Clos l'Église Côtes de Castillon 2005

Clos l'Église (Côtes de Castillon) Grand Vin de Bordeaux 2005  

We had steak sandwiches with left over grilled ribeye from the other night. I pulled from the cellar this vintage Bordeaux for casual sipping. I featured this producer and label in earlier blogposts when I wrote the following:

The Château Clos L’Eglise estate is owned by Gérard Perse, a French businessman and one-time bicycle champion. Perse sold two supermarket chains to finance his entry into the world of winemaking. He owns several Bordeaux estates, including Château Pavie and Pavie-Decesse. He stopped making wine under the Clos L’Eglise label after the 2008 vintage and since then used the estate’s grapes as part of the blend for his new Esprit de Pavie, a second wine for Pavie. Robert Parker cites that Clos L’Eglise was one of the least expensive wines produced by Gerard Perse.

Clos L’Eglise is a blend of 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Similar to previous tasting note, Dark garnet purple colored, medium bodied, aromatic floral, dark berry fruits accented by notes of leather, tobacco, tea and hints of menthol, turning to nice fine grained tannins on the lingering finish. 89 Points 

 

Tonights' tasting was consistent with and similar to previous notes. 

Back in May of 2019 I wrote about this wine,  "Dark garnet purple colored, medium bodied, dark berry fruits accented by notes of leather, tobacco, tea and hints of menthol, turning to nice fine grained tannins on the lingering finish."

RM 88 Points

Stephen Tanzer gave this wine 90-91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=230916

 

Earlier blogposts ... 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2020/02/clos-leglise-cotes-de-castillon-2005.html 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/05/clos-leglise-cotes-de-castillon-bordeaux.html

Château Picque Caillou Pessac-Léognan 2007

Château Picque Caillou Pessac-Léognan 2007

For casual beginning of the week sipping with dinner of left-over meatloaf and grilled vegetables, I pulled from the cellar this modest Grand Vin de Bordeaux. 

Château Picque Caillou is in the shadows of Bordeaux Merignac Airport, just 10 km on the route to the city of Bordeaux. It lies in the heart of the Pessac-Léognan appellation in central Medoc region of Bordeaux, a semi-urban area within the perimeter circular route that surrounds the city. We passed within just a few km of the site during our visit to the region in 2019.

Pessac-Léognan was created in 1987 from the northern part of the left bank Graves appellation. Before then it was simply part of Graves. Unlike many Bordeaux appellations, Pessac-Léognan is known for both red and dry white wines, although its reds are more predominant and famous. 

The appellation includes ten communes and the area’s most important châteaux, including Château Haut-Brion, the only non-Médoc estate included in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. 

There are 2,964 acres of vineyards in Pessac-Léognan with 16 classified growth estates. The main red grapes grown are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, along with a small amount of Cabernet Franc. White grapes grown are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, with a little Muscadelle. Pessac-Léognan is considered to have the best terroir of the greater Graves region. 

Château Picque Caillou is not far from the prestigious Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut Brion and Pape Clément châteaux that are also surrounded by the urban sprawl of the city.

Once the heart of the Bordeaux vineyard, the vines of the “Graves de Bordeaux” surrounded the city. Today, Picque Caillou remains one of the last remaining vineyard sites surrounded by the all-consuming urban development that belies the respected soils and history. The 21-hectare (fifty acre) Caillou estate is named for the pebbly soils that originated from sediments deposited by the nearby Garonne River over thousands of years. Similarly, the prestigious second growth Château Ducru Beaucaillou is named for the beautiful tiny pebbles indicative of the gravelly soil further up the Gironde estuary. 

In 2006, Paulin Calvet took over the daily running of the vineyard. Coming from a long line of Bordeaux wine merchants, Paulin Calvet brought skills and experience he acquired in Libourne at the Jean-Pierre Moueix merchant house where he worked in the company of wine-growing experts Christian Moueix and Jean-Claude Berrouet. Paulin Calvet learned the subtleties of the best practices of vine-growing methods and vinification techniques practised by these two great Bordeaux wine professionals.

