Monday, March 18, 2013

The top 10 Bordeaux according to me

Since Bordeaux is so en vogue amongst wine hipsters now, yet many have no idea what is good and what is spoof, I thought I'd provide a public service. So many estates used to be good/great (LLC, Cheval Blanc, Giscours, Palmer, Pontet-Canet, Cos d'Estournel, etc) and now are making purple dreck juice. Young mustachioed hipsters need to know what to drink now that Bordeaux is hot again. Those hypebeasts are thirsty. Everybody was so busy hating on Bordeaux that when it came back in fashion, they were like a deer stuck on headlights. So here is my list of 10 that you can go to in every vintage, with no significant stylistic changes towards the dark side. At least I think. I'll preface this to say this is what I think is classic Bordeaux. God help me if they have a RO machine in their winery and it is on this list. Onwards!


  • Chateau Figeac - This is the classic St. Emilion for me. Every vintage I have had of this oozes that it comes from a place. So much of St. Emilion is St. Emilion and homogenous but Figeac is always unique and has a distinct profile. It also ages really well and off vintages can be gems when bottom feeding at auctions. I have 2 bottles of 2000 I have high hopes for. When I visited back in 2003 someone told me that Figeac used to be Cheval Blanc's horse stables. Glancing at Wine Searcher it looks like mere mortals cannot afford Figeac anymore as the 2010 vintage is around $250. Yikes! 
  • Chateau Magdelaine - This might be the most elegant St. Emilion I have ever tasted. It is so silky, suave and has some of the finest grained tannins I have ever had in a Bordeaux. Owned by the Moueix family who also own a few estates you might have heard of called Trotanoy and Petrus. Petrus, I won't include on this list because of price, but if price was no object I would include it because it is great and not-spoofilated. Anyway back to my darling Magdelaine. When speaking to Christian Moueix at a Wine Spectator event years ago you could tell how much affection he had for the estate. It ages like someone from Okinawa. Gracefully and much longer than you'd think. Figeac and Magdelaine are what I think of when I think of classically styled St. Emilion. Magdelaine is still affordable, clocking in at under $100.
  • Chateau Moulin de Tricot - I could fill half this list with Neal Rosenthal's Bordeaux selections, but I wanted to give the five people who read my blog more variety. This is an interesting estate in that they make two wines called Moulin de Tricot but from two different appellations. They own 5 hectares and 3 are in the Margaux appellation and the rest are in the Haut-Medoc appellation. Both bottlings are very worthy. These are the traditional, rocky, gravelly, silky, ripe (not too ripe) classic Bordeaux. It is not life-affirming, but just solid claret that won't break the bank and they deliver every year regardless whether it is the Margaux or Haut-Medoc bottling. This can be had for under $30 a bottle. 
  • Chateau Poujeaux  - The jewel of Moulis. Moulis is one of the great QPR appellations in Bordeaux that for some reason has not been that affected by the great spoofilation crisis that almost wiped out all of Bordeaux in the late 80's and continues to this day. Way worse than phylloxera! Poujeaux is maddingly consistent and always profoundly delicious. The one wine on this list that should be priced more but isn't. I am not complaining. I always get a meaty, gamey vibe from this wine and it always needs 5-10 years from vintage date just to become drinkable. This is your grandfather's Bordeaux! You can still find this for $30-$40 a bottle. 
  • Chateau La Vielle Cure - Fronsac. When I was cutting my teeth in the wine business as a noob, Fronsac was always the go to appellation for me and my buddies. Mostly unspoofilated, cheap and friendly as most of the wines are dominantly Merlot. Vielle Cure is always priced fair, though it has been sneaking up in price since 2005. It is easy to drink without being a structureless, idiotic goofy dumb wine, and seems to be everywhere. But everywhere in a good way not like Chateau Simard. Also half bottles of this are everywhere as well. The satellite appellations are always a good source for unspoofed wines, less the garbage that comes out of the Bouard stable.
  • Chateau Larrivet Haut Brion - I know next to nothing about this estate except the obvious. It is in Graves/Pessac-Leognan and every vintage I have had (around 6) have been sensational. All that classic Graves weedy tobacco, tweed jacket, pervy professor flavors going on with always the finest-grained tannins and incredible ageability. I have always loved the freshness of this wine due to the ripping acids as well. Apparently since 2004 there have been major changes at the estate but a bottle of 2008 was fantastic in the past year, so the changes seem to be helping rather than spoofing. If there is one thing that scares me when reading about a Bordeaux it is "sweeping changes" at an estate, but in this case it seems the changes were for the better.
  • Chateau Carmes Haut Brion - I do know this estate was sold to a rich real estate executive in 2010 and he could have spoofed up the estate, so this could all be moot in 10 years and this could indeed be the second coming of Haut-Bergey (yikes!). It has taken a major price rise due to the Bordeaux bubble in recent years but 2001, 2000 and 1998 were all very memorable wines with truly distinct character and wonderful structures. There is always a thrilling exotic perfume that s dominates its aromatic profile. A quick glance at wine-searcher shows this being very affordable at around $75 a bottle. It used to be a $30 bottle when I was buying and drinking it back in the day.
  • Chateau Grolet Tete de Cuvee - A David Lillie selection so you know it's gonna be cheap and oozing with class and quality. Every vintage I have had of this Bordeaux has been spectacular. Even the 2009, with its freakish level of ripeness, still stayed true to its Bourg character. It is always under $20 and is an always the essence of Cotes de Bourg Merlot. Earthy, minerally with chocolate-laced plummy fruit. Major structure which will make this astonishing QPR age better than Lil Kim. 
  • Chateau Haut-Brion - Yes I know it is a first growth and it is hideously expensive but Haut Brion is the real deal. I've tasted a lot and it is amazingly consistent, unspoofed and in certain vintages like 1989 it can be the greatest wine in the world. The 1986 is my favorite funky Bordeaux ever made. Wine is an absolute freak show. The 1998 up until recently was a sick value. The other first growths all have gone to the dark side less Petrus and Haut Brion. If someone else is buying, I'd sidle up to them for a glass. 
  • Chateau Haut-Marbuzet - Had to get a St. Estephe up in this joint and Cos is the worst wine ever now and Montrose might even be more gross. Thank Bacchus for Haut-Marbuzet! Haut-Marbuzet has that character you want out of your St. Estephe with out it being syrupy oak soup. It is always a fair value, even for back vintages and has all the forest floor earthy goodness you have come to expect from St. Estephe. Looks like the 2010 is around $45 so it still provides great value. 
Honorable Mentions - Haut Segottes, Peybonhomme, Jaugaret, Chasse-Spleen, Maucaillou

