Château Cantemerle, Haut-Medoc (Bordeaux) 2008

The 2008 Bordeaux will always be lost in the shadows of the 2009 and 2010s, but they still demand serious consideration because of their classic proportions. Château Cantemerle has made a beautiful wine infused with notes of cedar intertwined with red and black fruit surrounded by sweet suave tannins. This is very Bordeaux–not aggressive or overblown. It’s remarkably easy to drink at this stage, but I suspect it will close up over the next several years before the complexity reemerges in a decade or so. So enjoy it now–or be prepared to cellar it.