Second Wines First: Bordeaux Top Estates Second Labels’ Exceptional Quality and Lower Prices Make Them Attractive for Early Drinking. Vintages 2022, 2020 and 2019 Showcase in Three 7-Bottle Packs.

Join us for Saturday Sips: Second Wines are No Second Thoughts

Come as you are; come any time that’s convenient for you during our business hours on Saturday, March 1 to sample from our Seconds bin. When someone asks for seconds at a meal, it’s a compliment, and we’ve found that the Second wines from many top estates in Bordeaux are more accessible upon release than the Grand Vins; they are built not only to last, but to come out of the gate at full speed. Our staff will be on hand to discuss nuances of the wines, the terroirs they reflect and the producers.

Elie

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Rather than shedding tears, Bordeaux adds tiers—and classification is what Bordeaux is all about. While the Grand Vin is expected to be any château’s A-game, with viticultural practice advancements and an increasingly warm climate, the price of these top-shelf wines has risen with the temperature, and quality is ensured by an ever more rigorous selection of grapes on the sorting table.

Second wines—a tradition begun by Château Margaux in the 17th century—were the logical place to establish grapes deemed unfit for inclusion in the Grand Vin. And since the terroir in which they were grown was often similar, and occasionally identical to the first wines (and generally made by the same vigneron), it stands to reason that the great estates would release these ‘little brother wines’ under some version of their famous name. Château Lafite Rothschild’s second wine, for example, is Carruades de Lafite; Château Margaux’s is Pavillon Rouge du Château Margaux.

This name-game association has a downside, of course: As the prices for a château’s main bottling rose, they found that they could easily command more for second wines as well, and inexorably, these also began to be priced beyond the reach of many consumers. Especially in the Médoc, the cost of second wines crept up to a price point once paid for the first. Some châteaux found a solution in producing third wines, and although fourth wines are not unheard of, the bulk of a harvest that does end up in one of the three is generally declassified and sold to négociants.

Price Pressure

As mentioned above, any viable business must weigh the needs of customers with their ability to pay for their product, and the cachet associated with First Growths in Bordeaux is so encompassing that maintaining quality outweighs any need for quantity. It’s fair to suggest that for Bordeaux’s most heralded names, second wines are not a bid for publicity, but exist as a vital—and growing—revenue source. In 2010, for example (one of the best years for quality in decades) only 40% of the harvest went into Lafite’s first wine while a full 55% went into Carruades.

In contrast is Château Léoville Barton, who uses about 80% of their grapes for their Grand Vin, a Deuxième Cru. It’s a somewhat unique philosophy, says the late Anthony Barton: “‘We produced some jolly good wines doing things that in the current era would make our oenologist scream. Grapes into one big wooden barrel, crushed by foot in the field. But we made vintages such as 1945 and 1947. The other day I found an invoice for a fiddler who played while we stomped. Now you need velvet gloves for touching the grapes.”

Precise Vinification

Other estates, like Château Pontet-Canet, express a goal of vinifying 100% Grand Vin—a once unreachable star brought closer to earth by advancing technology and better land management. Beyond the biodynamic movement which is sweeping most winemaking regions in the world, Picovale weather stations are increasingly allowing vineyard managers to be proactive in the face of incipient bad weather, especially the dreaded springtime frosts. Experience, formerly the sole means of measuring phenolic ripeness and knowing when to harvest, has guided winemakers in Bordeaux since Roman times, but technology can remove the last traces of guesswork. Brimrose Le Vigneron AOTF-NIR Analyzer calculates and levels of sugar and acidity, bringing groundbreaking insight to the exact time winemakers should be harvesting.

These innovations allow a much more precise product to be bottled, and with the increasing quest for perfection, they are becoming increasingly indispensable, even in a region where tradition is sacred.

Harnessing Young Vines

Older vines are a legacy among wine growers, and when they reach a certain age, it becomes a point of pride. With an expansive root system and substantial permanent wood, these vines have adapted to their environment and are more resilient to drought and extreme weather. At the same time, they are more prone to disease and damage and produce increasingly smaller yields, and at some point, it no longer makes sense to keep them in commercial production. Maintaining a sustainable economic vineyard means replanting, and in Bordeaux, mature vines are often replaced after about 35 years. After that, it takes between ten and twenty years for a vine’s fruit to reach potential, and a natural outlet for grapes from younger vines is an estate’s second and third wines, where it is expected that the tannins will be a bit coarser and less integrated, but which will mature more quickly than Grand Vin bottlings.

Access to Quality

In fact, the idea that second wines can be enjoyed earlier than their big brothers is one of their main selling points. Great wines may take twenty years to reach their apex; a lesser version may deliver its entire package upon release, or at least, within a few years. Second wines may come from the same winemaker who makes the first, and even the same plots of ground, but the philosophy is different. By using slightly less newsworthy fruit in the second wine rather than the first, the quality of the Grand Vin is expected to remain high; the alternative may to produce more Grand Vin with lesser grapes, but which would consequentially, be available at a lower price. It’s an endless balance, well summarized by Anthony Barton: “While I don’t believe that you can go too far in the search for perfection in wine, you can certainly go too far in search for profits.”

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Bordeaux Vintage Journal

The 2022 Vintage: ‘Exuberant Ripeness of Fruit and Satisfactory Acidity Levels.’

2022: The vintage that seized victory from the jaws of de heat.

A year that challenged the most adamant climate change deniers by providing record spells of high temperatures and unprecedented dryness, still managed to yield wines of luminous depth and superb aging potential. How is this possible? According to Jean-Dominique Videau of Branaire-Ducru, “The vines are getting used to the heat. Like human beings, they adapt to the intense heat and are therefore less likely to suffer from sunburn. We should have more confidence in nature; there is no merit in describing 2022 as a miracle, for all the miraculous qualities are produced by the vine’s innate ability to adapt.”

Indeed, 2022 is already being whispered about in the same breath as past greats like as the 2016 and 2010 among them, and the most optimistic are likening it to 1961 and 1945. At Léoville-Las-Cases, based on empirical experience they are suggesting a comparison with 1870, the year of the Paris Commune.

After the severe frosts of 2021, the mildew, brown rot, cool summer and rain at harvest lending a final burst of mildew for good measure, 2022 is shaping up to be the first vintage that truly demonstrates the result of the hard work done over the past two decades to counteract climate change. As ‘un millésime chaud qui ne fait pas comme un millésime chaud.’—a hot vintage that didn’t act like a hot vintage—it is a breath of hope as fresh-tasting as the wines.

