Just the other day, I got into an extended conversation with one of my favorite local wine retailers David Palmieri, a man with years of experience in the trade. The subject matter: unexplored Bordeaux bargains. And, yes, my colleague Michael Apstein and I have both focused on this phenomenon which would seem to go counter to the widely perceived notion that Bordeaux has become wildly unaffordable.
And, in truth, yes, it has. But….
As Michael has pointed out, the top 100 or so Bordeaux wines are indeed expensive, with many if not most priced around $100 a bottle and upwards. Indeed, far upwards for the very top wines, such as the First and Second Growths and the top wines of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion.
But…as my retailer friend said, “There’s tons of really good stuff out there that we just can’t sell, wines that no one—or almost no one—has even heard of.
So, over the past couple months—both while at home in the New York City suburbs and then later while on a three-week vacation at Cape Cod—I set out to see what I could find to justify these claims. I came away more than convinced. Take the Old Professor’s word for it: Good, reasonably priced Bordeaux is one of the unexpected jewels of the fine wine world today.
There are Bordeaux that nestle somewhat uneasily between the little known and underpriced and the grand names and classified growths of both Right and Left Banks. But they are relatively few and far between: Châteaux Gloria in St. Julien; de Pez, Phélan-Ségur and Meyney in St. Estèphe; Poujeaux and Chasse-Spleen in Moulis; Fourcas-Hosten in Listrac and so forth. These are all wines with relatively long histories, wines which can sell at prices in the range of $40-$50 per bottle…but not higher. And not even Lanessan in the Haut-Médoc with its very long history of producing fine claret dares charge much more than $25-$30 per bottle.
And after that…there are countless properties that can’t even fetch $20 a bottle in good to great years. In a word, they just get lost. Another joy provided by the wines below is that most are ready and enjoyable to drink now. None of this business of requiring a decade or more of cellaring!
Among such wines that I’ve tasted or drunk with pleasure over the past few months are these, in no particular order of significance:
2019 Château de Barbe Blanche Rouge from Lussac-St.-Émilion (about $20) is made from 90% merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc—typical of the so-called “St.-Émilion satellite wines.” A wine in the late André Lurton’s always estimable stable, it is, unsurprisingly, very good for what it is, which is to say, a nice, chunky, slightly spicy kind of Right Bank wine.
2019 Château Jura-Plaisance Rouge is another St.-Émilion satellite wine, this time from the Montagne-Saint-Émilion region, and also sells for the magic number ($20 a bottle). It has a stated alcohol level of 13.5% which I find particularly attractive in a Right Bank wine these days when climate has led to nearly unstoppable degrees of ever higher alcohol levels. With its odd name (Jura? Really? What’s that about?) and old-fashioned label, it’s hard to forget. But also very tasty.
2023 Château Milon “Caprice” from St.-Émilion proper costs a bit more—think $25 or so—but is a good example of this ripe year and a Right Bank terroir. The back label here is the giveaway: The wine is imported by the always excellent Doug Polaner Selections located in Mt. Kisco, NY.
2023 Château La Ribaud. Talk about a bargain! This Cru Bourgeois red from the Médoc regularly sells for about $18 per bottle, but has been seen in these parts (Northern Westchester) for as little as $15. The wine is made by the Bouey family who proudly state on the charming, rather old-fashioned label that they’ve been viticulteurs since 1821. This would make either a nice everyday house wine, or a good French bistro pour. Savory. A stated 13.5% alcohol.
2016 Château Noaillac sells for an amazing $18 or so and is worth every penny of that bargain basement price. The AC is only Médoc, but the wine is savory and delicious, showing a classic Left Bank blackcurrant kind of fruit. Made by the Pagès family (Ch. Fourcas-Dupré) in Listrac. Unfortunately for me, the last bottle I had at the house in Westchester—I bought the wine at the Cape—was upended by our cat Kiki. Red wine everywhere. The label was soaked. And a perfectly lovely Spiegelau wine glass broke into a million-zillion pieces when it hit the kitchen floor.
2019 Château Pitray has been in the same family, that of the Comtesse de Boigne, for some 600 years. The vines—a combination of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec—are planted on clay and limestone soil in vineyards located some nine kilometers from St.-Émilion, so a classic Right Bank wine. Pitray is an old friend of mine—I’ve been drinking it for more than four decades—and comes with a particularly handsome label and very informative back label, as befits a French countess! Oh, and the wine is very good too! About $18 retail.
2019 Château Larose-Trintaudon ($25-$28 the bottle) doesn’t have the glossy fruit of a Left Bank Cru Classé wine, but the price is right and the wine, from one of the largest properties in the whole of the Haut-Médoc (near St.-Julien), has never been better. I remember it from decades ago when it was a staple of the old Château & Estates portfolio. The fruit was always good but seemed stripped by too much filtering. That problem has long since been solved. And, as my latest note to myself reads, “The wine is, as usual these days, quite good, both for price and for provenance. You won’t think you’re drinking St.-Julien, but you’ll taste le vrai Haut-Médoc in every sip.
2016 Château Ducluzeau from Listrac (about $28) has been in the capable hands of the Borie family of Ducru-Beaucaillou fame for decades and was long sold in a very charming bottle with a distinctive, old-fashioned label, rather like the Bories themselves, if I may say! The wine was always excellent, especially for a Listrac and especially for such a price. It helped that the grapes were predominantly Merlot and so softened the effects of the notably—I started to say, infamously—tannic Listrac terroir. This vintage is one of the last of the Ducluzeau to be sold under its own name, the Bories having decided to include its produce in a new blend that harkens more to Ducru than Ducluzeau—and which sells for about $10 a bottle more! That said, I love the ‘16 Ducluzeau. Very stylish, like Madame Borie herself, if I might also say.
Few of these, save for the Ducluzeau, will make you stand up and cheer, but most any could well serve as your house red. They are all surely bargains.
Of course, you’ll never remember the names of all these wines, so take this column with you when next you go to your favorite local retailer and show it to him or her. And if they don’t have the specific wine recommended here that interests you, ask them for their advice. How can you go wrong! Alternatively, you can look these wines up on Wine-Searcher and see in advance if they are available at your local shop—or where else they might be available locally.
Santé!