-
Bordeaux Producers
Name: Bordeaux
Pages
-
At this property we are at such Olympian heights of quality that breathing in this rareified atmosphere may be restricted – and not just because you’re gasping after having heard the price. So what sets it apart and makes the Hollywood glitterati, various Oligarchs and software developers so obsessed with the stuff? First, the biggest Ausone obsessives are the Vaulthier family who own it.
-
From the same stable as St-Estephe stablemate Calon-Segur, with the same management and winemaking team, Capbern has always been a bit of a wine trade insider secret. Prior to 2013, it was called Capbern-Gasqueton (the double barrel referencing the two important families in its story) but that was clipped back to Capbern under new management. Both Calon-Segur and Capbern were under the control of the Capbern-Gasqueton family by the late 1900s, and stayed there throughout the 20th century.
-
In the modern world only gynaecologists and Christian Seely can get away with bow ties. Seely is the professorial managing director of AXA`s wine division and nearly lost Petit Village when, as the Bordeaux rumour mill has it Gerard Perse tried to buy it. Fortunately the deal fell through and there is still a little outpost of the Medoc in Pomerol. Like Medoc, Petit Village`s soils are stony and gravel dominated and the Cabernets together make up 25% of the blend. But then, with neighbours like Cheval Blanc, Figeac and Vieux Chateau Certan, that is not a surprise.
-
-
Angludet is many people’s touchstone Margaux, unforced and perfumed. It is a former Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, though the Sichel family who own it no longer choose to present it to the Cru Bourgeois classification. The chateau is set in a bucolic stretch of south-west Margaux, 3 kilometres inland from the river. It owes its roots to a 12th century knight, Bertrand of Angludet, who build his house here. Vines were probably first planted in the 17th century. It looked like that was finally over after the great frost of 1956, when the extreme winter cold killed most of the vines.
-
Right next door to Mouton, Fifth Growth Armailhac has a little more sand in its soils, which means if it is a little less powerful than the majestic neighbour, it is also refined and finely textured – and usually ready to drink earlier. It tends to offer excellent Pauillac typicity, in a lighter style. Armailhac has been part of the Mouton stable since Baron Philippe de Rothschild bought it in 1933. Since then, it has gone through more than a few name changes.
-
-
Quintessential Pauillac. For many people, Batailley is their touchstone Bordeaux property, offering textbook lead pencil shavings, blackcurrant and cassis, tobacco, and a gravelly minerality. That gravelly note should be no surprise. The Batailley plateau sits on extremely deep gravel beds. The plateau and the chateau are both named for a battle that took place here in 1452, towards the end of the Hundred Years’ War. English troops, who had been holed up at nearby Latour, crossed the plateau on their retreat only to be routed by French soldiers. Relations are much friendlier these days.
-
-
Let us not obsess over the position of the sails on the sailing boats as they passed this Chateau on their way to or from the local ports. The label shows the gryphon-fronted longboat that has apparently had the Chinese market in a ferment and more significantly, history records nearly a century and a half of underperformance. Things began to look up in the late 20th century. The mid-eighties saw an extremely important change of ownership as GMF. the French civil servants pension fund, gradually bought the estate before bringing in Suntory as a 40% partner in the business.
