Bordeaux is the most famous and highly coveted wine blend in the world.

Red Bordeaux wine from the Medoc is probably what most people think of, when talking about the taste of Bordeaux wine. All Bordeaux wine from the Medoc and Pessac Leognan are blends. Most of those blends utilize Cabernet Sauvignon for the majority of the blend, followed by Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. On occasion, you occasionally find very small amounts of Carmenere in the blend as well. The taste of Bordeaux wine from the Left Bank delivers fruit scents and flavors of cassis, blackberry, dark cherry, vanilla, black cherry, coffee bean, spice and licorice. The wines are often concentrated, powerful, firm and tannic.  The taste of Bordeaux wine from The Right Bank is different, due to the Merlot grape. Merlot is the most important grape in the Right Bank, followed by Cabernet Franc. When young, the taste of Bordeaux wine from The Right Bank delivers licorice, chocolate, black cherry, plum, blackberry, spice, vanilla, smoke, floral, blueberry and jam flavors, characteristics and sensations. Merlot dominated wines are lower in acidity than Cabernet Sauvignon. That means the wines are going to feel richer, softer, plusher and rounder.

The taste of dry white Bordeaux wine delivers a cornucopia of flavors and characteristics that include fresh lemon, citrus rind, flowers, spice, honey, orange, lime, grapefruit, butter and vanilla. You can also find elements of herbs, lemon wax and fresh cut grass. White Bordeaux wines at their best are rich, deep, concentrated and powerful. They can be fresh, display minerality and are often quite refreshing. When white Bordeaux wines age, they develop more complicated scents of honey, flowers, citrus, spice and stone characteristics. While dry white Bordeaux wine is produced in several appellations, the top dry, white Bordeaux wine comes from Pessac Leognan. The grapes most often used for the production of white Bordeaux wine are Sauvignon BlancSemillon and Sauvignon Gris.

The taste of sweet, white Bordeaux is pure nectar to fans of this style of wine. Produced from grapes attacked by Noble Rot also known as Botrytis, these fascinating wines begin life with a potpourri of flavors and smells dominated by ripe and over ripe tropical fruits, pineapple, peach, nectarine, apricot, lemon and oranges drenched in honey. Accompanying those initial fruit sensations you find grilled nuts, vanilla, spice and scents of fresh cut flowers. At their best, Sauternes and Barsac wines are rich, sensuous, sweet and braced by acidity. The acidity allow the wines to feel fresh, honeyed and intense. The texture of sweet, Bordeaux wine is plush, round and opulent. At their best, they are rich, deep, full bodied, sweet, intense and complex.

#winedownwednesday  On this Wine Down Wednesday Donald McDonald from Ferrell Distributing was on the Morning Brew with Brit Hibbs-Kelson to talk about Bordeaux wines but not from Bordeaux 

 

During the month of October, we will share with you some of our favorites!

 

Chateau d’Argadens
Bordeaux Superieur

Very honest and expressive Bordeaux Superieur – distinctive and traditional. Clean, neat and tannically a little tight.  Nose is quite pretty with earth, dried leaf and black cherry. A little cherry pit on the palate adds some bitterness. A good value Bordeaux with a great deal to offer.

Baron des Chartrons
Bordeaux

Beautiful bright red, with the brilliance of a young wine.  Fresh fruit, cherry and notes of undergrowth. Balance and finesse. An elegant wine, with discreet tannic structure, a clean attack, and a long, aromatic mouth.

Chateau La Grange de Grenet
Bordeaux

Big tannins and ripe fruits result in a wine that is dense and structured. The wood aging is apparent, thanks to a smoky character that pushes over the black currant fruit. From vineyards on slopes above the Garonne river, this is a solid wine with a good future.

Chateau Cap de Merle
Lussac Saint-Emilion

It is a wine of deeply saturated color and a full expression of ripe, mouth-filling fresh, complex dark-berry and black-cherry fruit.

