CH’NG Poh Tiong
The commune of Moulis – north of Margaux and south of Margaux – was planted with vineyards going back to Gallo Roman times, making them some of the oldest in Bordeaux. This was more than a thousand years before Dutch engineers, at the request of the French, helped drain the marshes and swamps of Bordeaux – particularly in the Médoc – in the early 17th Century. Chateau Poujeaux is one of the best wines of Moulis. More inland than the top chateaux closer to the Gironde, Poujeaux tends to be more angular and lacks greater suppleness in fruit even in the riper vintages. The wines are no less enjoyable. The 2008 vintage is not as ripe as that which follows, namely 2009, but the wine has a good future ahead. Blackcurrant fruit with a touch of mint and a dash of sappiness. Fresh. Not entirely ripe but balanced. Medium-bodied. This is the kind of vintage novices and others unfamiliar with Bordeaux – including, I may add, fellow journalists, MWs and MSs – think cannot age. On the contrary, while not very intense, the acidity will carry it very easily into the future (provided the wine is not over extracted). Now to 2030.
