fruit suggest this well-made St.-Emilion should drink nicely for 15-20 years.

Very dark, with almost heady blueberry and plum confiture flavors at the core, wrapped with extra cassis and boysenberry notes. Long and liberally laced with toast and mocha, with a licorice snap edge on the finish. Best from 2014 through 2024. 4,000 cases made.

Inky core. Dark, pure and restrained fruit on the nose with some cedary freshness. Very sweet fruit but allied with upright tannins, which increase the freshness. Good finish – juicy but becoming nicely dry at the very end. (JH)

The 2009 Grand Mayne has an opulent bouquet with well-defined kirsch and red plum aromas, with hints of cough candy emerging over time. It remains focused and precise. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins, layers of candied red fruit laced with orange peel and marmalade. It builds beautifully toward the finish. Excellent. Tasted at the Grand Mayne vertical at the property.

Ready to go, the wine is medium-bodied, elegant, fresh, soft and round, with loads of earthy dark red fruits, wet forest, flowers, and espresso to round things out.

Very inky and dense colour, nice nose with some earthy mineral notes, wild berries, smoke and cassis. The palate shows immense concentration and density, a fine level of extraction, really powdery tannins, cocoa bean, dark fruit, plum and cassis, a balanced freshness all along, very long finish, ripe, bold and generous, should have a very fine potential, drink from 2015.

Deep purple. Comfortingly expressive blackberry bouquet, complex and fine, showing medium drive. Aromatic palate, fine tannins and well-supporting acidity within a medium-fine, still demanding astringency; only in the finish does the full aromatic intensity emerge. Has a chance to match the great 1998 vintage.

Deep purple, dense at the core, with garnet glints at the rim. Pleasantly wafting blackberry bouquet, showing medium drive yet layered and refined. Aromatic palate, fine tannins and well-supporting acidity within a mid-fine, still craving astringency; only in the finish does the full aromatic push arrive. Has a chance to connect with the great 1998.

Velvety, sweet, opulent, jammy bouquet with plum, dried fruits, and caramel. Sweet, rich palate with generous fruit and soft tannins. Sweet, broad finish. 18/20 2016 - 2028

Jean-Antoine Nony is very pleased with the 2009, “back to more reasonable yields.” Grand-Mayne returns to center stage with a generous wine, 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Here we find the very ripe, indulgent style with elegant oak that made the cru’s reputation in the 1980s.

Dense and powerful, with a lovely suppleness, the wine is full-bodied with an appealing underlying finesse.

Dark color, good intensity, beautiful. Delicate, fruity, ripe nose, with notes of cherry and flowers. Soft, subtle palate with flavor and a normal body. I was hoping for a bit more power and richness overall. Melted tannins, aromatic and long finish, with flavor. Alcohol 14°; pH 3.75; IPT 70.

A ripe wine, very open and smooth. The tannins are dark, but it is the fruit—blackberry and red plums—that comes right through. Look beneath this charm, and there is also a wine with more structure, perfumed and ageworthy.