2022 Vintage 7-Bottle Pack $389

2022 Bordeaux rates as one of the most interesting vintages in decades. The result of extreme heat and dry weather, the vines appear to have adapted and are able to produce fruit that is not only ripe, but creates wines that remain fresh while expressing silky textures, balance and harmony.

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The 2020 Vintage: ‘Fresh, Lively and Balanced, with Beguiling Purity of Fruit.’

The COVID pandemic underwrote the 2020 growing season, harvest and en primeur campaign as new health protocols created challenges to compound the normal difficulties in a season fraught with drought and then intermittent heavy rains that provided mildew conditions. Even so, spring rains had left the vineyards in good condition to withstand the dry spells, which reduced yields and concentrated the juice, and the harvest was fairly early and carried out under ideal conditions weather-wise. The result is a marvelous vintage that is regarded as a classic in terms of richness and intensity.

2020 Vintage 7-Bottle Pack $349

Of a ‘hat trick’ of fantastic vintages (2018, 2019 and 2020), the latter has proven the most consistent, with spectacular wines released from nearly every appellation. With slightly lower alcohol-by-volume, 2020 manages to combine 2018’s sensual, opulent and concentrated character with 2019’s freshness and elegance.

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The 2019 Vintage: ‘Dense Yet Vivacious, with Striking Structure, Intensity, and Poise.’

2019, although not rated as ‘great,’ had the stuff to produce many noteworthy and collectable wines, particularly from the Right Bank, where soils range from sandy to clay, delivered particularly rich concentrated fruit. The graveled, free-draining soils from the Left Bank found phenolic ripeness a bit more difficult to achieve. The top wines of the Haut-Médoc, particularly from Pauillac, Saint-Estèphe, Saint-Julien and Margaux have been well received so far, as have those from Pessac-Léognan.

2019 Vintage 7-Bottle Pack $389

In 2019, cool overnight temperatures regularly balanced warm, dry days—pretty much ideal conditions for wine grapes. It led to sensual and approachable textures and amazing intensity—wines enjoyable now, but which will improve markedly over the long haul.

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Saint-Estèphe

Located at the northern end of the Haut-Médoc in an undulating sea of quartz, pebbles, clay and limestone, the wines of Saint-Estèphe are known for both finesse and longevity. Accounting for nearly 8% of total Médoc production, the terroir of Saint-Estèphe is considered among the most favorable in Bordeaux—the limestone is ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon, while the heavier, moisture-retaining clay favors Merlot; the two varietal that make up the lion’s share of Bordeaux blends.

* As a result of these ideal geological foundations, the wines of Saint-Estèphe are generally rich and complex wines with notes of cassis, fresh blackberry, tobacco, cigar box, stone and exotic Asian spices.

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Château Montrose

In English, it’s ‘Mount Pink’—a reference to the wild heather than blooms on the slopes. But red is the color for which the château is famous since its wines are a blend of four red grape varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Although (according to the 1855 Classification of the Médoc) Montrose is a Second Growth, or Deuxième Cru, it often rivals First Growth class rank in quality and reputation. Succeeding three generations of the Charmolüe family, Martin and Olivier Bouygues acquired Château Montrose in 2006.

Montrose’s 237-acre vineyard is one of the largest in the Médoc. With terroir built on gravel and black sand with a subsoil of clay and marl, the vineyards are planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot with an average age of 40 years. The vineyards are divided into four blocks, further subdivided into 100 individual parcels.

The new owners are rightly proud of the château’s tradition of excellence: Martin Bouygues says, “The past deserves great respect. We only modernize where it is good for the quality of the wine and the environment, but we respect history.”

Olivier expands on that with some detail: “Winemaking at Château Montrose is an exercise in precision. We employ various temperature-controlled vats of different sizes, and vinification is conducted on a parcel by parcel basis. In 2016, we initiated experiments with gravity-fed systems with plans to transition to a 100% gravity-fed process. The wines are aged in approximately 60% new oak barrels for an average of 18 months, depending on the vintage.”

2022 Château Montrose ‘La Dame de Montrose’ Saint-Estèphe ($55)
Made to the same rigorous standards as the Grand Vin and from grapes grown in the same vineyard, La Dame de Montrose is the estate’s second label, and is created with a preponderance of Merlot with an aim of quicker maturation. The marque was created in 1983 as a tribute to Yvonne Charmolüe, who ran Château Montrose single-handedly from 1944 to 1960. The 2022 is a blend of 71% Merlot, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petite Verdot and 1% Cab Franc, and is a silken expression of freshly cut white flowers, violets and the India ink behind sweet notes of gooseberry.

 

 

 

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Château Cos d’Estournel

Cos d’Estournel is found amid undulating terrain at very heart of Médoc, and the name itself was chosen by the original owner, Louis Gaspard d’Estournel, to commemorate the rolling landscape on which the estate stands; ‘cos’ is an old dialectical word for hill. Known for its ornate, pagoda-topped castle, Cos d’Estournel was purchased in 2000 by entrepreneur Michel Reybier, a man determined to keep the extraordinary personality of the estate intact. “It will be Cos and only Cos,” he insisted at the time and maintains to this day: “At first glance, I was attracted by the history of the place. And then when I visited the estate, I felt instantly how unique, how exceptional it is.”

With roots sunk deeply in tradition, d’Estournel is nonetheless quite happy to employ state-of-the-art technique, and despite the labor-intensity of the entire process, much of it is hands off: Upon arrival, the temperature of the grapes is lowered to around 40 degrees Fahrenheit to slow oxidation, and then is cold macerated with pump-overs done entirely by gravity recycling. Gravity cellars allow for complete nonintervention in making the wine, and the use of this method allows for the purest possible expression of the fruit grown in the gravelly, rock, and stone soils of Cos d’Estournel.

2020 Château Cos d’Estournel ‘Pagodes de Cos’ Saint-Estèphe ($59)
D’Estournel’s second label is named for the two architecturally-acclaimed pagodas of the main château; as a wine, it is known to echo some of the power of the Grand Vin along with all of the iconic balance, but has the advantage of evolving more quickly and being ready to drink earlier. The 2020 (marking Reybier’s twentieth year at the helm) is a blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It is a voluptuous mélange of crème de cassis, violets and blackberry jam with subtle notes of tea.

 

 

 

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Pauillac

The most singularly revered appellation on earth, Pauillac is to wine what The Beatles are to pop music. Though fewer than ten square miles in total, three of the top five châteaux in the 1855 Médoc Classification are located here, and so varied is the topography that each estate is able to market the individual nature, in style and substance, of their wares. And it is this trio of skills—growing, producing and selling—that has made the region almost a cliché, synonymous with elite wine, where futures sell for exorbitant rates long before the wine is even in the bottle.

