Bordeaux newbie

Happy Thanksgiving!
While pulling wines from my cellar, I realized I that it is very lacking as far as Bordeaux is concerned. I would like some recommendations from the Bordeaux lovers/ experts on this forum. I would like to buy some to age and some cellar savers that are good to drink young. What chateau and what vintages would you recommend?
Thanx in advance.

Broad question. Many quality recent vintages to choose from. But what kind of wines do you like & how much are you looking to spend?

What do you usually drink and enjoy now?

Do you generally want warmer/riper/fuller vintages or more structured/balanced vintages?

Do you want any white wines in the mix?

There are quite a few Chateaux over there. Even if it’s somewhat homogenized compared to other regions, still a whole lot to pick from.

One wine I’ve been enjoying lately is the 2018 Pichon Comtesse Réserve, 2nd wine of Pichon Lalande. It’s more Merlot-driven than the Grand Vin but has some of the PLL character and has been super in the past few months. It’s around $57 now.

When the 2016s came on the market I held a dinner where I served six wines priced from about $30-50. I believe they were Chasse-Spleen, Meyney, Cantemerle, Le Pape, Gloria, and Duo de Conseillante. All of them drank well at that point. Any of these wines in recent vintages could be good bets but there are so many more. I’ve had very good luck buying unknown Pessac-Leognan wines from any recent ripe vintage, and many of them are in the $15-30 range. Similar with Pauillac, though there are fewer “unknown” wines there.

For the cellar there are so many good options at different price points. Even $30-40 wines like Meyney, Chasse-Spleen and Cantemerle can age and improve for decades, but in the $200 range there are wines like PLL that are borderline first growth quality.

Plus 1. Budget and taste are going to be the most important factors here. Bordeaux comes in very different styles, and if you have little or no experience of Bordeaux, you probably need to taste extensively to figure out what kinds of wine you like, and just as importantly, what you don’t.

I enjoy variety of wines. Both reds and whites. So I don’t know if this answer be of any help.
I like Goodfellow chards and Pinots. I like Maxem and Aubert chards. I enjoy Lopez de Heredia. I like Sojourn pinots and Cabs. Pretty much anything by Rivers Marie. Vouvray and German Rieslings ( Donnhoff and Prum ). Several months ago was totally blown away by 2001 Insignia ( believe it or not ). Also enjoy Saxum and Cayuse. Like I said I enjoy a variety, depending on occasion.
As far as price point. I think for everyday early drinkers $50 max.
For cellar sleepers up to $250. ( this seems to be my limit ), of course can be convinced to go higher for something truly special that will alter my perception of reality .

As a fellow newbie I found much enjoyment in Lanessan 2008 and 2011.

I enjoy La Croix Ducru-Beaucaillou (mostly sub $50)

2018 Ch. Meyney is a great choice in the sub $40 price range. I just ordered a case on a Black Friday sale.
At a bit higher price point, close to $100, the 2018 Domaine de Chevalier is getting high marks.

The '18 DdC is excellent. Had this vintage few times and each time I loved it.

Cantemerle was my gateway into Bordeaux, solid producer and elegant approachable wines usually young with a good hour or two decant. Enjoy the ride

I would probably grab some 2019 bordeaux futures while they are still available at decent prices. E.g., last time I looked there were still some good buys at MacArthur’s, and they ship. There was a string on WBers a week or so ago on a UGC in-bottle tasting of a cross- section of the 19’s and it could provide some selection guidance, as well as critics reviews, etc. The major wines should become available in the next 6 months. The wines should cellar well, and, tasting some upon receipt may be a good to evaluate styles. But, this would be be done, I think, soon after receipt before the wines go i to any kind of shut-down slumber.

There are a huge number of threads on this region, both here and on the Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts site. I suggest searching and reading for an hour to get some background/ideas.

I would NOT go buying cases to lay down for decades, until you knew that you liked older wines, and in particular, which estates.

If you can, find a tasting group, and have some Bordeaux centric events. Absent that, there is lots of older Bordeaux available in the secondary market, so its worth trying a few examples as well. UGC style events (50-100 young wines in a huge conference hall) are certainly interesting, but I don’t think they are so helpful for person just starting to learn. Nearly all the notes from my old tasting handbooks from those have the helpful insights “tannic, very young”…

Do you have a Total Wine not too far? I recommend them for sampling low and moderate price red Bordeaux, particularly since you can sample without shipping costs. While TW gets criticized deservedly here, one thing they are good for is a good range of red Bordeaux to sample, at least the stores I’ve been to. You can do better price wise elsewhere when you start buying more mid and high level stuff. Cheers.

Stuff I’ve seen at Total Wine worth trying imho. There are others I am sure:

tour de bonnet
chantegrive*
de la huste
fourcas dupre
clos floridene** (in recent years a particularly reliable wine for both red and white, very good value)
dalem*
de ferand
vrai canon bouche*
lamarque
lanessan***
fortin plaisance*
lilian ladouys*
l’aiguille**
barde haut***(this is a pretty serious wine and value)
tronquoy lalande**
cantmerle**
les ormes de pez***
frombrauge
larrivet haut brion**
pedesclaux**
quinault l’enclos
fonplegade****
poujeaux***

Interesting. I was a Lanessan junkie pre-Bouard 2015+) and would not have thought about these two vintages. If you like them, you have to grab 2014. It is a classic vintage for Lanessan and, IMHO, as good as this wine gets. After that, it’s become more glossy.

It is a good idea to add Bordeaux to your cellar But it is a massive region with a myriad of different wine styles, prices and of course, vintages matter as well.

What types of wines do you like and how much do you want to spend?

To get a bit of info on Bordeaux, its wines and vintages, you might want to peruse https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/

So much this. Don’t go spending large sums of money before you do this. Go out to some reputable suppliers and buy a case or two of a variety of older wines and taste them.

2008 and 2011 are readily available in my country nowadays so thats why I mentioned them. I will certainly try other vintages if they turn up at some point.

Great thread and great info so far. In the same boat. Following