Bordeaux
by Jane Augustine
2011 Canon-Fronsac
France | Bordeaux
If a fruit-forward Merlot from Bordeaux is what you’re after, keep searching. This chiseled and mature Canon Fronsac will defy your expectations for a few reasons. For one, at thirteen years old, its brambly berry notes are but a memory of its youth. They have evolved and taken on a woodsier sophistication of shady underbrush, violet, and nutmeg. Furthermore, the soil here is atypical for the region. Grapes grow on calcareous hills, not in clay and gravel, which is most common in the Left Bank; that means this bottling leans to the mineral side, with graphite-like tannins. Lastly, in the case of a “natural” Bordeaux like this, the hand of the grower is as important to our understanding of its sense of place as the soil, grape variety, or any other component we use to contextualize a wine. Grégoire and Bénédicte Hubau are boho bon vivants, and the charm and ease they exude in person show up in the glass. I recommend decanting this bottle to allow its supple, generous personality to shine.
2021 Bordeaux Sec “Les Clous”
France | Bordeaux
It’s easy to forget that Daniel and Valérie Alibrand are Sauternes producers first and foremost, since they’re constantly surprising us with new and unexpected cuvées of racy white wines, like Les Clous. In 2005 they boldly decided to embark on the unknowable journey of making organic wine in an area well known for its challenging climatic conditions—ones that in a good year lead to the noble rot necessary to make fine botrytized wine. When the vintage cooperates, their Sauternes are otherworldly: salty, luscious, long, and savory. In most years, however, disease pressure is high, and since they are not willing to compromise their vineyard practices, they pivot or, in a way, pirouette their way into making vividly aromatic whites. Les Clous epitomizes a nervy, age-worthy wine; it smells remarkably like top-notch Chablis, but on the palate hints at cool and tropical fruits like melon, lychee, and lime. Taut and alluring, it’s made from the most seductive raw material: old-vine Sémillon grown on a stony Bordelais terroir.
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