* The wines of Pauillac are considered by many to be poster children for Bordeaux as a style. Expect rich, full-bodied and tannic sensations and an uncanny combination stern and brooding countenance with regal elegance. Typical flavor notes include cassis, blackberry, tobacco, cigar box, spice, earth, lead pencil, cedarwood and wet forest aromas coupled with powerful wines, firm tannins, and regal bearings.

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Château Haut-Bages Libéral

This 5th Grand Cru Classé of Pauillac is attached to the vineyards of Château Latour and Pichon Baron. The wines are made under the renowned consultancy of enologist Eric Boissenot.

The vineyard covers 70 acres, half nearby the château on a limestone-rich gravelly ridge and other half on flat land consisting mainly of deep Garonne gravel. The combination of these two types of soil gives Haut Bages Libéral its iconic character, combining the power of Merlot on limestone clay with the elegance of Cabernets on gravel.

The vineyard is planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot and is tended to using ‘lutte raisonnée’—literally ‘reasoned fight—as a rage against the use of chemicals. Vinification is traditional, in concrete and stainless-steel vats in volumes proportional to the plot. All tanks, each with different capacities, are equipped with an automated thermo-regulation system. The wines will then age in barrels for a total of 16 months, of which 40% of the barrels are new.

2020 Château Haut-Bages Libéral ‘La Chapelle de Haut-Bages Libéral’ Pauillac ($41)
Vinified by the same team using the same techniques at the Grand Vin, La Chapelle draws fruit from the estate’s youngest vines, those under fifteen years old. It shows hard candy, kirsch, rose petal, cinnamon and blood orange, displaying the Grand Vin’s magnificent purity and silkiness with brighter acids and more fruit articulation.

 

 

 

 

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Château Pichon Longueville ‘Baron’

‘When you’re number two, you try harder’ is an aphorism that may hold true in car rentals, but in the Médoc, the chances are slim that any Deuxième Cru will have its seat upgraded any time soon. But it is arguable to suggest that Pichon Longueville is first among seconds, and it boasts a terroir essentially identical to Château Latour, immediately next door. Originally part of a larger estate (Château Pichon Longueville) the property was subdivided in 1850 between the owner’s children, among them, Baron Raoul de Pichon Longueville.

Situated at the southern end of Pauillac near border with the Saint-Julien-Beychevelle, Pichon Baron’s 180 acres are planted to 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. The planting density is 9,000 vines per hectare with an average age of 30 years and appellation-appropriate low yields.

Currently managed by Englishman Christian Seely, he adheres to typical modern Bordelaise techniques in the cellar: “Grapes are harvested and sorted by hand, and then macerated for 20–30 days, and fermented at 28–32 °C in temperature controlled stainless steel vats of varying sizes. The wine is transferred into oak barrels for aging after finishing its malolactic fermentation.”

2019 Château Pichon-Longueville Baron ‘Les Griffons de Pichon Baron’ Pauillac ($63)
The ‘Les Griffons’ label first appeared in 2012, intended to be the estate’s higher-end second wine. The original, Baronet de Pichon, first appeared in 1983 and was renamed ‘Les Tourelles de Longueville’ three years later. Les Griffons is distinct in that it is made from the same old vines used in the Grand Vin, with a higher proportion of Merlot to make it accessible earlier. The 2019 blend contains 59% Merlot and 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, and sees 60% new oak for eighteen months before release. It is quite able to age, but delightful now, with a strong floral character lending aromatics to the juicy, supple and upfront fruit.

 

 

 

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Château Haut-Batailley

This Fifth Growth Pauillac is a scion of the mother estate, Château Batailley; in 2017, it was acquired by the Cazes family, owners of the ubiquitous Château Lynch-Bages. Named after a battle that took place there in 1453; it functioned as a working winery for centuries until being ranked during the 1855 Classification. In the 20th Century, Francois Xavier Borie (owner of the famous Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste) acquired the estate and portioned off a smaller section of Château Batailley, thus creating Château Haut-Batailley.

The wines of Haut-Batailley are traditional examples of classic Pauillac terroir—heavily graveled, sandy soil over clay. Vinification is typically done in stainless steel tanks and the process of malolactic fermentation occurs within the stainless steel, giving these wines a velvety smoothness and supple luxurious drinkability. The wines of Château Haut-Batailley share the versatility of the grand vin from Château Batailley in the sense that they age well yet are able to be enjoyed on the younger side within an hour or so of decanting.

2019 Château Haut-Batailley ‘Haut-Batailley Verso’ Pauillac ($45)
65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot representing 35% of the total harvest, hand-picked and aged in year-old barrels for one year. The wine displays intense up-front notes of cassis and ripe plum merging into minerality with graphite and wet stone enhanced by savory whiffs of tobacco and herb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Lynch Bages

Amid the fanfare and the brilliant marketing (Jean-Michel Cazes sent a bottle of 1975 Lynch-Bages into outer space aboard the space shuttle Discovery), Fifth Growth Château Lynch Bages is worth the hype. Under the tireless campaigning and quality-improvement of the Cazes family, who have owned the property since 1934, the estate has expanded to over 250 acres to the south and southwest of Pauillac.

Improvements to both soil and technique have been a hallmark of the Cazes approach; a massive renovation and modernization of the wine cellar took place in 2017, and cutting-edge vineyard management now includes satellite imaging to survey the vineyard and conducting soil surveys to ensure the vines reach their full potential.

Of the nonpareil terroir, Jean-Charles Cazes (who took over the estate in 2007) says, “Combined with the natural barrier of the Landes forest, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde estuary, we find ourself in a very specific micro-climate. Winters are cool, frosts are rare, spring is often wet, summers are warm and autumns are sunny. Along with that, Lynch-Bages soils are homogeneous, essentially made up of deep Garonne gravel, resulting from the slow erosion of the Pyrenees by the Garonne river. On top of having high draining properties, these soils of pebbles and sands accumulate heat during the day and release it during the night, and they contribute to a moderate growth and a deep rooting of the vine.”

Although stuck in fifth place by the 1855 classification, it appears that fate, nature, and an aggressively forward-thinking family has raised the bar far higher than the Cru-rating suggests.