The wines of Picque Caillou quickly acquired higher levels of quality and consistency, soon attracting the attention of numerous wine professionals. Joining Paulin Calvet in 2007 were consultant œnologists Professor Denis Dubourdieu and Valérie Lavigne who added further technical experience and skills to the winemaking team. This served to improve the quality of the wines further, producing wines that display balance and delicacy, reflecting the style and character of the prestigious Pessac-Léognan appellation.

The estate is planted to 35% Merlot; 60% Cabernet Sauvignon; and 5% Petit Verdot red varietals, and 80% Sauvignon Blanc, and 20% Sémillon white varietals. Château Picque Caillou Red makes up around 60-70% of the total production, i.e. 65,000 to 80,000 bottles delivered in wooden cases of 12 bottles.

At fourteen years, this may be at its apex, not likely to improve further with aging, but showing no signs of diminution either. As shown, the cork was in perfect condition and the fill level was ideal as well.

At the modest entry level price point for a Grand Vin Bordeaux, in good vintage years this can offer great QPR - Quality Price Ratio, as in such years, 'all boats rise with the tide', resulting in high quality wines at good values. 

This was ruby colored, medium bodied with red and black fruits giving way to rustic, dusty herbs and spices, tobacco, floral notes and a bit of green pepper with tangy moderate tannins on the finish.  

RM 87 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=512129

http://www.picque-caillou.com/chateau-picque-caillou-pessac-leognan-en/chateau-picque-caillou.html

Miles-Thomas-Fort-Dinner

Gala Family Celebration dinner brings out classic birth year vintage wines

This week grandson Miles Thomas Fort came into the world. To celebrate, we hosted a gala family dinner (see below) and I pulled from the cellar several classic wines from daughter Erin's and son-in-law Johnny's birth years. Linda fixed sirloin steak, escalloped potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, dinner salad and an assortment of appetizers and desserts. The dinner brought together four generations of the McNees family.

Two of the wines we opened from Erin's birth year were featured at her and Johnny's wedding when we served them from large format Jeroboams or Imperials. Tonight we opened standard format 750ml bottles of each -  Château Grand Vin Latour and Château Leoville Las Cases from 1981.

To honor Johnny's birth year we opened a Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1980. With our daughter Erin taking on the Fort name, it was especially fitting that we selected for her 'signature wine', wines from Chateau Latour since the Chateau Grand Vin de Latour label features the Latour castle fortress, and their second wine is called 'Les Fort' Latour.

Interestingly, these two wines served today, Latour and Leoville Las Cases, while from different appellations, actually are neighbors, sited near each other there on the Left Bank in the Medoc. Family Fort shown above left.

Collecting birth year wines of our kids, kids-in-laws, and friends' kids is part of the great joy and fun of having a wine cellar. I talk and have written often about building out a collection to include 'every day' wines, 'once a week' and 'once a month' wines, and 'special occasion', 'once a year' or even 'once in a lifetime wines'. Tonight these were special occasion, few times in a lifetime wines. Of course, this can be taken to the next level by collecting such special wines in large format bottles. Indeed, it was my collection of large format birth year bottles that was the basis for my cellar being featured in the Collecting section of Wine Spectator Magazine back in June of 2001!

It helps, of course if your kids are born in 'collectable' worthy vintages. All not vintages are created equal and some are more age-worthy or collectable than others. Look far and wide enough and most any vintage ought to have suitable wines that year somewhere in the world!

The 1981 vintage of Bordeaux was rather modest, not considered a long lived age-worthy one. I thought we were pushing the edge of the envelope for the year holding them and serving them in our daughter's wedding year at 25 years. We're really pushing them here at 37 years. As to be expected, the super premium first growth Chateau Latour is proving to be more ageworthy than the Super Second growth premium Leoville Las Cases. Never-the-less, they were both worthy bottles for such a celebration dinner. As was the 38 year old 1980 vintage Dom Perignon!

Note also the price stickers still on both aged bottles reflecting their purchase prices back in the mid-eighties, a fraction of their eventual value. 

