Chateau Laroche Joubert 2010

Introducing our new delicious red wine from Chateau Laroche Joubert from the Cotes du Bourg appellation in Bordeaux. This wine had a wow factor in a series of tastings on a recent buying trip to France. 

This wine won a Silver medal in the Paris and Aquitaine wine shows (the proportion of wines receiving medals in French wine shows is lower than Australia so this signifies a very good wine). 

It is an easy drinking merlot blend from the Bordeaux Cotes de Bourg appellation. The vineyards of Bourg face Margaux across the Gironde estuary and offer exceptional quality and excellent value for money.

Château Laroche Joubert, Cotes du Bourg

Year: 2010

Size: 750ml

Located on the heights of the hills of the Cotes du Bourg appellation, the 15 hectares of Laroche Joubert are planted with a majority of merlot vines. The same family has owned the estate since 1795. In 1998 a new manager set about modernising production. Since then it has consistently received awards at various shows and mentions in the Guide Hachette (the French wine review bible).

Terroir:  The vineyards of Laroche Joubert face the Margaux vineyards across the Gironde estuary and produce very good merlot based wines at an excellent price.

Grapes: 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Malbec

Wine making: Long maceration for 3-4 weeks in small temperature controlled vats. Aged for 12 months in oak

Our tasting notes: The expressive nose presents notes of red fruits and plums.

This is a delicious wine, with lovely, plummy fruit and minerality, a good balance and nice tannins. 

Alcohol: 13%

Ready to drink now but will improve with one-three years cellaring.

This is a good value for money Bordeaux wine. It is a good example of what the small producers in Bordeaux can do, especially in good years (such as the 2010 vintage).

More information here online. Trade prices on application. 

2004 Bordeaux drinking at their peak

La Revue du Vin de France is one of France's leading monthly wine magazines. We subscribe to it and love pouring over the pages filled with news, articles and dozens of wine reviews.

The December 2013 edition featured a review of the Bordeaux 2004 vintage with the headline- "They are at their peak, start to drink them!"  

To celebrate we are offering a discount on 2 reds from the 2004 vintage.

Anyone going to the DiscoverVin site from this blog can use code BDX04 for a 15% discount on these wines (minimum order 6 bottles in total- can be 3 or each). Click the links to the wines below. Be quick. Limited stocks.

In summary the article says it was "a generous/good volume harvest but the level of maturity was not optimal. At their birth the 2004 Bordeaux in barrel samples, didn't enthuse the critics. Retasted 10 years later in bottles, it amounted to the following: agreeable/nice reds, disappointing dry whites and premature evolution of the Sauternes". 

After the hot and dry year of 2003, 2004 was cooler and wet. The cool and wet finish to the harvest led to a "level of maturity not always optimal' . It was a late harvest and in many cases the grapes suffered from dilution due to the moisture.

This appears to have been more of an issue for the dry whites and the sauternes which are showing early ageing and need to be consumed if not done so already!

The reds have done better- with the right bank St Émilion and Pomerol, described as "pleasure wines" ready to drink with round, perfumed with typical merlot characteristics but often with firm tannins.

The left bank, prime slow-ripening cabernet terroir, seems to have done best, especially the reds of Pessac-Leognan on the southern outskirts of Bordeaux, and the Reds of the Medoc, stretching along the Gironde estuary to the north of the city.

The 2004 left bank reds are ready to enjoy. They can be kept for several more years without a problem but are currently drinking well. Optimally they would benefit from a couple of hours in a carafe (the oxygen softens the tannins and reinvigorate the fruit).

Similarly the Bordeaux Index after reviewing wines from the 2004 Vintage on March 13 2014, said "In the main these are delicious, bright, medium-bodied and digestible clarets. They have an extremely pleasant aromatic profile, with enough ripeness to accurately show their regional and vineyard characteristics; when the fruit was able to sufficiently ripen and the grapes were delicately and sensitively handled, the palates are also extremely satisfying: soft and seamless but with both a firm tannic structure and balanced acidity. The best examples have a solid weight of fruit on the mid-palate which helps along with the acidity to provide medium to long and often multi-layered finishes. The best of the wines yesterday – which weren’t necessarily the biggest names or most highly prized bottles – were genuinely delicious. They also have the benefit of being, in the main, very good value."

Victoria Moore in the Telegraph (UK) April 2014 also wrote about the value and  the merits of the Bordeaux 2004 vintage compared to recent releases.

DiscoverVin has 2 Bordeaux left bank reds from the 2004 vintage. These are available online or to trade. They are both drinking at their peak as the article suggests. They will last for several years but why wait when one can enjoy mature Bordeaux at its peak!





