The other Bordeaux

I was showing some very pleasant American clients from a cruise liner around various Chateaux last weekend in the Bordeaux area. We visited some of the top Chateaux, but we also had a hunt around for some less known Chateau such as Chateau de la Riviere in Fronsac and Chateau Falfas in Bourg. I wrote a blog about the excellent biodynamic wines at Falfas here http://bellawines.blogspot.com/
It is so easy to look at Bordeaux and just see some crazy and opportunistic pricing. The top wines may well become ‘luxury goods’ which are traded and not drunk. But there are still some fantastic wines being made in the area…it is always worth exploring the fringe areas to find the up and coming wines.

Hi great post,

Before I really knew Bordeaux, ( I had been buying 89-90 futures and releases) I went to Bordeax with my Uncle and brother. My uncle spoke French which was a plus. Anyway we drove around and ended up in Cotes De Bourg, also Cotes De Blaye, and wow did we get treated well! We saw some amazing hospitality, a family invited us in for dinner and they were having a miniature pig and a bunch of French goodies, another Chateau literally would not let us leave, it was such a great experience.

The glam Bordeaux is there, but this is a great way to experience Bordeaux…

Great points, guys. On the wine boards, we see a lot of hand-wringing over the skyrocketing prices of top classified growths, but frankly, I’m not all that stressed about it because there’s lots of affordable Bordeaux that offers typicity in some cases, modern style in others, but in general can hold their own against classified growths and their Right Bank counterparts very well considering the price differential. One small chateau that showed well against better-known chateaux at the Cercle Rive Droite tasting in New York in January was Chateau Guibot La Fourvieille, from Puisseguin-St. Emilion. At the time, however, they had no U.S. distributor - anyone know if they’ve picked one up? I only see bottles of their 2005 on Wine-Searcher.

In any case, I think it’d be great if people post regularly in this thread about their experiences with “the other Bordeaux”, where prices have not run away from the reach of most wine consumers. There are plenty of chateaux from satellite appellations like Fronsac, Lalande-de-Pomerol, Montagne-St. Emilion, etc., others from Haut-Medoc or Moulis like Chasse-Spleen that bring so much Bordeaux typicity for my palate, modern-styled wines like Belle-Vue, Bolaire, etc. and even some under-the-radar classified growths that can be had for a song, that personally all of my buying of Bordeaux will be under $40 bottles, with many in the $20 range, for the foreseeable future - and I’m quite confident that I will be able to drink well.

Friends,

This is all music to my ears.

It gets my hackles up to read that “the owners of the great growths have gone off their rocker with pricing* and the rest of Bordeaux isn’t worth it”.

NOT TRUE!

If you like the Bordeaux grape varieties, there are some relative steals out there.

Best regards,
Alex R.

• this part of the statemement, is unfortunately true!!!

Nice article. It isn’t always easy to find good value Bordeaux (under about $25) in the states, but when you do, there are some real treasures. I had a 2007 Chateau de Bellevue Les Griottes from Lussac-St. Emilion that floored me and it was only $22. I also enjoyed a 2005 Chateau Mazeris Canon-Fronsac for $25. Just to name a couple. The Right Bank in particular has some really nice values.

[quote=“Alan C h a n”] One small chateau that showed well against better-known chateaux at the Cercle Rive Droite tasting in New York in January was Chateau Guibot La Fourvieille, from Puisseguin-St. Emilion. At the time, however, they had no U.S. distributor - anyone w if they’ve picked one up? I only see bottles of their 2005 on Wine-Searcher.
cde
I bought the 2000 of Guibot, loved it.

Hamish is spot-on, you all are. There are still dozens and dozens of châteaux which haven’t changed their prices in real terms for years. I’ve just finished putting away the cru bourgeois 09 I bought: I was amused to see that most of them were sold at the same price as for the 2000 (some were even marginally more expensive in 96 or 95).
Bearing in mind the improvements in technique and technology, the 09s are probably the best wines ever produced by cru bourgeois, so they’re obviously great value - eg. Charmail for 14 €, Citran for 11 €
Even further up the scale, there are wines that haven’t increased - Batailley, for example, at 29 € is at the same price as the 05.