Château Grand Vin Latour Pauillac Bordeaux 1981

Rare among my cellar collection, this bottle had a Top Shoulder fill. Only a handful of bottles from my cellar over the years were so. The cork was totally saturated and spongy but will still intact. I wrestled with the cork using an 'ahso' two pronge cork puller and it eventually relented, albeit it pulled apart at the bottom quarter. I'm certain a traditional corkscrew would've pushed it into the bottle, or caused it to pretty much disintegrate. Opened and decanted for two hours prior to tasting.

The color was garnet colored with slight brownish and rust colored bricking. Medium bodied, still showing berry fruit, slightly astringent with modest aromatics and flavors of bell pepper and notes of cedar and leather on the moderate finish. Still nicely polished and holding together impressively given the lackluster '81 vintage, but time to drink as its clearly in the last chapter of its drinking window.

RM 89 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=53474

Château Léoville Las Cases St Julien Bordeaux 1981

Like the Chateau Latour above, this cork was also saturated and spongy. It was almost identical in condition and offered essentially the same removal experience. The fill level for this bottle was surprisingly good at mid-neck level.

Almost consistent with my last tasting post fourteen months ago, tonight this bottle showed a bit more astringency than when I wrote, "While the fruits may have started to subside somewhat, starting to give way to non-fruit tones, very aromatic and flavorful, classic elegant Bordeaux notes, dark ruby brick colored, medium full bodied, black berry fruits accented by truffle, spicy cedar, tobacco, cigar box, silky smooth, concentrated and superbly balanced, with long lingering nicely integrated tannins on the spicy aromatic finish."

I gave it 89 points last year, tonight I would give it an 87 due to further deterioration or perhaps bottle variation after 37 years.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=13823


Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 1980

A visit to the temple of Champagne, Moët & Chandon was one of the highlights of our Champagne Wine Experience back in 2006.  It is a benchmark for classic super premium ageworthy sparkling wines in the world.

It was time to drink this aged bottle. It was probably ideal up until perhaps five years ago as this was past its prime but was still an experience and a joy. Consistent with some others' experience postings, perhaps in between those that were still holding on with effervescence and bubbles, and those that were clearly over the hill. This had little pop and fizz on opening, but was still a positive experience showing its age but revealing some modest fruits and nice balance of its heritage.  Interestingly complex, tea or toffee colored, this showed a bit of leather, nut, and slightly astringent citrus, apple and dark cherry fruits.

RM 87 points

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=21774

Clan McNees and Fort

 

Château Poujeaux Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel Moulis en Médoc Grand Vin de Bordeaux 2000

Château Poujeaux Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel, AOC Moulis en Médoc, Grand Vin de Bordeaux 2000

Cousin Anna stopped in, traveling enroute to reporting to military duty in California, so we held an impromptu family reunion for the occasion, including sis Dr Pat who came up from Indy for the occasion. Son Ryan pulled from the cellar this Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux, Château Poujeaux, to accompany Linda's homemade lasagna for the family dinner.

Good grief! No wonder folks find 'old world' (ie. French, Italian) wines mystifying. The complexity of labels and branding can be overwhelming, even for the oenophile (there we go again, aka wine geek). This complexity is due to a combination of magnitude (9000 producers with 300000 acres in Bordeaux vs 300 and 25000 in Napa) 600 different grape varietals in Italy, complexity (AOC - 57 appellations in Bordeaux vs 17 in Napa), and history (centuries vs decades), all exacerbated by difference of (foreign) language. This label is an example of history adding to the complexity and mystery of foreign labels.

Many are aware of the famous 1855 classification that categorized French Bordeaux wines into different levels based on reputation, historic consistency of quality of product. Never mind they referred to them as 'Growths' - first growth, second growth, third and so on ... which was their level based on reputation, not age of vines or any such thing.

But there were many producers not included in this classification. So in 2003, the Cru Bourgeois classification was created to recognize some of the châteaux from the Médoc, (the area of the left bank or southwest side of the Gironde River that bisects the Bordeaux growing region), from those that were not included in the 1855 Classification of Crus Classés, or Classed Growths.

