WEEKLY FLIGHT 7/29 through 7/31/2021 - Bordeaux on a budget!

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  • By Mark Meissner
WEEKLY FLIGHT 7/29 through 7/31/2021 - Bordeaux on a budget!

Greetings!
 
Starting tonight, we will be pouring four brilliant bottles of Bordeaux, which offer great value for money. Bordeaux was my first love (before I discovered Burgundy) and we're finding it more and more challenging to curate both Grand Cru and Cru Bourgeois-level quality without breaking the bank. The root causes are driven by a supply chain in disarray and the 'hangover' effect of the french wine tariffs imposed last year. These recent impacts however are dwarfed by the fundamental demand for Bordeaux around the wine globe.
 
So this week, join us as we take you on a tour from St. Emilion, to Graves and then up the Left Bank to Pauillac and St. Estephe. It's a really fun tour of producers with attractive very bottle prices ranging from $34 to $47. Yes, it's true. And the flight will set you back $24. Join us for 'Bordeaux on a Budget!'
 
And if you missed last week's big real estate announcement, here are the links from both the exclusive Charlotte Biz Journal and the Observer's Charlotte Five story. Stay tuned for periodic updates and more exciting posts as we take you on the journey to 4001 PARK ROAD next SUMMER (2022).!
 
The tasting room will be closed Saturday night, starting at 5pm, for a private event, thank you for understanding.
 
Here are some of our upcoming tasting room events, please make note!
 
  • BORDEAUX-ON-A-BUDGET JULY 29-31
  • HOOPES VINTNER VISIT WITH LINDSAY HOOPES! FRI, AUG 6TH
LIMITED $25 (all-inclusive, online only) TICKETS AVAIL HERE AND MORE AT BOTTOM...
 
  • SUMMER SIPPIN' - FRI AUG 13TH MARK THE DATE, TIX AVAIL SOON!
  • ST. INNOCENT OREGON PRODUCER FLIGHT AUG 19-21
 
Come taste with us anytime Thursdays and Fridays from 5pm to 7:30pm and all day Saturday afternoons. It's always changing every week as we focus on regions, grapes and producers to further your own personal wine journey.
 
With much gratitude,
Mark
 
 
This weekend's flight:
BORDEAUX ON A BUDGET!
Flight of 4 wines: $24 tasting
THURS & FRIDAY 5-7:30pm
AND Saturday 12-5pm (We are closed SAT eve @5pm for a private event)
 
Bordeaux on a Budget...
 
Can that be true? Join us as we meander from the Right Bank, through Graves and the Medoc, bringing you four brilliant estate wines for under $50/bottle!
 
Here's the lineup:
 
Chateau Puy Blanquet St.-Emilion Grand Cru 2018 - $47
 
Château Respide-Medeville Graves Rouge 2017 - $34
 
Château de Grand-Puy Ducasse Dauphin Pauillac 2015 - $45
 
Chateau Lilian Ladouys St-Estephe 2015 - $45
 
Flight of 4 - $24
 
 
 
Chateau Puy Blanquet
St.-Emilion Grand Cru 2018
$47/btl
 
 
Deeply colored, the 2018 Château Puy-Blanquet checks in as 85% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon from a 20-hectare parcel of clay and limestone soils.
 
Beautifully ripe and sexy, with a massive bouquet of blackcurrants, macerated black cherries, and smoked earth, it's full-bodied, opulent, and layered on the palate, with serious fruit. This brilliant wine will be approachable in its youth yet also evolve gracefully for another decade or more. An incredible value.
 
This is a sleeper Grand Cru estate from just outside the village of St.Emilion on the Right Bank.
 
 
 
 
Château Respide-Medeville Graves Rouge 2017
$34/btl
 
Julie and Xavier Gonet-Medeville both hail from storied winemaking families. Julie’s family is famous for its incomparable Chateau Gilette, and Xavier comes from a long line of Champagne growers in Le Mesnil. Leading a new generation of winemakers, they bring their family knowledge, methods and passion to the many wines they now make together.
 
Julie's father, Christian Medeville, integrated Chateau Respide-Medeville, in the heart of the Graves region of Bordeaux, into the family estate in 1959. Today, his daughter and her husband coax great Graves Blanc and Rouge from the sandy, gravelly clay soil, allowing the purity of the fruit to shine through. Here, the gravel soils define the terroir.
 
Fresh and forward, with a polished edge to the red currant, cherry and damson plum notes. The sleek finish lets a black tea accent linger.
 
If you don't know the Graves region, you are in a for a treat here!
 
 
 
Château de Grand-Puy Ducasse Dauphin Pauillac 2015
$45/btl
 
Imagine getting to drink a red Bordeaux from a classified-growth producer in Pauillac, from one of the finest vintages of this millennium for $45?!
 
That's just what the "Dauphin" from Grand-Puy Ducasse provides. This blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot comes from the estate's younger vines (20 years old) and is aged for a full 16 to 18 months.
 
You feel the warmth of the 2015 vintage here, it drinks delightfully well now. Think dried red cherry, anise, thyme and a cocoa dusting. Lace the aromas with smoked cedar plank and bright molasses and it all should come together for you. This intense, harmonious, medium-bodied Bordeaux is ready for your enjoyment.
 
The powerhouse left bank appellation of PAUILLAC and this 2nd label from Grand Puy Ducasse absolutely shines.
 
 
 
 
Chateau Lilian Ladouys
St-Estephe 2015
$45/btl
 
This 2015 vintage shows its splendor again. A deep garnet color with magnificent purple tints, this wine reveals fresh aromas of peppermint along with sweet orange peels and cocoa notes.
 
Fragrances of white flowers, blueberry, light vanilla and Mirabelle plum compote explode from the glass. The ample and rich attack, develops raspberry and cedar aromas. The wine exhibits a chalky tannin texture, given by the clay and limestone bedrocks where Chateau Lilian Ladouys' Merlots marvelously blossom is followed by a fresh and velvety finish.
 
Medium to full bodied, the fine tannins and bright finish shows focus and beauty.
 
A blend of 62% Merlot, 33% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc, the 2015 Château Lilian Ladouys is a serious Saint-Estèphe that shines in the Médoc. This northern Left Bank bottle is graceful and will drink beautifully for another decade or more.