Bob: (Not His Real Name): Bored-Oh stinks and puts me to sleep
Lyle: No really, you have to try this. I never say that.
Bob: Oh fine, give me a bottle so I don't have to hear about this anymore....blahblah...blah.....
3 months later
Bob: Holy Crap. I had that Raysse (sp) you sold me. It was delicious. Really, really good fruit. Great balance, really well made. Delicious. I was shocked.
Lyle: Yup (knowingly nods)
Bob: Wow! If I thought that I could buy Bordeaux this good for under $25, I would have been drinking it for years.
Lyle: Yup
Bob: Got any more?
Lyle: Nope
Bob: Damn
Finding and offering great value Bordeaux can be a challenge to say the least. Selling it is even
harder. The famous names are the famous names and expensive. The not so famous names most of them, including me, have never heard of. The last time I offered this, I got a lot of "ok, I'll try a bottle"... and those were the enthusiastic E-Mails (until they tried it - everyone who has tried it has loved it).So why am I pounding the table on this wine a second time? Because they are running out of the awesome 2010 vintage at the winery and ...the wine is that good. I'm offering that last cases of 2010 Chateau La Reysse for $24.99 on the 4-pack. Given the power and balance of this wine, blind I'd guess that it would cost around $50 (through the standard 3 tier system - but even at my prices this is a steal).
The 2010 Le Reysse has a cooling mineral nose with astonishing depth and purity which gives off an impression of amazing freshness. The palate is pure pleasure with oodles of blue and black fruits, wonderful acids, grippy forceful tannins and a real sense of place. Just an amazingly complex, powerful and delicate bottle of Bordeaux. You also get cigar, leather, tobacco and some nice wet earth as well. I can see this aging for up to 20 years. 2010 is such a great vintage as it allies finesse, power and freshness all at once. Freshness is so key in Bordeaux as wines can tend to be lactic, oaky and rich due to a general change in winemaking over the last 20-30 years. This is not that at all, this is what Bordeaux should be at $25 a bottle but rarely if ever is.
The Medoc can have challenging terroir as some of the vineyards are on soil that is more clay-dominated. Le Reysse has some terrific terroir on its vineyards that border Roland de By, which is a favorite wine of mine from this area.
I am also offering another wine from the La Reysse winemaker, Stefan Paeffgen that is just an outstanding value. The 2011 Clos du Moulin can be had for $18.99 on a 4-pack. It is silky, with such well-defined and vivid fruit and perky acidity and such amazing persistence. The fruit is red and deep. This is another vin de garde from Stefan Paeffgen and really will cellar well for 10-15 years. I have had around 4 bottles of the 2011 Clos du Moulin over the past 5 months and each one was better than the next. When 2011 is on it is one sexy vintage. It has ripe, juicy fruit, wonderful sense of place, not too tannic at all, but when they are there, they are ripe and juicy. Again, so silly for a wine of this quality. It is best, for me, on the 3rd day and it, oddly enough, needs a longer decant than the 2010 La Reysee, so start showing its stuff.
I am thrilled to be offering these wines and really want as many of you to get some, because I don't offer Bordeaux a lot, but when I do, I will make sure it counts.
Below is some background info from the first e-mail.
The Le Reysse is part of stable of wines under the umbrella Vignobles Paeffgen, which is owned by the highly successful Stefan Paeffgen who in another life, was in agriculture in his home country of Germany. Of course I would find a killer Bordeaux via Germany. Ha! He grew up and worked in the Cologne area. Stefan finished his agricultural studies at the University of Stuttgart. He finished with a Doctorate in agricultural science. His parents had a farm and his older brother took over after his parents retired. Stefan worked in the Scandinavian Agriculture industry after his brother took over the farm.
The company he worked for got acquired and at age 46 Stefan was financially successful, but at a crossroads. He always had a passion for the wines of the Medoc and made a decision to go back to practical agriculture. He searched for a winery for up to a year and finally found a great spot in the Medoc.
Stefan bought 2 wineries in 2010 from Patrick Chaumont, Le Reysse being one of them. Chaumont stayed on for 2 years to help. They cooperated wonderfully and Stefan learned to make wines int he traditional style. Chaumont still visits every now and then to see how things are going. Stefan's family came and moved there in 2011. He then acquired Château Clos du Moulin and Château Moulin de Lestagne from Michel Boyer.
He joins my list of Fass Selections winemakers making stunning wine without the benefit of formal training (e.g. Enderle and Moll and Mobitz). They all seem to be very serious about wine and powerfully intelligent.
2010 Le Reysse Medoc - $27.99 ($149.94 6-pack) (LIMITED)
2011 Clos du Moulin Medoc - $20.99 ($75.96 4-pack) (LIMITED)
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