Generally, the Cru Bourgeois classification is a level below Cru Classé, but still of respectable, high quality. Some say that there is some overlap in quality between the Classed Growths and the Cru Bourgeois, but the Classed Growths are generally viewed as being the better wines.

The Cru Bourgeois list was initially drawn up by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce and Chamber of Agriculture in 1932, selecting 444 estates for the classification. The words Cru Bourgeois were widely used on labels by the châteaux so listed, but the classification was never officially ratified. In 2000, there was a major revision of the classification, dividing it into three tiers. This new classification was finalized in 2003 and reduced the number of châteaux listed to 247. Excluding so many producers created great acrimony and controversy, resulting in legal wrangling such that the 2003 Cru Bourgeois classification was nullified by the French court in 2007, and all use of the term was banned.

The 2003 Cru Bourgeois classification, annulled in 2007, classified 247 properties in three tiers: Exceptionnel (9 properties), Supérieurs (87 properties) and straight Bourgeois (151 properties). Those Crus Bourgeois Exceptionnels are the the most widely known and recognized due to their notoriety. with their level commanding a higher pricepoint and being more likely to be exported to foreign markets including the US. This is both cause and effect.

While the new Cru Bourgeois classification was being prepared, six out of nine of the former Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel decided to remain outside the new one-tier classification. Instead, they formed a group named Les Exceptionnels, primarily to collaborate in joint promotion such as common marketing events. Château Poujeaux is a member of this group, along with other better known chateaux, also likely to be found in the US market, such as Château Chasse-Spleen, Château Les Ormes-de-Pez, Château de Pez, Château Potensac, and Château Siran.

The Cru Bourgeois label was reintroduced in 2010, but in a significantly revised form, consisting of only one level, awarded annually as a mark of quality, but to wines rather than to châteaux. The designation was based on an assessment of both production methods and the finished product. Any property in the Médoc was eligible to apply for the list which was updated and published approximately 2 years after the vintage, so the 2008 list was published in 2010, and the 2009 list was published in 2011 and so on. The 2009 list includes 246 wines. 
 
So it is with this one sub-region of Bordeaux, the Cru Bourgeois classification.

Château Poujeaux thus lies in the wine-producing district of Moulis-en-Médoc, a commune (village) in the wine-producing area of Médoc. The commune produces wine with a good reputation which benefits from the appellation of Moulis, which is one of six communal appellations of the Haut-Médoc vineyards.

It is one of the most highly regarded wines within Moulis, alongside Château Chasse-Spleen. As explained above, Château Poujeaux was one of just nine to be placed in the highest category of the 2003 classification of Cru Bourgeois wines, Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnels. The property was owned by the Theil family until early 2008, when it was bought by Philippe Cuvelier, who is also owner of Clos Fourtet. Jean Thiel is cited on this label.

Château Poujeaux' vineyards cover 52 hectares (130 acres) and produces about 25,000 cases of wine per year. The grape varieties used are the typical classic Bordeaux varietals in 'left bank' proportions, 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot. As is customary in the region, they also produce a second wine branded under the second label name La Salle de Poujeaux.

Interesting, that while being a rather large producer with broad distribution, they have a modest, one-page website in text only, in French only.

The 2000 vintage of Bordeaux was high quality, highly rated vintage and promises to be long-lived. At seventeen years, this is in its prime drinking window, it could continue to improve further with age and should still have a decade or more of life left at this level. As in the greater Bordeaux, this is a top rated vintage and is one of the better releases from this secondary producer. As in such top vintages, all boats rise with the tide, and as such this is a high QPR wine, more affordable than many higher rated labels from the vintage, but of  close to equivalent quality.

This was bright dark brick red colour with hues of purple, medium bodied with moderately complex concentrated blackberry fruits accented by a layer of leather with hints of truffle, herbs, and cassis, nice approachable acidity and supple round tannins on the finish.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2575

http://www.chateaupoujeaux.com/