2019 Château Lynch Bages ‘Echo Lynch-Bages’ Pauillac ($55)
The estate’s second wine, Echo de Lynch-Bages 2019 is composed of 53% Merlot, 46% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-purple in color, it is big and bold from the outset, displaying warm black current and blueberry pie in a creamy package where the tannins are secondary to the fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2022 Château Lynch Bages ‘Blanc de Lynch-Bages’ Bordeaux Blanc ($108)
67% Sauvignon Blanc, 22% Semillon and 11% Muscadelle; the grapes undergo a mix of pressings, both with and without stems, followed by fermentation in oak for two-thirds of the crop and in vat for the rest, then aging for six months on lees. The wine’s color shows brilliant straw tones and flavors run from passion fruit to grapefruit, lemon curd and white peach with hints of honeysuckle, lime blossom and a finish of dusty chalk.

 

 

 

 

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Saint-Julien

Great things come in small packages, especially when big money is involved. The smallest of the major Médoc appellations (under four square miles), Saint-Julien also boasts an astonishing pedigree: Fully 95% of the appellation sits on classified acreage. Key to the desirability of the wines produced here is the seamless fusion of concentration and elegance; the wines are of a style historically referred to as masculine, though more in the mode of a Knight Templar than a brawny warrior. This blend of finesse and fortitude comes in part from the preponderance of gravel in the best vineyards, allowing natural drainage in the wet years, radiating warmth in cool vintages, extending the growing season and allowing vine roots to extend deeply into the earth.

* If you were to confuse a Saint-Julien for a Pauillac, you would be forgiven—at the north/south boundary, the two appellations are only a vine row apart. When tasting the greats of Saint-Julien, look for deep color, concentration, pure fruit expression and especially, aromatics. Julien wines show layers of blueberry, blackcurrant, plum, tobacco and licorice blended throughout velvety tannins.

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Château Léoville-Las Cases

As a Second Classified Growth established by the 1855 law, Léoville-Las Cases is often ranked as a ‘First among the Seconds.’ With an impressive 136 acres, the best inside the renowned Clos de Léoville, the estate’s mosaic of terroirs is driven by the nearby Gironde River, which benefits the vineyards as a heat regulator, keeping temperatures moderate and acting as a frost barrier. The vines grow in Gunz gravel soils that is made up of a gravel-sandy subsoil on top of a deep layer of clay, and ideal cradle for the estate’s symbolic Left Bank black varieties, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.

Today, represented by Jean-Hubert Delon (proprietor of Château Potensac in the Médoc and Château Nénin in Pomerol), Léoville’s legacy of excellence is preserved under an overarching philosophy. Delon says, “Regardless of their notoriety, all of our wine-producing estates are devoted to the same standard. They must perfectly express their terroir in their structure, harmony, distinction, complexity and aging potential. They are made to be shared with family or friends and are produced in such a way that the ripeness of the fruit is preserved throughout their life. Special attention is paid to the balance of acidity, a key element both for aging and immediate enjoyment. The empyreumatic aromas given by maturation in new oak barrels must not dominate the grape aromas, but should blend together.”

2022 Château Léoville-Las Cases ‘Le Petit Lion du Marquis de Las Cases’ Saint-Julien ($101)
The ‘Little Lion’ is produced as Léoville’s second wine, and is intended to serve as a more accessible introduction to the estate’s signature style. 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot with the remainder Cab Franc, the wine is considerably softer upon release than the Grand Vin, and as intended, ready to drink tonight with dividends paid out over five or so years in the cellar. It shows black cherry behind a graveled, scorched earth minerality with licorice and lavender infusing the mid-palate.

 

 

 

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Château Lagrange

Following its purchase by Suntory, the Lagrange estate expanded beyond Saint-Julien, bottling Haut Médoc and Bordeaux Blanc, and today, rather remarkably, it is the largest of the great Crus classified in 1855. With plantings that are 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot, the estate has undergone significant improvements over the past few decades; under the direction of Marcel Ducasse, Château Lagrange’s director from 1993 to 2007, the vineyard grew from 118 planted acres to 340 planted acres. The vine density was also increased as more than 100,000 new vines were added. Today, the average age of the vines is more than 35 years of age. The terroir is gravel, sand and clay soils. There are also parcels with deposits of iron. The vineyard is planted to a vine density of 8,500 vines per hectare. They use optical sorting technology during the harvest.

The slopes are well placed in the west of the Saint-Julien appellation, close to Château Gruaud-Larose and Château Branaire-Ducru. At the peak of their vineyards, the hillsides reach nearly a hundred feet in elevation which puts their vines at the highest elevation in the entire Saint-Julien appellation.

In 1985, the new owners also began producing a second wine, ‘Les Fief de Lagrange.’

2022 Château Lagrange ‘Les Fiefs de Lagrange’ Saint-Julien ($36)
68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 7% Petit Verdot, made with similar production methods as the Grand Vin, combining tradition and modernity with a density of plantation ranging from 7700 to 10000 feet per hectare, controlled yields and manual harvesting. Les Fiefs ’22 reveals vibrant flavors of ripe cherry, cranberry and wild herbs framed by bright acidity and smooth, youthful tannins.

 

 

 

 

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Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

If ever an estate has enshrined within its very name the fact that grapes thrive where other crops fail, it is Château Ducru-Beaucaillou: The famous lieu-dit of Beaucaillou (good pebbles) was once called Maucaillou (bad pebbles) when they tried to grow cereal crops instead of grapevines. It is the deep Günzian gravel that earns the terroir both scorn and praise from farmers (depending on crop; along with soil, a favorable climate and the general wherewithal of generations of vignerons, Ducru-Beaucaillou’s reputation has held strong—and grown—for three centuries.

Ducru-Beaucaillou’s vineyards consist of 125 well-drained acres planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot, previous plantings of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot having been uprooted. The vines’ average age is nearly 60 years. The estate produces three wines—the Grand Vin, Château Ducru-Beaucaillou; a second wine called La Croix de Beaucaillou, produced since 1995, and a third wine, Le Petit Ducru de Ducru-Beaucaillou, produced since 2019, comprising the former Château Lalande-Borie. The wines are aged for 18 months in 50% to 80% new oak barrels according to the richness of the vintage, fined with egg whites and lightly filtered before bottling.

2020 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou ‘La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou’ Saint-Julien ($60)
52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and the rest Petit Verdot. The estate does not market La Croix as a ‘second wine’ because it comes from a different source: an inland vineyard on the south bank of the La Moline stream close to Château Talbot; it was previously sold as Château Terrey-Gros-Caillou. It is muscular yet fresh, displaying a full range of berry, lavender rose petal, mint, spice and gravel inflections.

