A few Bordeaux 2015 Crus Bourgeois + one 2016

WINE TALK
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The last time I did this was in April 2021 and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the wines were (Rollan de By, Sénéjac and Paloumey, with a slightly disappointing Beaumont).

I wanted to go back and try a few more, so I opened three more last week, plus a 2016 to compare:

Château Liversan 2015

Blackberry and bilberry aromas, with a touch of orange peel and leather, then a medium-bodied attack of blackberry at first, quickly moving onto red cherry, with some cooling blackcurrant before the soft, silky finish.
Not quite ready yet, but this is very promising indeed. It has great poise and balance with a finish that is almost Margalais.
The fruit is ripe but not overripe, like most of the CB 15s I’ve tried so far.
Really good value at a mere 9 euros.

Château Greysac 2015

Like its stablemate Rollan de By from the same vintage, in spite of the high amount of Merlot (65%), this is remarkably classic in style. More tannic than the Liversan, this has plenty of cool blackcurrant and an impressive middle section of blueberry with hints of plum on the finish. There is good grip and a solid base - this is never going to become all jammy, unlike the 09 and the 10. For now, very slightly stodgy to drink, but with real promise for the future.
All of 7 euros…

Château de Malleret 2015

Quite oaky on the nose, with a rather plush, spicy dollop of oak on the palate too. The blackcurrant is much more extracted than the others, with quite a high-pitched feel to the middle section. The finish is slightly hot too.
Clearly De Malleret didn’t get the message that crisp, fresh wines are en vogue. It’s like going back to the halcyon days of 2009. A pity because I quite like the 2010 - which tastes classic in comparison. Obviously this is just my taste - fans of Rolland-style wines will like this more than I did.
14 euros

Château Greysac 2016

Like the 2015, very classic in style, but very different. Less “grounded”, the 2016 has very silky tannins and very pure fruit, just marred by some odd hints of hazelnut amid the blackcurrant and dark cherry. The finish is very long, very intense, but perhaps a little hot at the end. Anyway, a very impressive wine - but I just preferred the 2015.
8 euros

Like the other 2015s tasted, the general level is really high. The Liversan and the Greysac 2015s are the best I’ve had from those estates (the Malleret was disappointing but there is still a market for that sort of wine). It’s still early days, but they confirmed the impression I had last year that concerning at least Crus Bourgeois, 2015 should really not be ignored. I’ve only had a handful of 2016s, but I don’t think there’s a huge step up in quality. Nor do I think that 2015 is overripe or blousy. With two exceptions, the wines tasted have been infinitely better than in 05, 09 or 10.

Basically, for me the good 2015s tasted have been like a trip back in time, before all that oak and Tiggerish fruit that leaps up to lick you in the face when young, before going all syrupy as it hits its first decade. They remind me of wines from 1990, but with better technique, or from 2000 with better backbone.

As for the value - well, in the Cru Bourgeois category; I don’t know any region that can beat it for red wines. What struck me is the step up in quality from wines costing 4 to 5 euros. There are lots of the latter about - but for two or three euros more, you get a quality akin to that of Cru Classés only twenty years ago, and as good as (or better than) most Second wines today - for three or four times less.

What’s not to like?!

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Sometimes our local Costco would have less heralded vintages of Liversan for low prices ($10ish) which is kind of surprising.

In recent years I found the 2003 (!) and 2005 Greysac’s to be quite good too. It used to be widely available when Seagram’s Chateau & Estates was distributing it, but nowadays I don’t see as frequently in my region.

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Cheers Arv - I’m not surprised Liversan was so cheap - it used to be run by the Lapalu family (Patache d’Aux and Lieujean), who farmed it but did not own it. It was their middle range wine and usually very cheap indeed, quite good but no star. Then it was bought by Antoine Moueix in 2010, who invested money in the cellar and vineyard, improving the quality. I seem to remember that in 2019 he went into partnership with a Chinese company. It’s good stuff but I wonder how they make ends meet at the prices charged, even if they are higher than before.

In France, Greysac is often one of the special offers during the Foires aux Vins in September every year - this year it was Rollan de By 2017 instead! I normally get a few Greysac because of the price. It isn’t quite as good as Rollan de By but the 2015 and 2016 are well worth seeking out.

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Have an article on the non-classified wines of the Médoc coming out at the end of the month!

As you say, some incredible values to be found, and the system really doesn’t work in their favor.

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Thanks William, I shall look forward to reading it!

What would be really interesting would be to do a comparative tasting of 2nd wines and Cru Bourgeois. I only know of one such report, which was done by La Revue des Vins de France about 20 years ago. At the time, the CBs came out on top and it would be interesting to see if the same would be the case today.

Sadly though, for many of these wines, I think the writing is on the wall. Their prices today are the same as they were 20 years ago, so in real terms, they are actually cheaper.

I finished the Greysac 2016 last night, which had improved considerably - it’s a remarkably good wine. I mused between sips as to how much I would feel happy about paying for it - and came to 25 euros, which is about the same as a Siran for example - hence the CBs’ problem.

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I had a bottle of Rollan de By 2016 a few months ago - bought at a local retailer. Thought it was quite good, with good prospects ahead! Now on sale at 14 EUR per bottle. This mention reminded me to grab a few.

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Great subject, I look forward to reading the article!

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Excellent! This is a sweet spot for many of us. Easy to fawn over the Lalande, VCC and Montrose of the world, but finding solid Crus and inexpensive CGs is a skill!

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As a sort of follow-up, I wanted to try a CB with a CC from Haut Médoc, so I picked a couple from 2010:

La Tour Carnet 4th CC 2010

60% Merlot, 34% C.S., 5% CF, 1% PV

Vanilla and caramel blended with dark cherry and blackberry on the nose, then quite a crisp attack of red cherry and blackberry, then some cooling blackcurrant, before a rather spicy finish which is a little drying because of the oak.

Better than expected, since I wasn’t expecting much. I bought this having read that there was less oak than before, just out of curiosity. I’m not a fan at all of the Magrez stable and gave up on LTC after one oak-bomb too many in the early 00s. This, however, did show glimpses of the Margalais style of the pre-Magrez era, with its surprising elegance.

Rollan de By 2010

70% Merlot, 10% each of CS; CF and PV

Dark raspberry and plum on the nose, with some spicy blackberry and herbs. In the mouth, a fresh, fleshy dollop of dark raspberry and blackcurrant, with a spicier middle section of blackberry and vanilla, before a slightly rustic, compact finish which is a bit of a shame.

I was confidently expecting the Rollan de By to be the better of the two, but not at all - the LTC had more finesse and more elegance, which became more and more apparent. I think the higher proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon played its part in that, but neither wine tasted particularly hot, despite the high proportion of Merlot.

Not the best Rollan I’ve had, but the LTC was a pleasant surprise. If they could tone down the oak a little more, it would be better still.

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De Panigon - CB - Médoc 2015

50% Merlot, 45% CS and 5% Petit Verdot, 13% ABV. Aromas of blackberry, black cherry, vanilla and a little oak, then much the same on the palate, with the blackberry dominating, a little spicy midpalate then a very persistent finish. Classic in style, so right up my street. Good balance, medium-bodied, ripe but not overripe, quite classy and elegant, but not at all pretentious. In short, just what a 9 euro cru bourgeois should be like. 90pts

Another winning 2015, which certainly at CB level, doesn’t resemble 2009 at all, thank goodness. I had never tried De Panigon before, and was really quite impressed.

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