Soulful and joyous wines from Bordeaux
Sales of Bordeaux in the United States took off last year, rising by 24% in volume, according to the Bordeaux Wine Council, a trade group.
The rise spanned all categories of Bordeaux, the group said, from inexpensive, mass-produced wines to the most prestigious bottles. Partly, it said, it was because of the elimination of the 25% tariffs on certain wines from the European Union that had been imposed in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump in a trade dispute. The tariffs were suspended last year by President Joe Biden.
This is great news for Bordeaux producers who have struggled to rebuild their once-robust market in the United States after both the financial crash of 2008 and a series of image problems that damaged the wine’s standing, particularly among younger drinkers and sommeliers.
To these people, Bordeaux seemed a stodgy place where the estates were owned by billionaires, banks or luxury goods corporations. They associated Bordeaux with wealthy status seekers and those obsessed with high scores from established wine critics. Bordeaux producers, they thought, were aristocrats more interested in silk cravats than vineyard dirt.
Here is the truth: Despite the vast amount of attention paid to the most prestigious and expensive chateaus, most Bordeaux producers are small farmers — vignerons who farm the vineyards and make the wines. I have spent much of the past decade seeking out Bordeaux vignerons whose wines can be soulful and joyous, and I have found a surprising number.
In the waning weeks of winter I went shopping in New York wine shops for Bordeaux made by vignerons and found these bottles, which I recommend enthusiastically. Some of these producers are tiny. Most farm either organically or biodynamically — Bordeaux as a region was late to this, but I’m seeing more and more major producers moving in the organic and biodynamic direction.
Here are the bottles, in ascending order of price.
Château le Bergey Bordeaux 2020, 14%, $14:
Here is a great Bordeaux value, a wine made from biodynamically farmed grapes that offers the classic, if not especially complex, refreshment prized by longtime Bordeaux lovers. Château le Bergey is the entrylevel label of Château l’Escart, which itself is a fine producer. This is a 60-40 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, fermented and aged in concrete tanks and made for early consumption. It’s dry and lightly tannic, with earthy flavors of flowers and red berries.
Château Peybonhomme-les-Tours Blaye-Côtes:
de Bordeaux 2019, 14%,
$18: Château Peybonhomme-les-Tours is owned by the Hubert family, which has farmed biodynamically since 2000. The estate makes a range of wines, including Energies, which is aged in amphora. This bottle, the estate’s workhorse, is 70% merlot, 20% cabernet franc and 10% malbec. It’s an earthy, juicy pleasure, with just enough of a tannic grip to give the wine structure.
Château la Grolet Côtes de Bourg Origines 2019, 13.5%, $19:
This is Right Bank Bordeaux of the old school: soft, beautifully balanced and approachable, yet lean, pure and refreshing, with enough acidity to give life and shape to the wine. Grolet, also owned and farmed by the Hubert family, is a great value, year in and year out.
Origines is 70% merlot, 15% cabernet sauvignon, 10% cabernet franc and 5% malbec.
Château du Champ des Treilles Bordeaux Le Petit Champ 2019, 14.5%, $23:
In Ste.-Foy, on the eastern edge of Bordeaux, Corrine and Jean-Michel Comme farm biodynamically on limestone and clay soils. They make two reds. One is barrel aged and is considered the “grand vin,” and this one, Le Petit Champ, is aged in steel vats. The 2019, 60% merlot, 30% cabernet franc, 8% cabernet sauvignon and 2% petit verdot, is pure with a delicate, inviting texture, though the tannins are still fairly firm.
Château Falfas Côtes de Bourg Les Demoiselles de Falfas 2020, 14%, $27:
Château Falfas, in the Right Bank Côtes de Bourg area, is a favorite of mine. The top wines of this small estate are superb, but require some aging. Les Demoiselles, the second wine, is made with the younger vines. It’s full of fresh, pure, beautifully focused fruit flavors, yet tannic enough to provide clear but unobtrusive structure. Falfas has farmed biodynamically since
1988, one of the first in Bordeaux’s recent history to do so, and practices minimalist winemaking in the cellar. Demoiselles is 75% merlot and 25% cabernet sauvignon.
Château Massereau Vin de France Cuvée Tradition 2018, 13.5%, $27:
Château Massereau makes both sweet wines and dry reds like this one. This cuvée is generally
60% merlot, 30% cabernet sauvignon, with the remainder split between cabernet franc and petit verdot. Massereau used to be labeled Bordeaux Supérieur, but withdrew its wines from the appellation after running afoul of the staid bureaucracy. It now bottles the dry wines as Vin de France. Regardless, it is pointed, precise, savory and refreshing, structured but not tannic, with a slight herbal edge.
Château Auney l’Hermitage Graves Blanc Cuvée Cana 2018, 13%, $30:
The virtues of dry white Bordeaux are a hard sell, possibly because good examples from the best areas, Pessac-Léognan and Graves, are expensive and not easy to find. I love white Bordeaux and I love the succulence of the sémillon grape. (Cuvée Cana is 50% sémillon,
35% sauvignon blanc, 10% sauvignon gris and 5% muscadelle, an unusual blend in a region where sémillon and the other grapes have lost ground to sauvignon blanc.) Like chenin blanc, sémillon has a floral, honeyed flavor, a mineral tang and a luscious texture that keeps me rolling it around in my mouth because it feels so good. Auney l’Hermitage farms its vineyard organically on gravelly sand and clay.
Domaine de Galouchey Vin de France Vin de Jardin 2018, 13.5%, $45:
Tiny Domaine de Galouchey is situated between the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers. It could use the simple Bordeaux appellation, but has instead taken the appellation Vin de France. That appears on the label in much smaller print than the fanciful
Vin de Jardin, a pointed contrast to the movement popular in the 1990s called vins de garage, or garage wines. The vineyard is farmed organically. This cuvée is primarily merlot but also includes minute percentages of white grapes. The result is a delight to drink, fresh and alive, with earthy, stony flavors of flowers and red fruits. One of the partners in Galouchey, Marco Pelletier, is also a worldclass sommelier and an owner of Vantre, an excellent wine-oriented bistro in Paris.