Driving to Clos Manou at Saint Christoly Médoc always reminds me of that bit
in C S Lewis’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader where they sail to the edge of the
earth. Leaving the city of Bordeaux behind, you pass the commune of Margaux,
then St Estèphe, the estuary of the Gironde widening on your right. The
elegant buildings grow more sparse, the sky seems to get bigger and you feel
closer to it: the place feels forgotten, in a “here be dragons” kind of way.
Last week I promised to tour a few of the less-known parts of Bordeaux, the
ones in which you might hunt out well-priced wines (not cheap wines, there
is a big difference); and the northern Médoc is one of them. I think of it
as one of Bordeaux’s newer areas because of Robert Parker’s recent anointing
of Ch Sociando-Mallet, and because of Ch Cos d’Estournel’s great enthusiasm
for their new Goulée vineyard (first vintage, 2004), on a gravel hill once
surrounded by water. But that’s not the whole story.
At Clos Manou, they might only have made their first wine in 1998, but they
have the oldest cabernet sauvignon vineyard in Bordeaux – great, gnarled
vines thought to have been planted in the 1850s.
There is a particular flavour to the wines up here. They are broader and less
edgy than reds from farther south. I often find what my mind logs as black
coal-dust and black (as opposed to red) berries, but with a more open,
new-worldy feel. If I were looking for a bordeaux to unite both left (Médoc)
and right (St Émilion et al) bank fans, this is where I’d come.
Viewed on a map, this appears as one of many satellites of St Émilion, with
which it shares a border. The others – Montagne St É, Puisseguin St É;
Lussac St É; St Georges St É – all bask in the reflected glory of the
St Émilion name.
Castillon goes without, so has never been able to command
such lofty prices, for land or wine; but what it does have is a share of the
same limestone ridge. It also has
Stephan von Neipperg, an Errol Flynn lookalike (right down to the
pencil moustache). He has owned
Château d’Aiguilhe, the flagship estate of
the
Côtes de Castillon, since 1998. Its reds represent all that is special
about this area: merlot gives them soft curves, cabernet franc a joyful, red
berry and redcurrant leaf fragrance. In fact, the wines as a whole have a
sumptuous, happy-go-lucky quality more often found in Pomerol than in St
Emilion – and at far more affordable prices. Look out for the second wine of
Château d’Aiguilhe, Seigneurs d’Aiguilhe.
Excellent value can be found in the other neighbouring Côtes de Bordeaux – in
particular Francs (mainly from
Ch Puygueraud, whose second wine, Chateau
Lauriol, I mentioned last week).
There’s another area on this side of the estuary I sometimes like to look at
and that’s
Fronsac (and the superior
Canon Fronsac). Unlike the other wines
I’ve mentioned so far though, these do need a bit of explaining. Notable for
their tannic undertow (they can be quite bitter on a bad day), these wines
might be on the right bank but they appeal more to the more masochistic
palate of the left-bank lover. I like them on a table – you know those times
when you have a savoury dish that demands a wine with some mettle.
Chateau
Haut-Peyrous is a biodynamic and organic producer, with all work since 2008
carried out in accordance with organic production criteria. The soil is
worked mechanically with grass left to grow between rows to encourage microbial
activity. 
