Bloggers and Wine Writers Admire Chateau Haut Peyrous Rouge

DiscoverVin have had three recent reviews by Australian wine bloggers.  

Chateau Haut Peyrous-Retour de Palombières  Rouge 2008 from Graves in Bordeaux has received positive accolades from three popular writers.

 

Jesse Lewis from Perth writes about music, photography and "booze" including wine in his blog  Sealed with Wax.

Companion to the Graves Blanc reviewed last week. 65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Cabernet Franc. Those figures must be rounded up because there’s a tiny amount of Malbec and Petit Verdot as well.

Laid back and confident, it sports aromas of red plum, pencil shavings, redcurrant jelly and a light touch of gravy/meat juices. Again, restrained on the palate. This is not overripe or a concentrated wine. Not lacking in flavour either. There’s a minerality which leans towards ironstone and a coffee & tobacco-like finish that’s structured with enough tannins to support short-mid term cellaring.

Just what I felt like drinking tonight – nothing too bold or weak. A solid mid-weight red.

Very Good / 89 points

Closure: Cork

Source: Sample

Price: $38.50

Sean Mitchell writes independent wine reviews on his blog The Grape Observer.

Image from The Grape Observer

Chateau Haut-Peyrous is a blend of 65% merlot, 20% cabernet sauvignon and 15% cabernet franc rounded out with dashes of petit verdot and malbec.  It presents as a classic left bank style of Bordeaux, with aromatics of cedar, cigar box and tobacco.  Dry and balanced, the palate initially showed a firm, almost minerally acid line, and settled to nuanced expressions of red and black fruits, tobacco and cigar box.  This is a well made Graves wine with a medium to long finish that will reward drinking now, and over the next five years.  Good

Abv: 13%
Price: $38.50
Source: sample
Vendors: Check http://www.discovervin.com.au/
Website: http://vinsdegraves.com/chateau/château-haut-peyrous
Tasted: 2013

1st July

Gary Walsh writes for the independent review site The Wine Front.

Posted on 03 July 2013.

Merlot (65%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), Cabernet Franc (15%) and small amount Petit Verdot and Malbec. Importer: DiscoverVin

Malty and meaty, plum and redcurrant, some earth and cedar. Medium bodied, gravelly and earthy with well rounded tannin, though they’re on the edge of being too drying for the volume of fruit. Glassy acidity on the finish. Pretty good.  

A pigeonnier - Retour de Palombiéres

Rated : 89 Points
Tasted : Jul13
Alcohol : 13%
Price : $38
Closure : Cork
Drink : 2013 - 2016+

Retour de Palombières refers to pigeons returning to the vineyard.  Many vineyards in Graves will have pigeonniers built in the middle of the vineyards.  The pigeons return here and help fertilize the vineyard and prey on insects.

Grape Observer Reviews

Sean Mitchell writes an independent wine review blog The Grape Observer

Throughout January,  Sean has posted four reviews for Bordeaux wines imported by DiscoverVin.   DiscoverVin aims to share good value, unique and quality wines with Australian wine consumers.  In his the reviews Sean is excited to see wines from the great 2009 vintage making their way to Australia.  He also makes the point that each of the wines reviewed offer good value for money.  The wines reviewed were

1. Les Tourelles de Longueville 2007

2. Chateau Haut-Vigneau Pessac Leognan 2009

3. Amiral de Beycheville St Julien 2008

4. Chateau Lagarde Saint Emillion

The reviews are shared below.

Les Tourelles de Longueville 2007

Les Tourelles de Longueville is a long-standing favourite of mine, being more keenly priced than its illustrious sibling, the routinely outstanding Chateau Baron-Pichon-Longueville.  This second label can also be frustratingly hard to find in Australia.  Nonetheless, it is still not cheap at $78 (its pedigree seeing to that), and is also from a lesser Bordeaux year in 2007, a vintage that I have been frequently critical of, with few exceptions.  Happily for my afternoon, however, the wine delivered and joined my short list of good Bordeaux from 2007.  As they say, in bad years, follow good producers.  This is a good producer.  One of the best perhaps.

A quick smell of the cork, and I knew the wine would be good.  Blackcurrants mainly.  Then mixed herbs and bouquet garnis emerged by way of aroma, immediately speaking of the cooler season.  With time in the glass, the aroma resolved to ripe red currants, and then, finally, the blackcurrants emerged again from their slumber and stayed.  The palate proved more forthcoming, with some trademark "Baron" length (around 10-15 seconds), blackcurrants and medium tannins.  What I do recommend with this wine is to decant it.  After 30 minutes or so, it really opened up, and is an excellent example of the 2007 vintage.  89-90 points.

Abv: 13%
Price: $78
Source: sample
Website: http://www.pichonlongueville.com/ (importer's website: http://www.discovervin.com.au)
Tasted: January 2012

 

Chateau Haut-Vigneau Pessac-Leognan 2009

Much has been written on the 2009 Bordeaux vintage, it being largely universally regarded as among the great Bordeaux vintages.  This too from a decade in Bordeaux that has already seen a number of already outstanding vintages (2000, 2001, 2003 (for some producers) and 2005).  I am therefore somewhat excited to see some 2009s starting to find their way to Australian shores.  This wine did not disappoint.

