Beautiful Reds from Bordeaux’s Humble “Châteaux”
by Tom Wolf
Tasting through these characterful cuvées, you will realize that vibrant, terroir-driven wines from small family domaines are just as essential—if not more—to Bordeaux’s identity as those imposing, picture-book châteaux.
Tasting through these characterful cuvées, you will realize that vibrant, terroir-driven wines from small family domaines are just as essential—if not more—to Bordeaux’s identity as those imposing, picture-book châteaux.
Beautiful Reds from Bordeaux’s Humble “Châteaux”
by Tom Wolf
If you travel to any of the right-bank properties featured in this collection, hoping to see grand castles, you will be disappointed. “Château” features in the names of most Bordelais estates, but the more agrarian, less aristocratic “domaine” would be more helpful in understanding the work and lifestyles of the vignerons at Gombaude-Guillot, Bellevue, Belles-Graves, and Moulin/Haut-Lariveau, who for years have been on the vanguard of progressive, organic agriculture, which is still uncommon in this renowned region. They are focused, above all else, on agriculture and making Merlot-based reds that speak to their specific terroirs.
This collection features some older and some newer vintages from the families behind these four domaines across the five appellations they represent. Although all lie within a mere twenty-mile radius, each bottling diverges from the next. They range from Gombaude-Guillot’s classic, mineral, and generous Pomerol, with notes of black currant, truffle, and cocoa, to Château de Bellevue’s chiseled, restrained, age-worthy Lussac Saint-Emilion, which evokes bright, red berries and might be the value of the decade. Even the two Fronsacs from the Hubau family are entirely distinct from each other—the 2015 offering a more traditional taste of the appellation and the 2017 Piverts bottling a more raw, fun, and revolutionary expression of Fronsac! Tasting through these characterful cuvées, you will realize why vibrant, terroir-driven wines from small family domaines are just as essential—if not more—to Bordeaux’s identity as those imposing, picture-book châteaux.
Wines In The Collection
Château Gombaude-Guillot France | Bordeaux
Rich, velvety texture and vivid fruit, suggesting blackberry and plum with an almost wild intensity.
France | Bordeaux
This 2011, sourced straight from the Château, is everything you would expect from an aged Bordeaux of this pedigree. At a perfect stage of its evolution, it offers a striking aroma of spice, woodsmoke, earth, and enduring notes of dark Merlot fruit.
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