Chateau Bellevue
Lussac Saint-Emilion

Pleasant from his youth to his nose red fruits. The nose becomes more complex every few years.
Fondue tannic structure.Vignobles Raymond
Les Hauts de Lagarde Bordeaux

Blend: 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Cabernet Franc.  Beautiful crimson robe with intense purple reflections. This wine reveals great aromas of blackcurrant, blackberries, and spices. The fruitiness, roundness and tannic mouth give it a rare elegance. Ideal with pork roasts and your favorite cheese. A harmonious wine! – “Rich cherry color, and a soft but well-defined nose, touch of oak, a haze of smoke. The smoky character carries through to the palate, there are here more damson fruits. This is gentle and pretty.” – Decanter Magazine

Chateau la Menotte
Lalande-de-Pomerol

This wine is dominated by the Merlot grape, because of this it is extremely refined , elegant and rich. It is a brilliant garnet red, with an expressive bouquet of elegant ripe fruity notes, typical of this region . The palate structure is balanced and its flesh offers a remarkable freshness with fruity notes of cherries and blackberries.

Chateau Gombaude-Guillot
Pomerol

This exceptional red Bordeaux drinks well right away but will age impressively. It boasts deep, berry-fruit, silky Merlot from the clay and limestone soils of the right bank of the Garonne River.

 

Chateau Grimard
Bordeaux 2015

Chateau Grimard is a classic Bordeaux, offering a deep red-purple color, a lush bouquet, and ripe plummy-cassis fruit with good structure. It is a wine with more definition and character than most other petite chateaux, which is in part due to the excellent location of the property, where the Merlot grape thrives in the area’s clay soils. Chateau Grimard is vinified and matured in stainless steel tanks to ensure that it gives immediate pleasure at the table.Chateau L’Orangerie
Bordeaux Blanc 2016

Brilliant pale yellow gold. Perfectly clean to the nose, expressive and attractively scented ripe lemon, grapefruit, white peach and star fruit. The palate offers a sense of clarity, lighter weight, and youthful fruit qualities. Poised and well-calibrated, the wine ends with a dry, mouth-watering finish leaving delicate aromatic highlights. A well-made example of a basic white Bordeaux.Chateau de Costis
Bordeaux White 2015

Extraordinary deep, shine, red color. The aromas is powerful with a lot of fruitiness. The taste is soft with a very good amount of tannin for a Bordeaux wine. It’s a very well balance wine.Chateau Aney
Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2013

Notes of red and black fruits (raspberry, cherry, blackcurrant, apple) enhanced with mineral notes (flint, flint,) and sweet spices (cinnamon, vanilla).  Very good taste balance. Long finish, tasty, fruity, with notes undergrowth, giving a beautiful harmony to the whole.

Chateau L’Orangerie
Bordeaux Rouge Superieur 2015

85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. Grown on calcareous clayey hills found in the middle of the Entre-Deux-Mers region.  Moderately dense garnet with purple. Very appealing, clean and youthful aroma of healthy, mature dark cherry and damson plum with faint spice notes. The wine is round, supple and medium bodied plus on the palate, thoroughly enjoyable now, and imparts a soft final impression with the barest touch of tannin. Modern in the best sense, L’Orangerie is an excellent entry-level red Bordeaux.Chateau Bonnet Blanc
Entre-Deux-Mers 2015

The aromatic nose shows floral notes with pink grapefruit overtones. On the palate, it is medium boiled and mouth filling but with zippy acidity.

Chateau Graville Lacoste
Graves Blanc 2014

Pure and lively, Chateau Graville-Lacoste has aromas of peach, melon, wet stone, fresh cut grass and citrus. A classic footprint of Sauvignon Blanc supports the distinct richness of the Semillon. This white is terrific with seafood, chicken, grilled vegetables or simply on its own on hot summer days

Chateau d’Issan, Blason d’Issan
Margaux 2014

It has a bright, quite vivid bouquet with perfumed dark cherry and blueberry scents, a hint of pencil lead in the background. The palate is medium-bodied with a mineral-driven opening. Harmonious in the mouth and disarmingly silky in texture do not let its second wine status get in the way of noticing the structure towards the finish