The 2009 vintage of Chateau Haut-Vigneau presents itself as a typical Graves wine in many respects, and is a blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon and 40% merlot.  Ruby in colour, the wine opens to a medium-pronounced intensity expression of blackcurrant, cigar box, black cherry and a sprinkling of popcorn kernels.  On the palate, the depth of the vintage becomes apparent - a mouth filling full bodied wine with medium length, forward black fruits, tobacco, and medium tannins and acidity.  It immediately drank well, yet with time, I liked it even more.  This is a very good wine, happily also at a very fair price.  89-90 points

Abv: 13.5%
Price: $38
Source: sample
Website: http://www.hautvigneau.com/ (importer: http://www.discovervin.com.au/)
Tasted: January 2012

 

Amiral de Beychevelle 2008

Amiral de Beychevelle is the second wine of the distinctively labelled and well known Saint-Julien estate, Chateau Beychevelle.  In 2008, in the Amiral de Beychevelle, this estate has fashioned a very good and classic Bordeaux left-bank wine, a blend of 62% cabernet sauvignon, 31% merlot, 5% cabernet franc and 2% petit verdot.  My long held view has been that the second wines of the great Bordeaux estates produce good value wines that often closely resemble their more expensive siblings.  They are, however, not always easy to find in Australia.

The specifics?  The 2008 vintage is ruby in colour with a medium to pronounced level of colour saturation.  It opens to a classic medium intensity aroma of blackcurrant and cigar box.  On the palate, this is a classicly proportioned wine, with evident tannins, enjoyable length, medium acidity and blackcurrant flavours.  In a word, "classy".  Drink over the next 10 years.  89 points

Abv: 14%

Price: $78

Source: sample

Website: http://www.beychevelle.com/ (importer: http://www.discovervin.com.au/)

Tasted: January 2012

Chateau Lagarde Saint-Emilion 2009

The 2009 vintage of Chateau Lagarde is a lovely Saint-Emilion wine that is particularly good value.  It is a blend of 73% merlot, 25% cabernet franc, and 2% malbec, the classic right-bank Bordeaux blend that few Australian producers have managed as yet to do well.  The grapes are harvested by hand.

Ruby in colour, the wine has a medium intensity aroma of bright red plums, spices, tobacco and herbs, and a youthful jube fruit like note.  On the palate, the wine rises above its price point, revealing medium length, medium-high acidity, spices, medium tannins, brightly flavoured red currants, and a touch of Christmas cake that I often taste in Saint-Emilion wines.  In short, this is a keenly priced and lovely wine that is drinking well now, and I see no reason why it will not continue to do so over the next 5 years or so.  87-88 points

Abv: 13%
Price: $29.90
Source: sample
Website: http://www.discovervin.com.au/ (importer)
Tasted: January 2012 

WINE OF THE WEEK Chateau Saint Go, Saint Mont

 

Huon Hooke gives the Tannat/Cabernet blend from Chateau Saint Go in Saint Mont 93/100.

DiscoverVin are excited to read that a wine from historic Saint Mont where  Tannat grapes have been grown for centuries and with a recently re-invigorated wine making practices is described as modern wine.

Le Guide Hachette des Vins - The Hachette Guide to French Wines 2011

This is described as the French wine bible.  It provides a thorough and current guide to French wine.  Usually only one wine per producer is reviewed, but occasionally a second wine is referred to within the review. Incredibly the guide is never “updated”.  It is rewritten each year from current tastings of the last vintage bottled. 

The 2012 Guide has just been released.  For the 2011 Guide  36,000 wines were tasted and 10,000 of those were included in the Guide.  The “jury” – a team of wine professionals from around the world, taste each wine blind and describe it in terms of colour, aroma and taste and then scored from 0-5.  Wines scoring 0 or 1 are not included in the Guide, a 2 leads to inclusion, but a score of 3 is needed to be give a star, 4 for 2 stars and 5 to be given 3 stars.   The ultimate is “un coup de cœur , a heart, of which there are 471 in the current edition.

The Guide Hachette provides ample information on each of the wines reviewed: producer, vintage, region, vineyard area, number of bottles produced, use of barrels or vats, price and value for money, when to drink or keep past vintages and which years were exceptional.

Information in the 2011 entry for DiscoverVin’s supplier Domaine du Crampilh is very comprehensive. The review for the 2007 Vielles Vignes tells the reader that there are 3 hectares of vines. 8,000 bottles and the wine is made in oak barrels. Domaine de Crampilh’s entry is found in the Madiran section of the South-West chapter.  Visitors are welcome for tastings and wine can be purchased at the winery.  The translation of the description of the wine itself is evocative.

This Madiran of pure Tannat stored for in oak barrels for ten months, is adorned with a cherry color, a fruit that can also be smelt, along with smoky and spicy scents. The mouth, balanced, supported by fine tannins, offering flesh, volume and flexibility. Qualities that can be assessed with a meal of duck with olives.  To be drunk over the next five years.

The contact details and opportunities for cellar door visits for each producer are included at the end of each entry.  There is plenty of information is provided for anyone interested in wine tourism such as the presence of a gîte or chamber d’hôte and their price range. New to the 2011 Guide is a chapter with reviews of wine bars and restaurants by region.

Entries are classified by region, but with four different indexes (appellation, commune, producer, wine name) information is easy to locate.  The guide provides an excellent notes on each region with the first chapter providing an overview of what’s been happening, region-by-region, in the French wine industry in the past year.  The first chapters explain how to buy and keep wine, the wine making process and how to taste and serve wine.  It really is a wine lovers bible!

Yet another media review of Cahors, Madiran and Jurançon exclusive to Discovervin

The team at DiscoverVin is thrilled to receive more favourable reviews of our wines. We know that we have good value, interesting wines on offer. We love it  when experienced wine professionals validate that view. Below we have reprinted a review by Kerry Skinner, Assistant Editor (Special Publications and Letters), Weekend Editor and Wine Writer for the Illawarra Mercury, writing in the Illawarra Mercury Weekender August 11, 2011:

These wines are exclusive to Discovervin. Click here to go to our online  shop.