-
Bordeaux Producers
Name: Bordeaux
Pages
-
It is ‘a star in the appellation,’ according to Jane Anson, which would ‘make it into a new version of the 1855 classification if one ever came around’. Neal Martin calls it ‘quintessentially Saint-Estephe’. Quality is soaring at Phelan-Segur, and that is reflected in the scores it has been achieving. The terroir has always been good; the largest and best vineyard plot is adjacent to Montrose, although there is another excellent and significant section alongside Calon-Segur. While ownership changed in 2017, the steady hand of Director Veronique Dausse remained on the tiller.
-
Pichon Lalande is easily one of the greatest wines of the Medoc, frequently vying with and sometimes exceeding the first growths in quality. It has its roots in the Pichon estate, which was split in 1850 into the two parts thereafter known as Pichon Baron and Pichon Lalande. From 1978 until 2007, Pichon Lalande was owned and managed by the redoubtable May Eliane de Lencquesaing. A powerful ambassador for Bordeaux worldwide, she oversaw many great vintages, the expansion of the vineyard and the rising profile of Pichon Lalande.
-
What is now Pichon Baron originally formed part of the same estate as Pichon Lalande. In 1850, on his deathbed, Baron Joseph de Pichon Longueville split his estate into two. 20 hectares went to his two sons, and were thereafter known as Pichon Baron, and 30 hectares went to his three daughters, and thereafter became Pichon (Comtesse de) Lalande.
-
A powerful trend-setter, pioneering in its early adoption of biodynamics, over the last twenty years Fifth Growth Pontet-Canet has soared into the league of Super Seconds. Alfred Tesseron and Estate Director Jean-Michel Comme have unlocked the potential of this chateau whose vineyards abut those of Mouton-Rothschild, and the wines of Pontet-Canet demand serious respect, and time in your cellar.
-
Even when the family already owns Leoville-Las Cases it does no harm to marry a lady with a very nice estate of her own and that is what Paul Delon did. It is quite a large property and like many at this end of the Medoc has gradually been planting more Merlot to take into account proper surveys of the land, which does have extensive clay deposits. Yields here are low by Medoc standards at a maximum of 35hl/ha and tannins are kept suave by a policy of cooler fermentation while quality is assured by the fact that almost half the production is diverted into the second wine.
-
-
Rauzan-Ségla is one of the finest properties in Bordeaux, occupying great terroir in Margaux, comfortably at the top of the table of Second Growths, and currently enjoying one of the great periods of its history after twenty years of investment and very focussed management. It emerged in the seventeenth century at the same time as many of the other great estates of the Médoc were taking shape. Inheritance divided the Rauzan estate into Rauzan-Ségla and the lesser Rauzan-Gassies in the early eighteenth century. By the end of the century, Rauzan-Ségla was famous worldwide.
-
-
-
Now biodynamic, Chateau Senejac has gone from being a lightish luncheon claret to a lower yielding, deeper and fuller wine that much better demonstrates its inland terroir and the high proportion of the Cabernet grapes here. The improvements wrought by Alfred Tesseron and the team from cult Chateau Pontet-Canet have really changed the vineyard and therefore the wines for the better and for pure drinking pleasure this is a buy.
-
Siran has been in the Miailhe family for over 150 years and has a distinct grape mix, with high proportions of both Merlot and Petit Verdot and less than half Cabernet Sauvignon. This gives the wine real stuffing, moderated these days by a relatively short spell of just over a year in oak, 40% new, in order to allow the purity and finesse of the wine through. Arguably 2004 was a turning point for the property, when Denis Dubourdieu was appointed as the consultant and quality has improved from an already high level since then. /CW 20/05/10
-
When Jean Gautreau bought Sociando-Mallet in 1969 he must have been affected by the romance of the summer of love and the `evenements` at the time, for the property had little in its favour but potential. Ant that`s potential in an estate agent sense. The area down to vines was a rump of the land and the buildings were virtual wrecks. There has been no hint of any of that for years and years now and Sociando even withdrew from the revised Cru Bourgeois system in 2003, such is the confidence in the stature of the property and its wine.
-
-
The name Chateau Talbot evokes a poignant moment in Bordeaux history. In the 15th century, the estate was the property of one John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and Governor of Acquitaine. He led the English charge at the 1453 Battle of Castillon, in what would prove to be the final engagement of the Hundred Years’ War. The charge failed, and Talbot was finished off by a French soldier with a battleaxe. After 340 years of English rule, Bordeaux was back in the hands of the French, there to remain. But the French seemed to grudgingly admire him, and Chateau Talbot retains his name to this day.
-
-
-
Now you see it, now you don`t. Vineyard or pine plantation? However since the late 1860s this has been a wine estate and in both red and white wines a hugely successful one. There is one fly in the ointment though, like Volnay and Pommard, their particular micro-climate seems to attract incredibly localised hailstorms. Not desirable. Otherwise the estate fashions its highly praised wines from, for the reds, a 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Cabernet Franc mix, though obviously the proportions vary from vintage to vintage. -
-
-
It’s got a 12th century tower, and it’s near the village of Martillac – the name of this Pessac property is virtually the address. This being Pessac, there’s both a red and white wine. The red vines are mostly planted across the gravelly soils of the Martillac plateau, while the white vines and the Merlot are planted across a clay-limestone outcrop. In reds, the vineyard is split 55% Cabernet Sauvignon/40% Merlot/5% Petit Verdot, and in whites 60% Sauvignon Blanc/40% Semillon. There are some venerable Semillon vines that date all the way back to 1884.
-
Today, Le Pin is such a well-established member of the pantheon of the world’s greatest wines, it’s interesting to recall that it wasn’t always thus. Under its previous owner, a Mme F Loubie, the wine had been blended with lesser wines and sold exclusively in Belgium as Clos du Pin. Mme Loubie wanted to sell it to Leon Thienpont so that he could join it with Vieux Chateau Certan but, with six children to support, there was no way Leon could afford it. In 1978, Mme Loubie died.
-
The Cotes de Castillon lies on the eastward extension of the plateau underpinning St-Emilion. The soils in the area are mixed, but the high concentration of clay and limestone around what was then called Chateau Goubau caught the eye of none other than Jacques Thienpont, owner of Le Pin and L’If. ‘These soils keeps the roots of the vines cool, so the wines are fresh,’ says Jacques. When Chateau Goubau came up for sale, Jacques and his sister Anne de Raeymaeker pounced, and purchased it. Their first vintage was 2016. He named it L`Hetre, continuing his `family tree` motif.
-
In 2010, Jacques Thienpont, the owner of Le Pin (the ultimate small estate with a big reputation) set out on a new venture, in St-Emilion. He acquired a small property called Chateau Haut-Plantey and set about re-building it from the bottom up. The soils had been treated with weedkiller and needed to be nurtured back to life. He uprooted the vines in three of the original five hectares, and replanted. He was able to acquire a couple of other plots to add in, which he thought would bring complementary qualities.
-
-
Daniel and Florence Cathiard`s wines have reached new heights in recent years as the couple have pushed through change and renovations in the vineyards and now have a fully functioning new winery for the second wine - Les Hauts de Smith. Not only is this fully equipped for producing high quality wine in small plot-based parcels as slowly as necessary, but is carbon neutral, even to the extent of capturing the carbon dioxide from the fermentation process.