5 comments:

  1. Palmer?

    Howard Cooper

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  2. @Howard...I do not like Palmer at all anymore. Too dark and syrupy for me.

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  3. Hi Lyle, thanks for the list! But not much to recommend from the Medoc huh? Is there anything else that you think might be worth keeping one's eyes open for from Pauillac, St. Julien or Margaux?

    Thanks very much! Dan

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  4. We tasted the hyped 09 palmer and 09 latour at the estates. Both were imo like a huge overextracted aussie shiraz stylistically. Not fun to taste at all. Time will tell, but mr p has completely stuffed bordeaux and rhone. The french have lost their way.

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  5. Lyle,

    Great piece. I agree with your selections for the most part. I wouldn't vouch for Magdelaine after the merger with Belair-Monange. It was also saddening to hear that Rolland was being brought on at Figeac as an consultant. To me, that's like defacing a national monument. I can't see myself buying those wines in future vintages. Terrible news.

    I'm 30 years old and I got into wine full-on nine years ago (do the math). At that time I was able to buy discounted Bordeaux from "off vintages" at discounted prices, vintages like '97 and '99. As I recall, Pontet-Canet made wonderful wines then, as did many other producers that now charge $150-200/bottle for their wines. I cut my teeth on those vintages. I was a college student on a budget then, and today I struggle to find drinkable Bordeaux at any price range. At risk of sounding wistful, they don't make them like they used to.


    Cheers,

    Izek

    ReplyDelete