Chateau Lanessan 2004 
A great value example of the power, finesse and elegance of the Médoc.

The Lanessan vineyard has belonged to a succession of eight generations of the Bouteiller family since the 18th century.  Made up of 45 hectares (111 acres) of vines that form part of a larger 80 hectares (198 acres) estate on one single plot.  The Lanessan vineyard is located in the commune of Cussac-Fort-Médoc, close to Saint-Julien, in the Haut-Médoc appellation area and runs east to west along a fine ridge of deep Garonne gravel.
The average age of the vines is about thirty years.  

Region/Terroir:  Haut Medoc.
Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), Merlot (36%), Petit Verdot (4%).
Soil:  Deep Garonne gravels.
Alcohol:  12.5% VOL
Wine making:  Grapes are picked at optimal ripeness and hand-sorted to ensure only optimal grapes used.  The wine is made in thermo-regulated concrete tanks and aged for 12 months in French oak (⅓ new).
Cellaring potential:  This wine is already drinking at or close to peak. A chance to enjoy aged Bordeaux now, but will last for several more years to come.



Our Tasting notes:  It was such a pleasure to find this parcel of aged Bordeaux.  We bought some of the last remaining cases!  It is a great value example of the power, finesse and elegance of the Médoc.  A classic claret nose with fruit, spice and developed meaty notes.  Luscious mouth filling fruit, good balance and fine softened tannins.  It has a lovely structure and length.

Here’s what the French wine bible, Guide Hachette, said in 2008 about the 2004 vintage, “The sheer length of family tradition since 1793 has built up true expertise in growing wine on Garonne gravel soils. This 2004 is a fine example with its garnet robe and its bouquet that unfolds gently to reveal cooked fruit aromas with spicy hints. Smooth and round on the palate, this wine is recognisably a Haut-Médoc with its nicely extracted, ripe tannins. It all knits well into a harmonious wine that will be at its best in 3 or 4 years’ time.”

Fast forward to 2014 time’s up!  Time to enjoy! 

Legende de la Tour Carnet 2004

Château La Tour Carnet has its origins in the 12th century and is the oldest castle in the Médoc.  It includes a medieval tower built in 1120 and is surrounded by a moat! The vineyard of Château La Tour Carnet has been established in the year 1407!

Legende La Tour Carnet is the second wine from the Château which has had a  resurgence since 2000, when it was purchased by Bernard Magrez.  Vineyard practices have been modernised and consultant winemaker Michel Rolland consults to the winery team.

Reviewed by Regan Drew in Vinonotebook October 2013
"Showing the petticoats under the frock, there’s complex secondary aromas of older leather and tobacco and meat shadowing the black fruits, violets, tomato leaf and tobacco. The palate still long and exquisite. Class. Olives and blackcurrants and savoury lift given from dried herbs. Those rocks..those hot hot rocks under the vines, they’re there too, with a earthy/mineral quality that assists in the palate length. This is a very smart wine that is smack bang at the height of its power."

Region/Terroir:  Haut-Médoc
Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (55%), Merlot (35%), Cabernet Franc (10%).
Soil:  The area is characterized by a land base of strongly calcareous clay covered with a thick layer of serious gunziennes forming the famous "Butte de La Tour Carnet". (We realise that this is probably too much information but, Gunzinennes (or Guntzian gravel), in case you want to know, refers to the large pebbly gravel distinctive to the terroir of Médoc and is well suited to the cabernet grape.  Gunz refers to a glacial geologic period in the Plesitocene era!.  Bottom line - this is a great location to grow grapes!
Alcohol:  13% VOL
Wine making:  Grapes are hand harvested in small crates with the first selection occurring in the vineyard.  The grapes are again sorted by hand, before and after de-stemming. Vinification occurs in stainless steel vats with cold pre-fermentation maceration at 12 °C.  Fermentation occurs at low temperatures (28°C) with maceration occurring over 35-45 days.  Malolactic fermentation occurs in barrels.
Cellaring potential:  Up to 15 years
Our Tasting notes:  We were impressed with this wine in a line up of many wines from the Médoc.  Complex nose of red and black fruits, some minerals and spicey notes. On the palate, rich complex fruit, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, with minerals and tobacco.  Big but soft and integrated tannins.

Anyone going to the site from this blog can use code BDX04 for a 15% discount on these wines (minimum order 6 bottles in total- can be 3 or each)

A (very) long lunch at Melbourne Food and Wine Festival

As part of the 2014 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, it was a great pleasure to collaborate with  Damien, Daniel, Georgie, Lincoln and the team at Van Haandel and Comme to stage a french Long Lunch. The theme of the festival in 2014 was water and we spoke about the influence of the great rivers and Gironde estuary of the Bordeaux region in shaping terroir and the production of premium wines. Some great food and wine was served and everyone seemed to have a great afternoon! 




