November Wine Focus: Wine 402 - Bordeaux Style Blending

[David M. Bueker]

That’s not cheating. Choosing to not blend is itself a blending choice.

Tonight a single variety bottling of one of the six classic Bdx varieties

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2020 Oyster Bay Merlot (New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay)

Dense dark red, intense nose. Mrs M thought it was a Cabernet S. Very nice wine, very drinkable, bought in a chain restaurant.in a seaside town devoid of decent eating places, but this cheered us up.

[David M. Bueker]

• 2012 Matthiasson Red Wine - USA, California, Napa Valley (11/17/2021)
  Absolutely charming. Mid-weight, delicious fruit, balanced structure and overall just about ideal for what I am looking for with Napa Valley Bordeaux blends. It still has a lot of developmental upside, but gosh it’s great now.

2018 Glen Carlou Classic Cabernet Sauvignon (Paarl, South Africa)
Wine -26$ Cda

Hints of blackcurrant. and soft Frenh oak..Aromas of ripe blackberry, red cherry and some blackcurrant flavours..Agree with a CT fellow, Hints of mint and violet aromas with deep layers of dark chocolate and tobacco spice.
Food was a braised pork loin, mint, tarragon, garlic, braised celary.

2015 Clos du Soleil Signature BC VGA. Think Cab/Merlor blend

Tasted in the tasting room in late July. Excellent experience but 40 degrees outside..and smoky.

Mid colour, still some soft oak on the nose. Very nice depth and still light tannins. Big blueberry, some strawberry, vanilla. Earthy and flinty from fellow taster. This one class was very welcome, missed out on the Syrah.
Great part owner is Dr Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health office, my current crush!!

[Jenise]

Bob, I have some of the Clos du Soleil Signature. Two bottles purchased at different venues months apart so probably both whatever the most recent vintage is. Haven't tasted one yet. Didn't know about Dr. Henry being involved, that's kind of cool.

[Jenise]

2014 JB Neufeld Cabernet Sauvignon Yakima Valley
85% Cabernet, 15% Cabernet Franc. Remember liking this winery's Two Blondes from the same vintage a few years back so was unprepared to find this one (a cellar orphan) so reduced and sweet. Heavy. All blackberry and black coffee without enough acidity for lift and layers. I kept wanting to add a little water. A bit of Bully Pulpit: Washington winemakers are so quick to feel sorry for themselves because California gets all the attention, but wines like this have a lot to do with the fact that they don't.

My experience with Yakima wines is very limited and dated. On a business trip to Seattle I did get to drive to Yakima to attend a wine tasting festival there. I remember that in general the cabernet-based wines were impressively concentrated. It also struck me that the wineries/winemakers seemed to have a manic obsession for oak--way too much oak for my taste.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I didn't even think about the oak factor, but yes this definitely had too much oak. As for that being a Washington thing--I get it about "the olden days" but not so much anymore. Wineries have dialed back, and excessive oak is more closely associated with the widely distributed and cheaper supermarket brands than it is with premium labels which group producer Neufeld is trying to be part of.

Glad to hear it was just a passing fad.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Well, not quite. It remains a fixture in the supermarket category of wines and is believed to be what that type of buyer wants (bigger, sweeter) but not in the category of wine I patronize. Which is why this one surprised me and especially disappointed. This guy's been selling on Beserkers Day, which opens up a whole new category of let's-give-Washington-a-chance people to shaking their heads in dismay.

1989 Pauillac, Chateau Lynch-Bages

Closed in and asleep when I opened the bottle. It needs a good 1/2 hour in the glass or a decanter to wake up and strut its stuff. The color is somewhere between purple and brick red. Abundant, complex aromas (once it's sat for a while) of aged black fruits, mainly blackcurrant and blackberry with smoky undertones. It's hard to tease apart individual aromas. Full-bodied and very smooth in the mouth. with abundant, mature flavors, again tending towards black fruits. Just enough acidity to keep things interesting and to carry the wine to a beautiful finish. Curly double Larry.

Lunch-Bags has always been one of my favorite Bordeaux chateaux and this is an excellent example. It's a delight to drink now and it should stay that way for a good, long while.

-Paul W.

