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Posts Tagged ‘Chateau Alcée’

Bordeaux 2023: Côtes de Bordeaux

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

The Grand Cercle always organise a very professional press tasting at Château de la Dauphine in Fronsac. It’s a great opportunity to taste the breadth of the wines made across Bordeaux, especially on the right bank. Amongst the Côtes de Bordeaux tasted with such a wide variety of terroirs [Blaye, Cadillac, Castillon and Francs] and approaches to winemaking, unsurprisingly there was heterogeneity. The most impressive 2023s for me at the Grand Cercle event from Castillon were Château Côte Montpezat, Château Veyry and Clos Puy Arnaud. Tasted elsewhere Château Alcée and Château d’Aiguilhe where also very good from Castillon. In Francs, Château La Prade and Château Puygueraud were excellent. Château de Haut Coulon looked good in Cadillac. Outside of these other 2023 Côtes de Bordeaux often felt lean and a little angular. These probably will flesh out during élevage, so it would be important to taste these wines again down the track once they are bottled.

Bordeaux 2023: Château Larcis Ducasse, Château Pavie Macquin and the Thienpont wines

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

“The source may be beautiful, but the true beauty lies in the accomplishment.” It’s the quote that starts Nicolas Thienpont’s 2023 vintage booklet. Often primeur guides are full of hot air but in this case his statement couldn’t be more deserved. Thienpont, who has been making wine on the right bank for forty years, knows the lie of the land here probably better than anyone and he has been giving expression to its varied terroirs with a gentle but guiding hand. He and his team [son Cyrille, winemaker David Suire and consultant Stéphane Derenoncourt] look after the winegrowing and winemaking at Château Larcis Ducasse and Château Pavie Macquin. Nicolas and Cyrille also run the over-achieving Thienpont family properties in Castillon [Château Alcée] and in Francs [Château Charmes Godard, Château Puygueraud and Château La Prade]. If there’s a common characteristic to all these wines, it is the quest for purity, a kind of generous purity, and that’s Thienpont’s touch. So, what’s the take here on the 2023 vintage in Bordeaux’s right bank and just how good are the wines?

Bordeaux 2023 Primeurs – First Thoughts

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

What a difference a year makes. Bordeaux 2023 is stylistically light years apart from 2022. That generalisation is based in this case on tasting a hundred or so wines really centred on St Emilion in late April. Yes there is freshness, energy and drive to the nascent wines – they are perhaps more quintessential ‘Bordeaux’ in style than some recent vintages – but there is also heterogeneity. There is not the richness or mid palate weight of the 2022 vintage, or the evenness in quality, but the best wines from St Emilion and Bordeaux’s right bank show brightness and purity in 2023. The difference largely comes down to the weather. The 2023 growing season presented plenty of challenges across Bordeaux. A generally warm and humid year for much of the vegetative cycle, these conditions lead to considerable mildew pressure in the vineyards, challenges that required constant vigilance and affected some properties more than others. While high summer was warm it wasn’t hugely sunny. There were storms in June and there wasn’t the major water deficit that defines the exceptional years. That said there were some heat spikes and as the later growing season progressed the weather became drier, hotter and much sunnier and the vintage was harvested in generally dry, very good conditions. Overall though this is not a solar vintage like 2022 or 2018, and this might be something a relief for some consumers, with the wines perhaps truer to their terroirs and types.

Bordeaux 2020: Côtes de Bordeaux

Written by JW. Posted in Bordeaux

If there is genuine excitement to be had in Bordeaux 2020, that is, excitement above the wines made in 2018 and 2019 here, then it probably lies in the wines of the right bank, and starts with the Côtes de Bordeaux appellations, especially those on limestone and clay limestone soils, such as Francs and Castillon. I was super impressed by the quality of some of the wines from the latter appellation especially [and also in Fronsac too – more on that appellation shortly]. Château Alcée, L’Aurage, Château Le Rey and Clos Puy Arnaud are simply knockout in Castillon in 2020. Château Ampélia and Château La Brande are also very impressive and close behind in quality. Château Puygueraud in Francs is very good and in the Côtes de Bourg, Roc de Cambes is a wonder.

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