This wine
is one of my personal favorites, so please excuse my rather extravagant prose.
It’s 100% Sauvignon Blanc, which is quite unusual for Bordeaux where most dry whites are a blend of
Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. We drink it on just about every Bordeaux tour we
run, and I have NEVER had anyone that has not thoroughly enjoyed it. The wine
easily merits a price tag of anywhere from $14-18, but we are passing on the
amazing value that it represents in this first offering. In the future I
anticipate the price to rise to it’s rightful level, so this deal won’t be
available for long! Incidentally, I have vintages of this wine that the
winemaker considers should have been drunk years ago, but are still holding up
beautifully in my cellar in France. Even the 94 is still very drinkable.
Nose: White flowers and fresh cut grass.
Mouth: The wine was very new when I tasted it, and
still had it’s hard edge from bottling. As always, very cleanly-made with the
crispness of the fruit outlined by the wine’s acidity. At this stage it is
heavy on flowers and citrus, particularly grapefruit, and by past experience
this will flesh out into a rounder style with subtle hints of honey and white
peaches over the next year or so. I wouldn’t recommend cellaring for as long as
my older bottles in France, as the wine is really designed to be enjoyed for
it’s freshness and vivacity in its youth, but there is no panic to drink it up
either, if it’s in a good cellar.
Nose: Clean, very classic white Graves. Very nice.
Mouth: Good acid, with very nice ripe fruit. Clean and
fresh tasting with a fleshy “sweet” feel that comes from the ripe fruit (the
wine is fermented dry, of course). Extremely well made bottle of wine.
One of my
personal favorites. I discovered this wine with the 94 vintage, when I went
over to see the local cooper to borrow some half-barrels to use for
apple-dinking for my daughter’s school’s first Halloween. I saw some palettes
of wine in the corner and asked what they were, and discovered M. Lassere had 3
hectares (about 7.5 acres) of vineyards as well as the family cooperage. When I
tasted his 94 I was converted for life. He made a great effort in a year that
was not easy for small producers, with a wine that I am still drinking with
great pleasure today. Unfortunately the 94 is long ago sold out, but his wine
is consistently well-made year after year, and my cellar is well-stocked with
each vintage since.
Nose: Very pleasant nose. Earthy, rich with a touch
of smokiness and tar, and ripe dark fruits that keep it fresh and lively.
Mouth: Charming, elegant, earth driven-Médoc. Stone,
tobacco leaf. Broad-shouldered style that keeps plenty of ripe fruit hidden for
the future. I recommend aging this wine at least 2 years, but if you drink it
now decant for at least an hour before drinking.
This is a
great discovery that’s going to be a big “find” once the powers that be get to
know it! It’s made by Joel Pradeau, a young winemaker who has worked at the
property for about 7 years, and has been in complete control for the last 2-3
years. He is now left completely to his own devices by the owner, a French
Baron, and is doing a tremendous job. He went to wine school with a friend of
mine, who used to be the oenologist for Chateau Latour, which is how I came to
find him.
Nose: Black cherry & cassis with a touch of wood
smoke and tar.
Mouth: The best vintage that Joel has produced to
date. Bags of ripe fruit, layered with a rich smoky, coffee, spicy body - a
very well-made modern style Haut-Médoc. Very drinkable now, and easily able to
age for the next couple of years at least.
Nose: Warm, smoky with lovely black cherry.
Mouth: A really great bottle of wine. Big body, with
plenty of big, round tannins to support it. Lots of chocolate, spices and
coffee grounds wrapped around the fruit. Opens slowly in the glass to develop a
good jammy fruit that’s held together perfectly by the wine’s structure. Good
long finish with just a hint of green oak at the end. This is big wine that can
easily age if you can keep yourself from drinking it all now.
Nose: Young rather grapey attack,
with fresh crushed berries and a nice touch of oak.
Mouth: Good classic Bordeaux fruit, with a nice bite
of charred oak. Should mellow out with some age. Firm tannins for future, but
enough fruit for current drinking also. Definitely will improve with age, and
needs a good hour in a decanter if drunk today.
Nose: Subdued
Mouth: Very pleasant soft, approachable wine. Medium
bodied with easy tannins and nice fresh fruit, in a good “St. Emilion” style.
Very ready to drink now, and for the next couple of years.
Nose: Nice dark fruits dominate, with a just a
touch of wood.
Mouth: Good fruit, very nice soft tannins. Nice sweet
finish with a firm edge that gives definition. Good to drink now, and probably
for the next year or so while is still has it’s fruit.
Nose: Very nice oak that rather
dominates the nose at first, then fruit comes through.
Mouth: Ripe & oaky style. Very
good. Good fruit, well balanced. Solid finish with wood & fruit nicely blending. Nice choice
of barrels with good basic fruit to start with. Very nicely made, obviously
with good quality and well-ripened grapes.
Nose: Quite closed at first, slowly opening as it
breathed in the glass.
Mouth: Subtle but quite powerful. A stylish wine with
lots of liquorice, blackcurrant and a touch of tar and cedar. Good solid, round
tannins. Very nice wine, should be good to age for at least another 2-3 years.
To drink now it would definitely benefit from decanting at least an hour or so
beforehand, to let the tannic structure release the fruit.
Nose: Very nice, expressive “Figeac” style nose, in
the sense of good ripe maturity and undertones of pleasant underwoods
mustiness. Has hints of Elderflower and pine which were surprising but not
unpleasant.
Mouth: Ripe fruit, soft wood & tannins. Medium
body & volume but very soft & smooth. Quite elegant and very enjoyable
to drink. Would appear to be at the right time to drink now, and maybe for the
next year.
Nose: Stylish, expressive with
vanilla, cherry and a touch of blackberry.
Mouth: Good solid fruit, lots of black cherry,
liquorice, tar etc. Medium bodied with plenty of new oak, ripe fruit but not
overly jammy. Soft, firm tannins, with a medium length finish. Very cleanly
made and well balanced, in a very modern style. Very “Angelus” in style – the
new wave that I call the “Parker/Rolland” style of St. Emilion. Not my personal
favorite style as I prefer more traditional St. Emilions, but definitely
extremely drinkable and perfect for the “American palate”.