 

 

 

 

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Margaux

Encompassing nearly four thousand acres of vines, Margaux is the second largest appellation in the Haut-Médoc (after Saint-Estèphe), but the irony remains: The quintessential character of Margaux relies not on size, but on finesse. In Margaux, makers of the supple, perfumed Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines have adhered to tradition as faithfully as in any appellation, and perhaps, too much, as a modern understanding of the complexity of Margaux-specific terroir evolves. Says Jean-Henri Schÿler, former president of the Syndicat of Margaux: “The vineyards here have thick bands of clay beneath some parts of gravelly soil, and these can block the descent of roots. Tractors often cut the roots, which lie near the surface, compounding the problem. And the clay can encourage the formation of underground pools of water. Proper drainage can solve the problem but it’s a major investment.”

In part with assistance from the Syndicat, changes are happening at a faster pace, and a new guard of winemaker is losing some of the baggage left them by their forebears, creating a Margaux renaissance that is well worth exploring.

* In tasting Margaux, note that the velvet and silk that the wine exhibits on the palate combined with the ripe plum and violet aromas that dominate the nose may confuse you into thinking that there is a higher percentage of Merlot in the cuvée, but geography gives rise to this softness, built primarily around Cabernet Sauvignon. Margaux is the warmest major appellation in the Left Bank and it is almost always the first to harvest, so floral, red-fruit freshness remains in Margaux, while it may turn into black currant and mulberry notes in other prestigious Left Bank appellations.

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Château d’Issan

The roots of Château d’Issan’ vines delve deeply into Margaux’s gravel, but not as deeply as the roots of the estate delve into history. One of the oldest producing châteaux in Bordeaux, wines from d’Issan vineyards were used to toast the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Henry the Second. Oddly perhaps, although Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety today, when d’Issan was classified as a Third Growth in 1855, the wine was produced entirely from a grape that is now all but extinct in Bordeaux: Tarney Coulant.

In 2013, Château d’Issan sold a 50% stake to Jacky Lorenzetti of Château Lilian Ladouys, Château Lafon in St. Estèphe and Château Pedesclaux in Pauillac. Along with Emmanuel Cruse, the winemaking has been upgraded to include sorting tables and a new pneumatic press along with an increase of the proportion of new French oak barrels used to age the wine; currently an average of 50%.

2022 Château d’Issan ‘Blason d’Essan’, Margaux ($36)
55% Merlot, 44% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Petit Verdot. D’Issan’s second wine, introduced in 1995, and made from the estate’s youngest vines. It is fruity and accessible, offering a bouquet of blackberry and cranberry laced with undergrowth, mint, lavender and tobacco leading to full, fruity mid-palate and a mineral-driven finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Palmer

Originally part of the vast estate of Château d’Issan, the estate’s legacy truly began in 1816 when Englishman General Charles Palmer first acquired the château—a point its renown grew until it reached Third Growth status in the 1855 Classification. Not only that, but Palmer is often listed is among a select group of estates known as ‘Super Seconds’—a title bestowed upon properties that consistently perform above this nineteenth century classification.

Under the guidance of Thomas Duroux, former winemaker of Tuscany’s famous Ornellaia, Château Palmer continues to innovate and evolve. Departing from tradition, Duroux has introduced groundbreaking changes that have revolutionized the barreling and aging process. Bordeaux wines are traditionally aged in 225-liter barrels, but under Duroux, Château Palmer takes a different path: After spending their initial year in 225-liter barrels, the wines are then transferred to 3000-liter foudres. Likewise, Duroux spearheaded a significant cellar renovation, upgrading the pumping system to a gravity-fed one, modernizing sorting and bottling lines and adding 42 temperature-controlled vats specifically designed to facilitate precise, parcel-by-parcel vinification.

The 136-acre vineyard is planted to 47% with Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot and 6% Petit Verdot. One of the distinguishing features of Château Palmer lies in the composition of its Grand Vin. A remarkable blend that mirrors the vineyard composition, this is unconventional reliance on Merlot for a Left Bank Bordeaux, and helps explain Palmer’s distinct elegance.

The annual production of the Grand Vin Château Palmer is 11,000-12,000 cases; of the second wine, Alter Ego de Palmer, 7,000-8,000 cases.

2019 Château Palmer ‘Alter Ego’ Margaux ($120)
51% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. The wine’s deeply purple hue and intense aromatics suggests that it may be one of the most concentrated and age-worth Second Wines from this collection. It displays flavors of ripe black cherries, blackcurrants, fresh tobacco leaf, pencil lead and mocha.

 

 

 

 

 

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2022 Château Palmer ‘Alter Ego de Palmer’ Margaux ($120)
61% Merlot, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Petit Verdot, aged in 25% new oak, Palmer’s renowned second wine is a sensuous and caressing version of the big brother, filled with rich blueberry tones, nice spice and acidity with the vintage’s massive concentration on full display. Dig deep enough and find some mint and orange peel, but no nuance will dominate because the wine is beautifully balanced.

 

 

 

 

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Château Durfort-Vivens

Château Durfort-Vivens produces wine from a 150-acre vineyard that sits on deep gravel with a sandy-clay subsoil and in 2016, became the first of the Margaux Classified Growths to obtain both organic farming and biodynamic certifications. While the wines have been labeled ‘zero residue’ since 2014, the property has also been HVE and SME certified since 2019. This primarily due to the input of winemaker Gonzague Lurton, who adds, “The mild air of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gironde, along with shelter from the surrounding Landes forest, give us our temperate climate. Each of our plots is vinified separately and fermented in wooden and concrete vats. Aging then occurs for an average of 18 months in fine-grain French oak.”

Château Margaux purchased Durfort-Vivens in 1961, controlled by the Lurton family who also owns Château Brane-Cantenac and Château Climens. Until that time, the wine was produced at Château Margaux. Gonzague Lurton, became the head of operations 1992. The estate has 86.5 acres under vine.

2019 Château Durfort-Vivens ‘Les Plantes’ Margaux ($44)
88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc from the youngest biodynamically grown grapes on the estate. Aged 80% in clay amphora and 20% in barrels, the wine is fresh and energetic with bright tones of sour cherry and blackberry behind violets and lilacs wrapped in supple tannins.
 

 

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Pessac-Léognan

The same novice who may not grok the diversity of terroirs within Bordeaux may also admit that they are not familiar with Pessac-Léognan as a stand-alone appellation. This is understandable considering it has existed as such for only thirty-five years, although the soil beneath is the product of millions of years of geology that have deposited a harmonious mixture of ocher, white, red and pink quartz and quartzites, jaspers, flints and Lydians.

Extending over ten communes—Cadaujac, Canéjan, Gradignan, Léognan, Martillac, Mérignac, Pessac, Saint-Médard-d’Eyrans, Talence and Villenave-d’Ornon—the appellation decree was signed on September 9, 1987, marking the recognition of several unique qualities in the terroir that gave birth to the ‘New French Claret’ of Château Haut-Brion, one of the Grand Cru Classé estates in the famous 1855 valuation.

