For the twelfth day of Christmas…
On the twelfth day of Christmas, and now rather sick of the phrase ‘self-assembled mixed case’, my true love sent to me…
The wines: A limited edition, multi-vintage case of Château Giscours.
The format: A special issue, limited edition – and perhaps most significantly for our respective true loves – Château-assembled, mixed case containing six iconic vintages from this increasingly sought-after estate: 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. It celebrates the 25 years since the acquisition of the property by the Albada Jelgersma family and each wine comes from the family reserve.
Unique selling point: Finally something that only needs to be wrapped by our real, proverbial or imagined true love. And, quite honestly, you’d be happy with it wrapped or unwrapped – and arguably it comes in its own wrapping anyway.
Yours for: Available direct from the property or, indeed, from a number of retailers, including Bordeaux en Primeurs for €699, all taxes paid.
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Tasting notes:
Well, you don’t really need me to tell you that these vintages of Château Giscours are rather special. So the fact that I haven’t tasted the four oldest of these for a long time and so don’t feel able to share a tasting note is unlikely to be a deal-breaker. But here, for what it’s worth, are recent tasting notes for the 2015 and 2010 – and, for good measure and because its Christmas, another one for the 2022 vintage (Wine Spectator’s wine of the year).
Château Giscours 2022 (Margaux; 64% Cabernet Sauvignon; 30% Merlot; 3% Cabernet Franc; 3% Petit Verdot; tasted at the property with Jerome Poisson). Divine, if a little closed at first, I find this rather delicate and introvert but in a very attractive and enticing way. It opens slowly with lovely dark floral notes – a little more lilac and perhaps even peony than the roses so evident en primeur, though they’re there too. Walnut shell. Graphite. Pencil shavings. It’s lovely to find this so true to my recollections of it en primeur. It remains very Margellais and very Giscours too – in its most recent sublimation. Intensely floral, as it was when first tasted. Gorgeous on the entry. Taffeta. Supple, ample but with a beautifully limpid and luminous mid palate – sheets of silk gently rippling in the breeze. As aerial in the mouth as it is aromatically. 97.
Château Giscours 2015 (Margaux; 70% Cabernet Sauvignon; 25% Merlot; 5% Petit Verdot; aged in oak barrels, 50% of them new, for 17 months). Sunny and solar in personality, just as it should be in this top vintage for the appellation, I don’t expect to like this more than the 2010. But I think I do, though it’s a margin call. And that’s because it’s retained more freshness, more Margellais typicity and more florality than many of its neighbours. Bramble and a little cassis, baked plum, a hint of kirsch and violet dust! There’s a little truffle interwoven with the cedar. Beguiling, seductive and quite opulent for Giscours. 94+.
Château Giscours 2010 (Margaux; 71 % Cabernet Sauvignon; 29 % Merlot; aged in oak barrels, 50% of them new, for 17 months). A wine that comes from a rather different period in the history of this property but which already shows how well Giscours ages and how true to its appellation the passage of time renders it. This remains strikingly youthful and that impression is accentuated by the intense fresh florality to be found here – violets and a little lilac too. The fruit is dark – mulberry and bramble – and this is fine and focussed with the rather cool, refined and sensuous mid-palate of this top vintage. 94.
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