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2019 The Gabb Family Cabernet Sauvignon Feast and Vine (South Africa, Western Cape)

On our previous visit to this chain restaurant I'd ordered the Oyster Bay Merlot as it was the only red on a short list that had a recognisable name and that I could be certain was bottled at the winery rather than bulk-shipped, but on our request for information the manage brought a bottle of the Feast & Vine Chardonnay and we saw it was bottled by the winery, so this time we ordered the Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Gabb Family bought Journey's End Winery then the neighbouring Mount Rozier. Their web-site shows they make wine under many labels, but this one doesn't appear. I think it is an own label exclusive to the company that own the chain, who operate a large number of chain restaurant/pubs. The catch-all appellation Western Cape shows this doesn't come from their own vineyards which are in the Stellenbosch appellation - and incidentally within sight of the apartment we rent when in the Cape.

So, decent CS, solid, good fruit, rounded with the fullness of New World fruit.

(Incidentally, the have a 42 ft tall Trebuchet and a video on their website shows it hurling a car into the air. https://www.journeysend.co.za/our-trebuchet/#more )

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2001 Château Coufran (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc)

For a short time in summer this year The Wine Society (TWS) were selling this 20 year old claret for <£20. It got good reviews from the TWS Community so I got a few bottles.

No information about cepage, but Coufran's website says their wine are around 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon - the classic Bordeaux blend - the proportions found in their vineyard I assume. Their notes for this vintage says it's somewhat austere but should come around enjoyably with some years aging.

I am assuming TWS thought so too and kept it in their cellars, OTOH Ch Coufran say they don't release wines but age them until they are ready to drink.

I don't think any more years ageing will do it favours; it's as ready as it will every be. For lovers of claret. Dry, a bit dusty, fruit need to be coaxed out. Good match with roast beef

[Jenise]

With friends we sampled these three wines from a new-to-us-all BC winery located in Keremeos of the Smilkaneen Valley, a cooler location (I think) west of Penticton and, for a Washingtonian, on the way home. The two reds are merlot-dominant Bordeaux blends, and cab sauv, cab franc and PV figure in as well. The wines have been getting raves, especially the Signature, for value.

Were white Bordeaux wines ruled out in this exercise? Not sure, but I'll include one anyway as it was part of our tasting and does contain, supposedly, a few drams of Semillon.


2020 Clos du Soleil Fumé Blanc Similkameen Valley
This pale, clear summer-sipper style Sauv Blanc bears no resemblance to Fume Blanc as we know it. By both color and taste, it appears to be unwooded and we can only surmise that the "fume" was due to heavy fires in the region, though out bottle seemed smoke-taint free. The semillon in the blend was undetectable.

2019 Clos du Soleil Celestiale Similkameen Valley Red Bordeaux Blend
Uncorked early in the day but not decanted. 71% merlot, the rest CS, CF and PV. Light and thin for a BC wine. Lively with acidity but otherwise not complex, and blind I'd have expected it to cost even less than the $22 I paid for it.

2018 Clos du Soleil Signature Similkameen Valley VQA Red Bordeaux Blend
Uncorked early in the day but not decanted. Blend includes merlot (about 40%), CS, CF and PV. Expected to love this based on reports from others but I just didn't. It's a baby, very black and blue fruit-forward in a new world kind of way, and lacked resonance.

I had a great visit there in July, have a red to open up here. Stay tuned!

[Jenise]

Bob, for us the wines in general just lacked a sense of house style, even allowing for vintage differences.

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2001 Château Coufran (France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc)


No information about cepage, but Coufran's website says their wine are around 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon - the classic Bordeaux blend - the proportions found in their vineyard I assume.

That's more a classic right bank blend. On the left bank, Cabernet Sauvignon is the majority grape in most of the well known growths in Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe, Margaux and Pessc-Léognan; proportions of Merlot are getting higher in Graves, Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Moulis, Listrac, etc but AFIK 85% is quite unusual.

TWS is a great resource for shareholders living in the UK. I have from time to time visited Stevenage to bring back mature delights which I would have difficulty finding over here and even once tried shipping to Belgium. That took several months and lots of anguished reminders, but the wines were excellent when they finally arrived.