With the replanting of more than two thousand acres of vines, winegrowers have regained the Pessac-Léognan vineyard region that it had in 1935, resisting the urban expansion of the nearby city of Bordeaux. Today, the total surface area exceeds 4000 of production, with vines and intensely urban landscapes co-existing.

* The inherent weight in the wines of Pessac-Léognan are balanced with minerality, and the best are imminently age-worthy. Look for smoke, truffle and tar scents mingled with the dark fruit, notably sweet cherry and currant. There is often a spicy edge that becomes more pronounced with a few years in the bottle.

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Château Haut Bailly

At just under 75 acres, Haut Bailly is a moderate-sized estate that produces about 80,000 bottles per year. The grapes line up in the vineyard in an order typical for Haut-Médoc, 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Merlot, 3% Cabernet franc and 3% Petit Verdot, although it is located in the commune of Léognan, which is usually more associated with white wine production. Since being purchased in 1998 by American banker Robert G. Wilmers, Bailly has steadily improved its output and now numbers in the upper echelon of Pessac-Léognan.

The terroir consists of sand mixed with the gravel that gives the Graves appellation its name. The grapes used in production are hand-harvested and fermented for ten days in temperature controlled stainless steel and concrete vats of varying sizes. After maceration the wines are aged for eighteen months in oak barrels, a high percentage of which are new. In total the estate produces 150,000 bottles annually. In a typical vintage, between thirty and forty percent of the wine is relegated to the estate’s second wine, Haut-Bailly II, produced since 1967, under the name Domaine de la Parde until 1979, then La Parde de Haut-Bailly until 2018.

Unlike many producers from the Graves appellation, no white wine is made at Haut-Bailly.

2022 Château Haut Bailly ‘Haut-Bailly II’, Pessac-Léognan Rouge ($60)
65% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Malbec. Hazelnut and blackberry on the bouquet with mocha, cassis and a touch of mint on the palate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Smith Haut Lafitte

Rated as a red wine ‘Grand Cru Classé’ in the 1959 Classification of Graves, the château sit on a low hill of pebbles and sand deposited by the Garonne River, offering grape vines not only superb drainage, but also reflected sunshine to lengthen the day’s ripening period. The estate is not to be confused with Château Lafite Rothschild (the Pauillac superstar) with which it has no connection, but both were named for their elevated physical status—‘la fite’ is an ancient dialectical word for hill.

The vineyards consists of 170 acres, about half of which are planted at a ratio of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. The remaining acres are cultivated with white varieties of 90% Sauvignon blanc, 5% Sémillon and 5% Sauvignon Gris.

Château Smith Haut Lafitte produced about 10,000 cases of the Grand Vin annually and 2,500 cases of dry white while releasing two Second wines; the blends are what differentiates them. Les Hauts de Smith is produced from an average blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon while an alternate Second, Le Petit Haut Lafitte is produced as a red wine, with a higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend for a more Left Bank feel.

2022 Château Smith Haut Lafitte ‘Le Petit Haut Lafitte’, Pessac-Léognan Rouge ($45)
60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot; grapes are sorted twice, before and after destemming, and are not pressed before undergoing fermentation in vats. Tannins and color are extracted by punching down and/or pumping over. The wine is aged in 20% barrels made in house for 14 months and displays nice earthy tones—cigar box and cedar—as well as rich dark berries, some floral notes and fine but supple tannins.

 

 

 

 

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2022 Château Smith Haut Lafitte ‘Le Petit Haut Lafitte’, Pessac-Léognan Blanc ($58)
80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Sémillon, the wine expresses a delightfully tropical bouquet of honeyed grapefruit and lemon oil. Full-bodied and dry, the wine picks up a flinty edge by the finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

Named after a group of friars who managed the estate from 1584 until the French Revolution in 1789 (and of course, for Château Haut-Brion), Les Carmes originated as a windmill and the surrounding land gifted by Jean de Pontac of Haut-Brion. When it was sold in 2010 for €1.54 millions per acre, it represented a new record for Bordeaux vineyard land. Shortly after selling to Patrice Pichet, the vineyard of Les Carmes Haut Brion was expanded by the purchase of another fifteen acres of vines.

Pichet has continued adding to their holdings of Les Carmes; in 2012, the group made another 40-acre purchase of vines from the Briest family, the owners of Château Haut Nouchet. Patrice Pichet has said they plan to completely replant the vineyard at a much higher vine density of 10,000 vines per hectare. Initially, the young vines will be used in the production of the second wine of Les Carmes Haut Brion, Le Clos de Carmes Haut Brion, and in time, it is expected the better vines will be added to increase the quantity of the Grand Vin.

Le Clos des Carmes Haut Brion (Les C, as it is called) is made from the majority of the vineyard, so it is a much larger production. The vineyard is planted to 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, and 3% Petit Verdot, emphasizing Cabernet Sauvignon more than most other second wines.

2020 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion ‘Le C des Carmes Haut-Brion’ Pessac-Léognan Rouge ($39)
Considered less a ‘second wine’ and more ‘another featured wine’, Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Les C (short for ‘Les Clos’) relies on a more traditional blend that focuses on Merlot subtly complemented by Cabernet Sauvignon and a much larger emphases on Cabernet Franc. It is made in a separate winery about a half an hour from where in the Grand Vin is made in Pessac. Assertive percentage of Cab Franc creates a wine that shows an oceanic edge with nuances of sea salt minerality beneath notes of flowers, tobacco leaves, thyme, red and black currant, mint, and an array of spices, finishing with cocoa and espresso.

 

 

 

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Château Malartic-Lagravière

Originally Domaine de Lagravière, Château Malartic-Lagravière—situated on the finest gravel hilltop in Léognan—is one of only six estates in Bordeaux classified for both white and red wines. 100 acres are given over to red grape varieties (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 45% Merlot, with 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot) and 15 acres to whites (80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Sémillon). The estate has belonged to the Bonnie family since 1997, originally with oenologists Michel Rolland (replaced by Eric Boissenot in 2020) and Athanase Fakorellis as consultants.

The terroir is typical of the region; superficially there is a high platform of gravel as much as 30 feet deep in places. Beneath this is limestone bedrock peppered with ancient shells, fossils of the sea-creatures that once drifted here in an ancient sea. There are also a few streaks of clay scattered throughout the estate.

At the core of the winemaking, in the field and in the cellar, is an ecological commitment. An eco-demanding environmental commitment implemented since 1997, for sustainable practices that respect a global ecosystem.

