Cellaring Satellite Bordeaux

Dale. My local Wine Merchant recently bought in some satellite bordeaux wines from the 2000 vintage. I picked up the following for significantly under £10 per bottle. Chateau Le Rey and Prieure de Saint Lorent (both Cotes de Castillon) and Chateau Pleyssac-Tayac which is a Cotes de Francs. I had the Chateau Le Rey last night and was suitably impressed. Whilst straightforward and uncomplicated, I really enjoyed the balance of the wine which in my opinion is at its peak. I had a 1991 Opus One last tuesday for my 41st birthday and found it rather tired and a little disappointing. Finding little gems for under a tenner really restores the enthusiasm and the try it and see mentality, not to mention the whole value for money debate. I'll post some notes on the remaining satellite wines when consumed. I hope that they are as good.

Best Wishes

Alex Hayne

Lalande-Pomerols

] My recent experiences with the La Chenade and Dalem got me to thinking re ] cellaring the satellite appelations. For budgetary reasons, these make up a ] good 30% or so of my Bordeaux purchases. From good vintages, I've consistently ] done very well with some of the better wines from Fronsac (such as Fontenil, de ] Carles, & La Vieille Curé), & to a slightly lesser extent Canon-Fronsac, over ] 10 year+ periods. I have trouble coming up with the equivalent successes from ] Lalande de Pomerol or Côtes de Bourg (with the exception of Roc de Cambes & ] maybe Tayac's Prestige) -most seem to peak within a couple years of release, ] and slide fairly precipitously after. The best of the Côtes de Castillon and ] Montagne/St. George St-Émilion wines seem somewhere in between. ] ] Looking at my '98s and '00s, my inclination is to drink up the Lalande-Pomerols ] (except Fleur du Bouard, which seems to have plenty of structure), drink the ] CdC and Montagnes within a few years, and keep the Fronsacs tucked away (once ] Roc de Cambes started costing as much as Poyferre, I stopped buying, so I have ] no Bourgs). I realize that generalizing by vintage and appelation is fraught ] with dangers, but one must start somewhere. Do these generalizations jibe with ] others' experiences?

Hi Dale,

My experience does jibe pretty well with yours, and I operate pretty much the same way. (I've never felt the need to have too much Bordeaux around, anyway.) I tend to steer clear of most of the Cotes de Bourg, just because I've had _so_ many mediocre ones, but oddly I've had better success in the Blayais. Actually with Gillian's 7th birthday dinner last night we had a '93 Haut Grelot "Methez" premieres cotes de blaye that I think you would have really liked: big dark kirsch and chocolate nose, in the mouth very leathery, tar, more black cherry and bramble. Great balance, maybe fading a bit though as the finish was somewhat thin. Gillian liked it a lot, requesting a second taste, which is rare enough. (She's not very into fruit forward styles, pronouncing them "too strong.")

I suspect there are some satellite St Ems that can go longer than you're holding, I had some at a dinner party from '86 I think not too long ago, it was still going strong and delicious actually. I agree on the Castillons though, I've not had any that I was inclined to keep more than 5-7.

On Fronsac, have you tried Renard-Montdesir? Good stuff IMHO, finished thelast of the '89 about a year and a half ago.

-E

Emery, never even seen a Fronsac by that name here.

As to Bourg, I think most are forgettable, but Roc de Cambes and Tayac's Prestige are generally very good wines (though the former is priced $25-40US), and du Bousquet and Font Guilhem can be good in good vintages.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

I recently had the 2000 Château Larose Trintaudon. This has long been a favorite of mine among the cru bourgeois, and at $15 US it's a very sound wine - even worthy of cellaring. I consider this the BV Napa Valley of the Medoc.

Tom S