Château Grand Launay - Côtes de Bourg - 2016
This is one of the new breed of Bordeaux - organic, with no added sulphur. The colour is intense, as you would expect, but the first thing I didn’t expect is the bouquet - very intense aromas of spring flowers, blueberries and blackcurrant. The attack is bright, pure and striking, with again loads of blueberries and blackcurrant, then a rich middle section edging more towards raspberry flavours, finishing with a long, slightly chalky finale which leaves a sensation of freshness.
Normally when I waffle about flavours, I mean they remind me of fruit flavours, but in this case, the wine really does taste of pure, clean fruit. It’s 100% Merlot, which would normally send me running in the opposite direction, but this isn’t overblown, over-concentrated and reeking of oak: it’s just fruit without any oak at all.
It does taste like a Bordeaux - the only reference I can think of is Clos de Jaugueyron. In terms of quality, it’s close to the latter’s Haut Médoc, at a lot less. Normally at this price level, you get a bit of coarseness or rusticity - but not this wine. The balance is also good - organic wines often fall away mid-palate after a bright start, but this one doesn’t, and it’s not dominated by alcohol either.
For 6 euros, I was really impressed. I’m not surprised people like this - it’s excellent. No need to cellar it either, this was ready for drinking.
Winesearcher doesn’t show any shops in the US, but you can find it in London.
This is, I’m sure though, one of many similar wines, which I will now look out for.