Véronique Bonnie, President of Vignobles Malartic, says, “Our wine estate is a vast environmental territory. We preserve its balance by ensuring the harmony of its biodiversity: vines, hedges, woods, meadows, gardens and vegetable garden, beehives and animals on our farm. With this global agro-ecological vision, our main mission is to take care of the soil with limited, measured human intervention that respects living things.”

2019 Château Malartic-Lagravière ‘La Réserve de Malartic’ Pessac-Léognan Rouge ($26)
83% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Petit Verdot. The wine was aged in French oak (25% new) for 15 months and shows plump black raspberries, gravelly earth and tobacco.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Saint-Émilion

Nowhere in Bordeaux is a genuflection to history more obvious than in Saint-Émilion, which is speckled with Roman ruins and at whose center stands a limestone church built by the region’s namesake, Saint Emilian of Lagny. The vineyards are numerous and small, averaging around fifteen acres and spread across a triad of terroirs that can be roughly defined as a central limestone plateau, the clay and chalk-rich slopes of that plateau and the flatland beyond. What all three topographical areas have in common is cooler soils better suited to Merlot and Cabernet Franc. For the most part, Cabernet Sauvignon does not ripen well in Saint-Émilion except in small pockets, most notably on an ancient alluvial terrace in the northwest, where free-draining gravel soils are similar to those found in the best properties of the Graves and Médoc.

* The wines of Saint-Émilion are presented two different styles, the lighter of which offer silky tannins and a red-fruit mixture of ripe cherries and currants with notes of spice. The rich, full-bodied blend—often labeled Grand Cru—is meatier, more richly colored and filled with darker fruits like plums and blackberries.

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Château Quintus

Formerly called Château Tertre Daugay, the Quintus estate was purchased by Domaine Clarence Dillon in 2011. Dillon already owned four other domains, and in the Roman tradition of naming the fifth child ‘Quintus,’ the estate was thus renamed. The property sits on a high promontory at the end of the Saint-Émilion plateau, a terroir encompassing various slopes, soils and orientation. Of the vista, François Guillaume Dumas wrote in 1899: “One cannot imagine a more beautiful situation for an estate, or one more favorable for the production of a First Growth wine.”

At the time of purchase, the Quintus vineyards stood at 37 acres. In 2013, it was announced that the vines from Château L’Arrosee would be merged with Quintus, doubling the vineyard size. With the 2021 purchase of Château Grand Pontet, Quintus became larger still. The vineyards sit on two different types of limestone, the best on the slope, which is used for Quintus. The vines at the bottom of the slopes are more clay-rich and are reserved for their second wine, ‘Le Dragon de Quintus.’ Although many of the Cabernet Sauvignon vines were ripped out and replanted, a few remain that are more than a hundred years old. In general, the vineyards are 67% Merlot and 33% Cabernet Franc.

2022 Château Quintus ‘Le Dragon de Quintus’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($60)
The name originates from the dragon statue that perches on the promontory above the estate. The 2022 is a blend of 82% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 7% Malbec. Polished and silky with dark cherry, plum puree, black tea and persistent echoes of warm stone, violet and bay leaf on the finish.

 

 

 

 

 

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Château-Figeac

Figeac is the largest estate of Saint-Émilion, covering 133 acres, of which around a hundred are under vine. It is known as the ‘most Médoc’ of the Right Bank, blending mostly Cabernet grapes over Merlot. The wine’s distinctive old Bordeaux style comes from complex soils: Three warm gravel hills surrounding the estate and offer natural drainage, while cooler blue clay subsoil provides nutrients for deep vine roots. Several microclimates and older vines lend character. Frédéric Faye, winemaker and managing director of Château-Figeac, says the estate has ‘always produced great wines’ but in recent vintages, fine-tuning has paid off: “The scope for qualitative improvement lies in details that go even further to highlight the uniqueness of the Cru and its terroir purity. Such refinement includes improving tannin texture, aromatic expression and the power of seduction in youth while preserving the ageing potential and identity.”

2020 Château-Figeac ‘Petit-Figeac’ Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru ($81)
71% Merlot, 19% Cabernet Franc, and the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, aged 14-15 months in 40% new oak, it offers up youthful herbaceousness with lush, textured flavors of cherry compote, mulberry and cassis with sweet spice, mineral and a hint of oak vanilla.

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Monbousquet

Having fallen into disrepair at the end of the 19th century, the Monbousquet estate saw a slow rebuild after World War II that culminated in the 1993 purchase by Chantal and Gérard Perse of Château Pavie. Credited with ushering in a ‘leap in quality,’ the couple planted the first white grapes in the vineyard and pushed production standards to the ceiling; they drained vineyards and added state-of-the-art installations in the cellar. These efforts were formerly recognized in 2006 as Château Monbousquet was elevated to the rank of Grand Cru Classé.

Says Gérard, “The first vintage of Château Monbousquet was the difficult 1997. We only made two barrels out of the entire harvest. To keep that in perspective, that means somewhere between 300 and 600 bottles were made that year. One of the first things we tackled was the water problem, which unlike much of France, was not a lack of it. We analyzed and drained most of our 80 acres to limit rises in the water table during prolonged wet spells.”

Even Gérard admits that his vineyard—planted to planted to 60% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon—do not sit on Saint-Émilion’s most lauded terroir. He says, “The vines are planted at a density of 5,500 vines per hectare; the average age of the vines is 40 years. For the red wines, we rely on more sand and clay in the north and more gravel with sand in the south. In part, intentionally striving for low yields is one method to increase concentration and improve quality. For example, in 2009, our yields were only 28 hectoliters per hectare. We have learned the technique of getting the most out of the land.”

2019 Château Monbousquet ‘Angélique de Monbousquet’ Saint-Émilion Grand Cru ($35)
60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine has a ripe, black-fruited aroma with touches of pencil shavings, licorice and cherry preserves and finishes crisp and savory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Château Angélus

Storied Château Angélus is an estate with celestial aspirations; it is said to be the only winery where the voices of angels—l’angélus—can be heard from three proximate chapels; the Mazerat chapel, the church of Saint-Martin and the church of Saint-Émilion. Named Grand Cru Classé when the Saint-Emilion classification was created in 1955, it reached the pinnacle, ( Premier Grand Cru Classé A), a distinction it held between the 2012 and 2021 vintages. At the start of 2022, the domain opted to withdraw from the classification, the next edition of which was due to be made official in September of the same year. As a result, from the 2022 vintage onwards, the label of Château Angélus mentions only the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru.

