Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [61]
Château Fourcas-Hosten (Four-cahs AUS-ten)
Château Poujeaux (Poo-JHOE)
Château d’Angludet (dahn-glue-DAY)
Château Meyney (May-NAY)
Basic Bordeaux
There are also wines that just say “Bordeaux,” with no village name, and many of these have proprietary names like Mouton-Cadet (MOO-tohn Cuh-DAY), or even varietal names like Christian Moueix (Muh-WEX) Merlot. They bear no resemblance to the château wines, Bordeaux’s calling cards. The main reasons are these:
They are grown on vineyard sites less suited to top quality (to review the best-quality growing conditions, refer to the “What Is Quality?” section of Chapter 3).
The production standards are less strict for nonchâteau wines, especially in the key area of vineyard yield (also explained in Chapter 3). Basic Bordeaux wines are allowed to have higher vineyard yields than château wines, giving wines of less complexity and concentration.
Vinification is quite different. Oak marks the style of the top château wines, which are given lengthy aging (eighteen months on more) in oak barrels after fermentation. The varietal wines that emulate this style use the same technique. By contrast, most of the basic wines see no oak aging, or a very small amount in used barrels that give little oak character.
This does not mean that basic Bordeaux wines are not worthwhile, for the price. What you should know about them includes the following: (1) If no varietal is listed, Merlot usually dominates. (2) In style, they compare to their varietal counterparts from other countries at similar price points. So, for example, Mouton-Cadet at about ten dollars is similar to a ten-dollar Merlot from, you name it—California, Washington, Chile, Australia, and so on.
Just keep in mind the Old World versus New World style differences we explored in the last chapter. On that basis, you would expect the Bordeaux to be a little subtler, and the New World varietal versions more fruit-driven, which is usually the case. As our tasting will illustrate, the same is true for the château wines and the comparable-quality Cabernet and Merlot varietals that emulate them. I have indicated both Merlot- and Cabernet-based château wines in the tasting list, so be sure to compare them to a like varietal wine to get the most out of the tasting.
WINE TASTING
“Off-vintages” and “Second Labels”
Bordeaux on a Budget… Well, sort of. The prices of classified château Bordeaux have gotten so crazy in the last few years that many of my students despair of ever being able to try them. If you shop around, you will see that most of the bottles I’ve suggested in the tasting that follows are, while not cheap, doable, especially if you share the costs with your tasting buddies. There are two other Bordeaux buying strategies to keep in mind:
“Off Vintages”—This refers to years when the growing season weather was less than perfect. In that case, the best estates still make excellent wine, but no quite top-of-the-top. To the taster, it just means the wine is “ready to drink” sooner, and the prices can often be half that of a stellar vintage. Inquire at a knowledgeable wine shop—you’re likely to get some great deals.
“Second Labels”—In the 1970s and 1980s, in pursuit of ever-better quality, most of Bordeaux’s top châteaus began producing “second labels.” The wine under these labels is from the same vineyards, produced with the same care. It is simply a selection of barrels that, after tasting, the winemaker determined weren’t quite up to the level of the main wine, called the grand vin. The second label gives you a hint of the grand vin’s style, at a better price. A good wine shop can steer you to some worthy second labels to try, or look for these:
WINE TASTING
Comparing Red Bordeaux, and Varietal Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon
One note on costs: You might have noticed that the wines in our tastings are becoming costly. This is to be expected since we are exploring very upscale wine categories. If you want to skip this tasting, feel free. But if you are a buyer of classic Bordeaux and/or pricey