Description
Château Bellegrave du Poujeau 2019, from the Haut-Médoc. Cru Bourgeois since 1932. NEW TO TOB
50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, balance is Merlot.
This is without a doubt the highest quality Haut-Médoc I’ve ever tasted, let alone imported. Most Haut-Médoc estates are vast but Ch. Bellegrave du Poujeau is a 4-hectare vine-garden, situated right next to legendary neighbours Château La Lagune, and is handmade from the vine to the bottle by proprietor Jean-Pierre Cantelaube. Maybe because 2019 was a lighthouse vintage, or maybe because of the unique geography of Bellegrave du Poujeau and its high proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine achieves a spectacular balance of complete flavour ripeness with relatively low alcohol levels (12.5% on the label, but 12.26% in the actual lab analysis). The aromatics are quintessential Bordeaux: cassis, mint-chocolate, bay leaves and cigar box, oak and vanilla, but it is the palate that makes this such a genuinely great wine with its tight medium-body, juicy-savoury bite, firm but molten tannins, and a lingering, satisfying drinkability that can only be from Bordeaux. It doesn’t cost the Earth, but this will develop wonderfully with age if you can be self-disciplined enough not to drink it in its delectable youth, tempting though that may well be. Classic Claret.
Drink now to 2035+
