Meyney 2003 - supreme value mid-range drinking

I just picked up half a case of this, best scores for the Chateau ever by Jancis. 

I've had it once and it was very very good. The 2010 is also staggeringly good already. But is already £45 a bottle here in UK.

Seems like quite a bit left around, at around £30 a bottle. 

I swapped it for a 15 minute speaking gig ten mins from home. Seemed like a better deal than the cash.

Here's what Jancis has to say: 

Ch Meyney 2003 St-Estèphe

13 Oct 2010 by JR

Date tasted	01 Oct 2010
Producer	Ch Meyney
Appellation	St-Estèphe
Vintage	2003
Region	Bordeaux
Country	France
Score	17
Colour	Red
Alcohol
When to drink	2010 to 2020
Published	13 Oct 2010
Reviewer	JR

Dark crimson. Translucent and appetising and so delicate and ethereal! Quite exceptional. So lifted. Very well done, lots of fruit there. Even if not that much density. (Average group score: 16.8)

Good short summary of how the Cru Bourgeois system works

This from a Forbes food and wine writer, Katie Bell:

"The short history goes something like this: in 1932, the Bordeaux wine brokers designated 444 wines as Crus Bourgeois.

In 2003, the first official classification of the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc was established and included 247 châteaus out of 490 candidates. 

Several châteaus (excluded from the classification) deemed this as unfair. The classification was annulled in 2007 and then, lo and behold everyone came to some agreement on things and in 2009 a Crus Bourgeois du Médoc Official Selection process was implemented.

Now, in order to be designated as Cru Bourgeois a wine must be evaluated each year by a select panel. Some wines don’t make the cut, but they are welcome to try for the following year."

The full article is here.

Bel Air Lagrave 1989: Bargain vintage drinking

I picked up an end of line bottle of this, the 1989 Bel Air Lagrave, back in April in Vienna.

I paid about 20-30 Euros for it. No more.

For the money it's really excellent value if you like aged Bordeaux wines from the Graves.

I thought it was drinking perfectly. Plenty of spicy black fruit left, (typical Graves in that regard) but with that forest floor / mushroom ageing thing, that adds so much to aged Bordeaux wines.

The Telegraph website here in the UK has it for £34 a bottle.

I'm not sure you can get a 23 year old Bordeaux wine that's drinking so well at a better price, even in the inflated UK market.

If there is, I'd love to hear about it. I just bought a magnum of Cantelys 1999 for about £45. That might qualify but it's so much younger the comparison wouldn't be fair I suppose. I will report back on the Cantelys in due course.

It's hard to keep up with who is still in, or out of, the Cru Bourgeois classification these days/each year. But this is a little gem that deserves to be there if the other years are anything like this one.

A guide to good value 2009 Bordeaux

 2009 was a year for high quality Saint-Estèphe wines, due, as usual, to the combination favourable weather conditions and geographical location of that region of the left bank of Bordeaux.

That's according to this article by Panos Kakaviatos, who says that these are the good value 2009 Cru Bourgeois to keep an eye out for:

Recommended Crus Bourgeois:
In its own class: Château Sociando-Mallet (Haut-Médoc)

Other excellent wines:

Château Bernadotte (Haut-Médoc)
Château Le Boscq (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Chasse-Spleen (Moulis)
Château Clauzet (Saint-Estèphe)
Château de Gironville (Haut-Médoc)
Château Haut-Bages Monpelou (Pauillac)
Château Haut-Marbuzet (Saint-Estèphe)
Château La Haye (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Le Crock (Saint-Estèphe)
Château de Pez (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Lilian Ladouys (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Pibran (Pauillac)
Château Pontac-Lynch (Margaux)
Château Poujeaux (Moulis)
Château Phélan Ségur (Saint-Estèphe)
Château Preuillac (Médoc)

Top three in a blind tasting were apparently: "Château La Haye (about $30 retail) in first place, Château Clauzet ($20 retail) in second and Château Haut-Marbuzet ($45) third."

Haut Beausejour 2003: Typically wonderful Saint Estephe at only £20-25

The Haut Beausejour 2003 is a little cracker. At only £20 or so a bottle it represents excellent value as a Saint Estephe wine and a Cru Bourgeois to boot.

I had it at a favourite place of mine in London, Planet of the Grapes.

The 2003 is typical of the year and the region. Big fruity flavours, but with the superb lingering mineral complexity of Saint Estephe's terroir that other Cabernet-Sauvignon wines of a similar ilk often lack.

Get some, before I and all my wine loving friends drink what's left out there. It's hard to find online, but it will be there somewhere...

On Wine Searcher it's scoring 85-90. That's about right. I'd give it an 88, which for the price, you will struggle to beat.