[David M. Bueker]

• 2015 Château Lanessan - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (11/29/2021)
  Second bottle from a case bought on futures for under $15/bottle. Three years since the first bottle this is already shedding some of the extra cushioning, and getting even more classically scaled. It still has a bit of richness on entry, but the mid-palate and finish start to dial it back. There’s a good balance of structure to fruit, so time should be very friendly to the wine, so if you want it leaner, just let it rest. I like where it is right now, so may have to buy some more to ensure I have some for later.

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[Robin Garr]

I'd better get this one in before the month expires! I was slow to post because once again my neighborhood shop stuck me with a good looking bottle that turned out to be a unicorn. It's a good unicorn, though, good QPR red Bordeaux from Bourg.

Chateau Tour de Tourteau 2016 Côtes de Bourg ($15.99)

A typical Bordeaux blend of Merlot (60%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%), and Malbec (10%), Chateau Tour de Tourteau 2016 Côtes de Bourg offers good, characteristic Bordeaux character. Dark purple in color with a thin garnet edge, its aromas speak of intense currants and cranberries, with back notes of dried cherries and a hint of licorice. Red-fruit flavors carry over on the palate, firmly shaped by a sturdy mix of mouth-watering acidity and drying tannins. It's rough around the edges and perhaps still a bit young, but it's worth cellaring for a few years or enjoying now with appropriate food to mellow its swagger. 13.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Heidelberg Distributing Co., Independence, Ohio. (Oct. 29, 2021)

FOOD MATCH: Red Bordeaux calls for lamb, beef, or game; but it went nicely, too, with a meatless asparagus pasta dish brought up to meet a red with a luscious Pecorino Romano cream and plenty of garlic.

WHEN TO DRINK: If it isn't a cellar treasure, it certainly appears to have potential for further development in proper cellar conditions.

VALUE:
It's a serious Bordeaux from a good if less sought-after sub-region, potentially ageworthy, and definitely a value at my $16 price.

WEB LINK:
Here's a short fact sheet in English from the wine's French distributor.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
For all practical purposes, this wine does not exist on Wine-Searcher.com, which lists only five vendors, all in Europe, for the limited and pricey 2000 vintage. However, Heidelberg Distributing Co. in Cleveland, a regional distributor serving Ohio and Kentucky, got hold of some of the 2015 vintage, which suggests that other regional distributors may have some too. It's worth looking around.

Also, you can browse vendors and prices for dozens of other Côtes de Bourg wines. at this Wine-Searcher link.

Here is a note on an affordable typically left bank Bordeaux blend. Les Allées de Cantemerle is second wine of Château Cantemerle, one of my favourites.

2014 Les Allées de Cantemerle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (01/12/2021)
I enjoyed this more than the 2012 at about 5 years of age. It is a blend of 68% CabSauv and 32% Merlot. I decanted which was, I think, beneficial because, after a rather austere first glass, it opened up and deepened. This is classically styled claret like many from 2014 with a linear shape, plenty of fresh red fruit and moreish acidity as well as hints of noble green and earthy minerals and was balanced and enhanced by gracious underlying roundness and a firm ripe finish. It doesn't, of course, have quite the elegance of the Grand Vin in some past vintages and hopefully the 2014, of which I have a bottle. Good wine and good QPR for left bank claret at c.€14.
Posted from CellarTracker

[David M. Bueker]

Here is a note on an affordable typically left bank Bordeaux blend. Les Allées de Cantemerle is second wine of Château Cantemerle, one of my favourites.

2014 Les Allées de Cantemerle - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc (01/12/2021)
I enjoyed this more than the 2012 at about 5 years of age. It is a blend of 68% CabSauv and 32% Merlot. I decanted which was, I think, beneficial because, after a rather austere first glass, it opened up and deepened. This is classically styled claret like many from 2014 with a linear shape, plenty of fresh red fruit and moreish acidity as well as hints of noble green and earthy minerals and was balanced and enhanced by gracious underlying roundness and a firm ripe finish. It doesn't, of course, have quite the elegance of the Grand Vin in some past vintages and hopefully the 2014, of which I have a bottle. Good wine and good QPR for left bank claret at c.€14.
Posted from CellarTracker

I've had the 2014 Cantermerle once, and really enjoyed it. Big fan of the 2015 Cantemerle.