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On the first day of Christmas
Short of seasonal gift ideas and looking for inspiration? In traditional ‘12 days of Christmas’ style, db‘s Bordeaux correspondent Colin Hay chooses from amongst La Place de Bordeaux’s more exclusive offerings a dozen gift suggestions (at this time of year one is surely allowed to dream a little) …
On the first day of Christmas my true-love (might have) sent to me ….
The wines: A (self-assembled) mixed case of affordable treasures from Bordeaux
Format: OK, this might take a little assembling, but arguably that’s what this time of year is all about. And it fits the bill for the festive season rather well. We have diversity – with wines from the Margaux, Pessac-Léognan, St Emilion and the first vintage of the new Bordeaux blanc sec from Pichon Baron in Pauillac – and we’re not breaking the bank either. All of these wines can be aged further, but all are already delicious.
Yours for: Well, whilst some of these might have been cheaper en primeur that’s not really true for the more recent vintages, so all look like rather good value today. D’Issan 2012 will set your true love back around £50 and is available from a number of brokers in London, Larrivet Haut-Brion 2020 is available from Lay & Wheeler for £24, de Ferrand 2019 for £20 from the same address. The recommended UK retail price for Les Griffons de Pichon Baron blanc 2023 is around £45.
Tasting notes:
Chateau d’Issan 2012 (Margaux; 67% Cabernet Sauvignon; 333% Merlot; a final yield of 37 hl/ha from a singular terroir of gravel over deep clay; 13% alcohol). A lovely wine that is just perfectly ready to drink but that will hold very well for at least a decade, possibly two. Aromatically subtle though highly expressive, with delicate sweet spices – cinnamon and nutmeg – alongside the more classical dark berries and floral elements that scream (well, subtly scream) Margaux! There’s a reassuring hint of sous bois – damp forest floor – and maybe a little truffle too. On the palate this is tender, soft, svelte and tactile with cashmere tannins that grip just a little to form a lifted plume on the finish. Archetypally Margaux. 93+.
Château de Ferrand 2019 (St Emilion; 87% Merlot; 12% Cabernet Franc; 1% Cabernet Sauvignon; an impressive yield here of 47 hl/ha; from the argilo-calcaire slopes of Saint-Hippoltye close to Laroque and Rocheyron; 15% alcohol). Gracious, plump, plush and very much an expression of both of its gorgeous clay over limestone terroir and the vintage – the kind of wine one might stand a decent chance of picking blind. The Cabernet Franc is very expressive here (even at only 12%), with radiant fresh blue berry fruit, lilac and rose petal, a little walnut shell, Szechuan peppercorns and oodles of graphite. The palate is tense and taut and there’s impressive mid-palate density, accentuated by the almost slightly austerity of the grainy, crumbly argilo-calcaire tannins that strap the fruit tightly to a well-defined central spine. You might mistake this for the nearby Laroque, such is the quality of the wine. This still needs a few more years for the mid-palate to fully come together. But I am very impressed. One of the first vintages that I tasted en primeur here that really changed my image of the property. It remains very close to those initial impressions. 93.
Château Larrivet Haut-Brion 2020 (Pessac-Léognan; 52% Merlot; 42% Cabernet Sauvignon; 6% Cabernet Franc; a final yield of 29 hl/ha; 13.8% alcohol; sealed with a Diam cork). Full, quite ample and rich with a trace of cedar over brambles, plums (both fresh and baked), Chinese five spice and a hint of hoisin too. A pleasing suggestion of wild herbs. Meatier than I recall it en primeur with a nice ferrous touch to its minerality. This has more acidity and brightness than many of its appellation peers. It starts lithe and luminous but gathers in weight and density across the palate. I’d give this a good five years more in the cellar, though it’s beginning to enter into an early drinking window given plenty of aeration. 92+.
Les Griffons de Pichon Baron 2023 (Bordeaux blanc; 100% Sémillon, a massal selection from the Suduiraut vineyard grafted onto 20 year old vines on a single fine gravel over limestone plot; 13.5% alcohol; just 2140 bottle produced). A pure Sémillon from a classed growth Pauillac estate is a rather rare thing and this is the first vintage. I love it. It’s more delicate in a way than the pur Sémillon from Pichon Baron’s sister estate, Suduiraut, with a little note of peach alongside the lime and lime zest. But what I really love is the florality here. Elderflower perhaps. And the vibrancy and energy. On the palate this has the richness you expect from pure Sémillon but a lovely chiselled sense of structure and verticality too which comes, and could only come, from the limestone subsoil on which this plot is planted. Exquisite and difficult to resist already. 93.
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