Bordeaux-style Red Blend

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château l’Archange / Saint-Émilion Produced by consultant Pascal Chatonnet, this is basic Saint-Emilion with attitude. Spicy new wood, rich, bitter chocolate flavors and superripe berry fruits are kept in order by the acidity and the dense core of dry tannins.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Taussin / Bordeaux Supérieur This wine is tight and austere. It still shows the smoky wood aging that has left a bitter chocolate character in the wine. It should soften, although it will likely end up lean. The blend is 75% Merlot and 25% Cabernet […]

Country: France / Lestruelle Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Maison Bouey / Bordeaux This wine has a dark chocolate character that shows how it has been extracted, masking the juicy fruits and giving dark, dry tannins. It should soften, although a wine like this should be more about fruit than structure.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Timberlay / Bordeaux Clairet A ripe wine that is almost off dry, this has a ripe cherry character, rich in the mouth and with a full texture. The aftertaste brings out spice and tannins. Bordeaux Clairet lies between rosé and red in color and in […]

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Bel Air / Bordeaux Supérieur This bold, smoky wine has great fruitiness to match the dense, dry structure. It is firm with wood flavors still strongly present. The acidity and the black currant fruits give promise of a well-integrated future.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Lamothe / Côtes de Bordeaux There is high acidity on this black currant-flavored wine. It is light and fruity, with a cool feel and taut texture.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château de Ricaud / Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Bright and juicy, this is a fresh, red-fruited wine, ripe and fragrant. The tannic element is almost an afterthought.

Country: US / Blackbird Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend New York Winery: Silver Thread / Finger Lakes Leafy, brambly notes are prominent against a backdrop of lean red-cherry flavors on this tart, Cabernet Franc-dominant blend. It’s a vibrantly acidic but delicately structured wine with soft, rippling tannins on the finish.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Fombrauge / Saint-Émilion The wood, with its heavy toast and licorice flavors, is dominant. That element makes for a wine that has weight but loses its fruit amid the firm extraction.

Country: France / Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Château Clos de Sarpe / Saint-Émilion Overripe, this seems like an oddly structured wine. The fruit is buried under the wood influence and tannins, which introduce a licorice character.

Country: France / Château Ballan-Larquette Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Bordeaux Winery: Vignobles Chaigne et Fils / Bordeaux Big and powerful tannins give this wine a dry, dense and extracted feel. Black fruits power through the structure, offering a rich experience. No shy violet, this is a wine with considerable concentration and aging potential.

Country: US / Deep River Red Variety: Bordeaux-style Red Blend Washington Winery: Flying Trout / Columbia Valley (WA) A two-vintage blend of Cabernet Franc and Malbec, the Deep River Red has a roasted character that’s dark and flavorful, with notes of cassis, coffee and cacao. It’s full bodied and dense, with notes of graphite and […]