Saint-Emilion

Bordeaux · France · Wine Auction Prices

Saint-Émilion is the Right Bank's showcase appellation, a medieval hilltop town surrounded by 5,400 hectares of vines where Merlot and Cabernet Franc dominate on limestone plateau, clay, and gravel soils. Unlike the Médoc, where gravel ridges favour Cabernet Sauvignon, Saint-Émilion's varied soils favour Merlot's ripening earlier in cool vintages and Cabernet Franc's aromatic complexity on the limestone plateau. The Saint-Émilion classification, unlike the immutable 1855 Médoc classification, is revised every decade: in 2022, Angélus and Pavie were elevated to Premier Grand Cru Classé A alongside Ausone and Cheval Blanc, only for those promotions to be contested in court. Ausone, on a south-facing limestone cliff above the town, produces perhaps the most concentrated and age-worthy wine on the Right Bank — a blend of roughly 50% Cabernet Franc and 50% Merlot from just 7 hectares. Cheval Blanc, on a gravel-and-clay plateau near the Pomerol border, is built primarily on Cabernet Franc and produces wines of extraordinary perfume and silkiness. Le Pin and Valandraud — the so-called garagiste wines — established a parallel market for micro-production Right Bank wines in the 1990s.