Greatness Created in the Vineyards, Not the Cellar - Incredible Ageworthy Bordeaux Value

The trend in Bordeaux now, as we are all too familiar, is excessive ripeness and extraction. Pierre's 2006 Chateau Beausejour is the opposite of that as he goes for balance, purity, freshness and structural

tightness. Today I am honored to sell the 2006 Chateau Beausejour (Montagne St. Emilion) for as little as $24.99 on the 4-pack. This is a silly price for a wine of this high quality. I bought it direct from Pierre and this would make other much more famous Chateau go red in the face with embarrassment as the quality is so high here.  It has that wonderful cooling mineral, yet deeply red/blue fruited nose that is a trademark of high quality right bank wines. It takes a while to open up (like most of my wines and all great Bordeaux), but when it does there is a wealth of tiny explosive berry concentrated fruit that attacks the palate. The freshness and delineation are wonderful for a wine from the "outskirts of St. Emilion." This hails from Montagne-St.Emilion, aka the satellite country, which 30+ years ago no one cared about and the wines were thin, weedy and the result of high yields. Beausejour 2006 is my style of Bordeaux and I suspect many of yours. Many wine people complain about Bordeaux, but that is only because they love it and want more Bordeaux made in this style for this price. I love the structure on this and 4 bottles is my recommended buy but this is so classically structured that I can see it lasting 10-15 years so more could be bought and cellared. It is quite amazing that this comes from the 2006 vintage. It is not considered a great vintage, just average, but this wine shows more in common with '10 or '09 with it's deep structure, freshness and purity. Really a marvel from 2006 as it also does not show much aged character yet. Blind I would have said 2010 Right Bank. This has an extremely long life ahead of it.

What I love more, or just as much, than selling wine is telling stories. And Pierre Bernault (who is the spitting image of Sean Connery) of Chateau Beausejour has quite the story. Working as an executive for Microsoft in France for the 9 years before he stumbled onto Chateau Beausejour, he wanted a different life.  An agricultural life. In France the pull for an agricultural life can be very strong and appealing, especially after 9 years working in a corporate culture. He wanted to return to the land and his original passion, which was wine. He studied in Beaune at the CFPPA (Professional Training and Agricultural Promotion Center) and after that he spent a year and half searching for the right estate.

When Pierre stumbled onto Beausejour it was in ruins and barely sanitary. The cellar was nasty, the chateau looked dilapidated like it could be a horror film set and there were depleted vines and martyred, dead soil. Pierre had a project to do and he was certainly up to the task. He had his old friend Stephane Deroncourt assess the situation and he told Pierre this estate won't be able to produce wine for five years. But, there is a truth in wine that Pierre did not expect, but had always heard about. That is that great terroir can endure the worst conditions. That sped up the process by a few years.

Pierre has 12 hectares of vines that cover outstanding terroirs in Montagne St. Emilion. It is a limestone base with a topsoil of chalky-clay. There are also eight plots from vines planted in 1901! That is amazing that they survived the utter lack of care from the previous owners. Pierre was on his way. He also identified 31 perfect vine stocks that were to be cloned and replanted in coordination with the great Alain Vauthier of Ausone. The attention to detail was apparent from the beginning.

Because Pierre has all this great terroir he decided to use sustainable agriculture going forward, which I cannot emphasize enough is not the norm on Bordeaux. No more herbicides or pesticides, and a very drastic reduction in spraying his vines were his main moves. There is also much working the soils and composting. Pierre is in tune with his land and he says that when the vines are well tended there is barely anything he does in the winery. That was music to my ears. Most Bordeaux goes in the cellar to die, but here the wine evolves after it is born in the vineyard. A true Bordeaux that is made in the vineyard which goes contrary to the saying "Burgundy is made in the vineyard and Bordeaux is made in the cellar."

Yields are low at 31 hl/ha and the vines ages range from vines planted in 1934 to 1998. The maturity is perfect at harvest as he really lives in the vineyard. His main objective in making the wines is elegance and purity and he has hit the jackpot in that. Once you give this 15-30 minutes it just explodes with purity in your mouth. Using 15-20% new oak you could never tell as it is so well integrated. He ages it for around 18 months but it could also be longer or shorter depending on the taste in the cellar. Sulfites are used sparingly, which is also rare for Bordeaux, and the wine is neither fined nor filtered. This cuvee is around 600-1500 cases a year, which is ridiculously tiny for a Bordeaux Chateau. Pierre makes 4,500 cases total across all of his wines. All of his hard work and attention to detail shows up in the bottle and in every sip and sniff.

2006 Chateau Beausejour - $27.99 ($99.96 4-pack)