I had an excellent 2004 last night - Château La Cour d’Argent, a modest Bordeaux from the owner of Lynsolence and Les Gravières, that had all the characteristics of a top St.Emilion, except the oak, the alcohol (only 12°5) and the price - 4,50 €…

Are there any importers in the U.S. that specialize in this type of Bordeaux?

Even the relatively small number of producers mentioned in this thread is more than I’ll remember the next time I walk into a shop - if they are even on the shelves in Atl.

Good topic. This is helpful and interesting. I cut my teeth on Bordeaux. Today I have no clue what to buy… I might try a few listed here. I have been selling off most of my wine from the other than other Bordeaux list. Thanks again.

I’d love to see more of it, but the “other Bordeaux” seems to face a lot of challenges here in the US. There are plenty of importers and retailers supporting Burgundy (including the Maconnais and Beaujolais), pretty much from top to bottom. The same does not appear (from my non-ITB consumer perspective) true for Bordeaux. The US should be awash in tasty affordable food-friendly Bordeaux. It’s not, or atleast not that I’ve seen. My impression is that many US Bordeaux retail buyers are completely sick of the EP process, inflated prices for the “names” and are just walking away. Retailers respond in kind. The critics all seemed obsessed with the “names”. The little guys really need a champion (or several, including critics, retailers, importers) promoting them in the US.

RT

I think that’s absolutely right, RIchard. As a relative newbie to wine, I really hesitate to get into ‘name’ Bdx because of the price and the time many of them need to mature (I’m not so young). There is a real business opportunity here, methinks.

The low end is worth investigating. I sought out lower 2005 Bordeaux and found several that were really enjoyable. I’m starting to do it again for the 09s and 10s. As I scout around on line and with wine-searcher it seems like a lot of the under-$20 wines have an almost regional distribution in the US. I assume that’s because they are only handled by one importer and/or quantity is limited. That makes it hard to build brand recognition. It is fun to seek out the wines though.

There was a thread on eRP about daily 05 Bordeaux drinkers. I have a summary (somewhere). Really helpful. I’ll dig it up and post it.

BTW and to get to the original post, one 09 we’ve enjoyed is La Hase, an organic (maybe biodynamic) wine inported by Calvert Woodley. Haven’t seen it offered anywhere else. $13

We put together a small tasting of value bdx after the 05 vintage was released, notes below:

http://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=10783

Buying cheap BDX in great vintages can be a great value. Weather is a great leveler. They age well (enjoying various lesser 00s just about now) and provide wonderful drinking at a wide age range (no waiting a decade to approach), filling the gap while your big boys slumber.

There was a thread on eRP about daily 05 Bordeaux drinkers. I have a summary (somewhere). Really helpful. I’ll dig it up and post it.

I recall that '05 daily drinker thread from eBob. That was a great thread. Bordeaux does not get the same coverage here, and a lot of these yummy QPR Bdx have a bit of modern flair that is not largely in vogue here. I love many of them. While I’m not a modernist by any stretch, Bdx seems to do it well and still keep its sense of terroir. I bought lots of '05s across the spectrum, but in particular, in the under $50 range with a fair bit under $20. The '08 vintage had quite a few QPRs that fell in that camp, which I bought in 375s. Looking forward to hearing recs on '09 and '10. I roll my eyes any time I hear someone say Bdx is over-priced. Stop looking at labels, if that is your belief. Look to Fronsac, Cotes de Bourg, Lalande de Pomerol, and Cotes de Blaye.

Gosh, I’m so used to seeing disparaging comments about Bordeaux that it does my heart good to read this thread.

Julian: yes, La Cour d’Argent is a brilliant example of what Bordeaux can do. I buy it regularly. I see you’re in Paris. If you come to Bordeaux, please look me up.

Scott: there is no specialized importer that I know of. To be honest, I have often pondered doing just what you say: constituing a portfolio of really good affordable Bordeaux and selling it to importers/distributors in the States. But at this stage in my career that seems unlikely.

Best regards,
Alex R.