Château Angélus is planted on a 67 acre vineyard on clay-rich slopes as well as on a ‘pied de côte’ with clay-limestone soils. This vineyard is planted 50% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Franc and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon.

2020 Château Angélus ‘Carillon d’Angélus’ Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru ($131)
The 2020 Le Carillon is Merlot top-heavy at 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. Drawn from three locations (Saint-Christophe-des-Bardes, the Cheval Blanc/Figeac sector and vineyards around the château), the wine is aged with 60% in new oak and 40% in stainless steel. The Merlot offers formidable flesh and the nose is elegant—crushed flowers and blackberry pie. Long and luxurious in the mouth, it has wonderful tannins, nicely integrated acidity and a clean finish.

 

 

 

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Pomerol

Lacking a detail-laden history, a focal-point eponymous town, a château-laden landscape or an ancient classification system, Pomerol does not conform to the accepted image of a Bordeaux wine district. Still despite its tiny size (under 2000 acres), Pomerol has wormed its way onto a prominent perch among the world’s most revered wine regions. Merlot is the dominant grape variety in Pomerol and as a result, the wines tend to be rich, silky and approachable at an early age, while also being capable of extended aging. Cabernet Franc is also often present, adding structure and an element of savory spice to the blend. The best wines come from the eastern section of the appellation on the marginally higher land where Pomerol meets Saint-Émilion. It is here that the most famous Pomerol is found, including the château that is more famous than the appellation itself, Pétrus.

* Pomerol is texture wine; the appellation’s unique terroir, consisting of a clay-based subsoil with high iron content, creates an ideal environment for the development of Merlot, which thrives in the region. Pomerol wines are typically full-bodied and deeply colored, with blackberry, crème de cassis notes and especially, overtones of chocolate and coffee.

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Clos du Clocher

Good fences may make good neighbors, but good terroirs make better ones. Founded in 1924 by Jean Baptiste Audy, a négociant who wanted to dip a toe in the winemaking trade, the land he purchased piecemeal, vine row by vine row, was proximate to vines owned by Château Latour à Pomerol and Château La Fleur-Pétrus. Additional vines planted next to Trotanoy are used to produce their Grand Vin. Old Audy clearly knew his stuff.

The estate, tiny by Bordeaux standards, is divided into four parcels. Most are planted on clay-loam soils resting on blue clay and deep gravel subsoils at a ratio of 70% Merlot to 30% Cabernet Franc, none at elevations higher than a hundred feet.

2020 Clos du Clocher ‘Château Monregard La Croix’ Pomerol ($49)
100% Merlot, but unlike Clocher’s Grand Vin, which is grown in clay, La Croix hails from Merlot grown sandy soils. The harvest undergoes plot by plot vinification with manual pump-overs with long maceration offer spicy raspberries, smoke and plushily-textured tannins and loads of truffle-accented fruit, finishing with dark chocolate and espresso notes.

 

 

 

 

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Castillon – Côtes de Bordeaux

The creation of the Côtes de Bordeaux appellation in 2009 was an attempt to unite four lesser-known wine producing areas (Premieres Côtes de Blaye, Côtes de Castillon, Côtes de Francs, and the red wines from the Cadillac district) under a single commercial network. The move has had mixed results, primarily because the identities of each were already well-established locally and these regions are not necessarily near one another. Francs and Castillon are located at the eastern end of the Bordeaux region, while Blaye is in the west and Cadillac in the south. The banner of each remains distinct, therefore, and the qualities of their individual terroirs are not amenable to a generic appellation name. That can only be determined by a judicious examination of their wines.

Castillion is Merlot country; the district, at the very eastern edge of Bordeaux between Libourne and Bergerac (abutting Saint-Émilion) contains multiple clay-rich sites in the foothills of the limestone plateau on which the town Saint-Émilion is located. With over 7000 acres under vine (70% of which is Merlot) the appellation produces only red wine, and nearly all blends with the satellite variety Cabernet Franc, which accounts for 28% of the harvest, and Cabernet Sauvignon, making up a scant 2%.

Geologically, much of the area is an extension of the limestone ridge that runs through Saint-Émilion’s greatest estates, while some sites boast the soil structures of Pomerol. Since the price of land in Castillon remains reasonable, many of the top estates from these storied Bordeaux regions have bought land here and raised the overall quality of the wine. As an example, vineland in Castillon sells for around $10,000 per acre, while in the Grand Cru climats of Saint-Émilion, that same amount of space easily exceeds a million dollars. In total, 230 vignerons and vigneronnes work Castillon terroir.

Château l’Hétre

L’Hêtre, formerly Château Goubau and neighboring property Château Montagne, sits on a varied and rich biotope on the Saint Philippe d’Aiguilhe plateau, the highest point in Bordeaux. Jacques Thienpont, proprietor of the tiny (6 acres) Château Le Pin, visited the properties in 2015 and fell in love with the southeasterly exposures, the continuous gentle breeze and the terroirs, divided between the limestone plateau and a mixture of clay, limestone and chalk soil slopes. With his sister Anne De Raeymaeker, Jacques decided to purchase the estate as an investment for the two branches of the Thienpont family; they hired their nephew Maxime Thienpont, who had grown up at another family estate Château Labégorce Zédé in Margaux, to manage the estate. They renamed the property ‘L’Hêtre,’ a species of French beech, thus continuing the arboreal theme that Jacques uses for all his estates.

L’Hêtre plantings of Merlot and Cabernet Franc have great exposures with gentle breezes to protect them from excess humidity. The vines are harvested and fermented in a mixture of concrete and oak. The concrete is used to preserve freshness and oak is used to add structure to the wine. The terroir is a limestone plateau with very good elevation and a great slope for drainage. It is similar to the more publicized appellation of Saint-Émilion and L’Hêtre has vineyards that actually mirror some of the premier vineyards from the appellation.

The 2016 vintage was the first one made entirely by the new owners and is therefore the first to carry the name L’Hêtre. The striking artwork for the labels was created by Belgian artist Anne Van Hereweghen.

2020 Château l’Hêtre ‘La Raison d’Hêtre’ Castillon – Côtes de Bordeaux ($21)
A blend of 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc from the young vines grown on parcels of clay-limestone on the lower slopes of the vineyard; the wine displays dark plum and black currant with hints of clove and allspice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted on 2025.03.05 in Fronsac, Saint-Estephe, Côtes de Bordeaux, Saint Julien, Margaux, Pessac-Léognan, Graves, Saint-Emilion, Pomerol, Haut-Médoc, Listrac-Médoc, Moulis-en-Médoc, Pauillac, France, Bordeaux, Saturday Sips Wines, Wine-Aid Packages