With all the praise for the Bordeaux 2016 vintage, especially for the over-performance of the lower tier, I recently impulse bought a bottle of Puygueraud ($18). I didn’t know where the Cotes de Francs was, had to look it up! For reference what I usually drink fom Bordeaux is 20-30 year old bottles from fancier addresses. Here’s my tasting note:
TNR: Conservative score, likely. Very pretty nose with lots of red fruit, a hint of earthy cassis. Rich flavorful mouthful of wine with good red fruit, earth, some minerals. Some dusty tannins but a long finish with a hint of cinnamon, some acid to retain freshness and balance but not overly complex. Nice, youthful, probably better with a few years to soften. (90)
I’m not sure if my score is too high (generosity born of happy surprise) or too low (will this develop in a good way?). I usually find very young Bordeaux very unyielding, but this certainly was not of that ilk. An interesting experience.
Thanks for the note. Too many people ignore wines like these and buy lesser Cabernets or Merlots from other areas of the world for more money. Bordeaux needs to do a better job marketing these types of wines.
I haven’t had it in a few vintages, but Puygueraud used to be on my list of reliable, inexpensive chateaux. The 2008 was quite good IIRC. I will keep an eye out for the '16. I haven’t bought many '16s yet, just some Lanessan and Senejac I think.
Thanks for sharing. Yes, it is so easy to forget the good affodable Bordeaux since so many of us were burnt by the increases in the price of the great growths. This is from one of the least known appellations in Bordeaux: Côtes de Franc and belongs to Nicolas Thienpont, a much-respected winemaker at Pavie-Macquin, Beauséjour-Duffau, Larcis-Ducasse, and Berliquet in Saint Emilion.
And if only restaurants carried wines like these. You could have this on the wine list for $40-50, it would be enjoyable without needing to be aged for many years, would go well with a lot of food.
And yet you rarely ever find the good QPR Bordeaux on lists.
After sharing this with friends over dinner, we had a discussion on the topic ‘where do we find bottles this tasty for under $25.’ Extra points for Cabernet Sauvignon or similar grapes. We pored over K&L’s (major California retailer) selection of hundreds of California red wines and came up empty handed. Sure there were plenty of bottles, but almost nothing stood out. I’m sure someone will point out candidates, especially lesser known varieties/regions, but we struggled. Looking at regions I know something about, we found many interesting ideas from Bordeaux and Italy. I’m sure Spain, Australia, etc. would have things to offer as well.
But Bordeaux was a shocker to my non-Berserker friends. They pictured Bordeaux as the home of pricey wines that required decades of aging. And it is. But it’s also the source for tons of reasonably priced wines with excellent immediate potential. Helps that 2015 and 2016 were such strong vintages - really improved quality across the price curve. Again no shocker for us here but wow does Bordeaux have a market perception problem here in the US.
Yeah, in good vintages (and sometimes others), Bordeaux has great bargains in the $15-30 price range.
I get that some of the prestige and collector’s wines have gotten very expensive, but Bordeaux is simultaneously also possibly the best region in the world for bargains.
FWIW, I have drunk through about a case of 2005 Puygueraud - i think it was 15 EUR all in at the time - wine is still holding strong, and a pleasure to drink, although not the deepest wine. I have placed it against some supposedly better 2005s, and the wine never comes out on top, but on its own, certainly a nice bottle.
I get that some of the prestige and collector’s wines have gotten very expensive, but Bordeaux is simultaneously also possibly the best region in the world for bargains.
This may be true of France in general. For some reason, the US has a hard time producing wine at the $15-20 range that competes. There are a few, but at that range it’s too often the big generic wines like the Gallo and Mondavi brands.