Luckily the weather was perfect and 85 people came along for this superb food and wine event in Alfred Place.

First up was the entrees: Baked Oysters, leeks, comté gruyere & Vin Jaune; Mussel and saffron soup, fennel, basil; Cassoulet of garlic snails. 

The oysters were washed down with the delicious Grand Bateau Bordeaux Blanc 2012 A semillon/sauvignon blend made by the grand cru team at Chateau Beycheville and given 91 points recently in the Courier Mail in Brisbane.



We then moved onto the ever popular Chateau La Rayre Bergerac Rosé 2012 which was great with the mussel soup and with the cassoulet (and on its own!) . It was a burst of colour and flavour! 



On to a platter of main courses. Squab, grapes, foie gras parfait. Beef, vol au vent, Bordelaise sauce. 2 delicious and inexpensive reds showing off the left and right bank of Bordeaux - Château Senilhac la Prade, 2009 and Château Truquet, 2011. (The Senilhac La Prade has now sold out, but something similar from the same excellent vintage is Chateau Haut-Belian 2009 )

Cheese platters arrived followed by desserts to share- madelines, canelé, lemon curd and cream. Dessert wine was poured- the delightful Chateau Le Pradey 2009 Sainte-Croix-du-Mont just across the Garonne river from Sauternes (but selling for a fraction of the price of Sauternes and Barsac wines).

Surprisingly, nobody was in a hurry to leave! 

For information on upcoming events, sign up for our monthly mailing list at info@discovervin.com.au or keep an eye on our events page.

Chateau Rollan de By 2006 served at Autumn French Dinner

Chateau Rollan de By was the feature wine at the Autumn French Dinner in Sydney.  

Chateau Rollan de By 2006 the perfect Bordeaux red served at the Autumn French Dinner

The wine was served with Rangers Valley Beef Tenderloin, field mushrooms, spinach, Paris Match, jus gras.

Staff from Cordon Bleu cooking school work to present Rangers Valley Beef Tenderloin.

Dinners thought the wine a perfect match for chef Guillaume Brahimi's tender beef.  
Robert Parker's review of the 2006 Chateau Rollan de By provides an evocative description of the wine.
"Sweet cassis fruit, cedar, tobacco leaf, licorice, and subtle smoke aromas are followed by a wine with impressive ripeness, medium body, and a long, lush, evolved, richly fruity finish. Consume this charming, sensual 2006 over the next decade. Good value." Available online.

The secret revealed.  The mystery venue for the Sydney Autumn French dinner was the dining hall at Saint Andrew's College, University of Sydney

most popular wines of 2013 - part 2

Recently we blogged about our top 5 best-selling wines of 2013, featuring a Bordeaux Blanc, 2 rosé wines, a fascinating dry white from the Pyrenées and an excellent value St Émilion.


The top 5 wines were:

1. Chateau de La Bouyere Bordeaux Blanc 2012 $21.50
2. Domaine de la Croix Irresistible AOC Cotes de Provence 2012 $29.90
3. Chateau La Rayre Bergerac Rose 2010 $24.90
4. Chateau Jolys Jurançon sec 2011 $27.75
5. Chateau Lagarde (Saint Émilion) SOLD OUT

Wines 6-10 include 3 reds (Chateau Fontblanche and Chateau Haut-Belian from Bordeaux, Chateau de Saurs from Gaillac ) a great Graves white from a famous French wine and food family (Ch Haut Peyrous)  and our top selling dessert wine (Chateau Jolys Cuvée Jean). 

6. Chateau Fontblanche. 

Now sold out, this was an easy drinking well-priced gold-medal merlot and cabernet blend from Cotes de Bordeaux-Blaye. From the cracking vintage of 2009. If you loved this wine, then you will love its replacement: Chateau Larouche Joubert 2010- a merlot blend for a good producer in Bordeaux Cotes de Bourg again in a very good year-2010.

7. Chateau Haut-Belian 2009.

Another easy drinking red from 2009. We managed to snap up some more stock of this one! 


Château Haut Belian is an 86-hectare estate on the hills between the Dordogne and Garonne Rivers. The vineyards are at one of the highest points of the region.

Region/Terroir:  Bordeaux AOC
Grapes:  Cabernet Sauvignon (30%), Merlot (45%), Cabernet Franc (25%).
Soil:  Clay and limestone.
Alcohol: 13.5% VOL
Wine making: Grapes are slowly and softly harvested by machine. Traditional wine making methods are used, with fermentation occurring at 28°C and with a long maceration.  Malolactic fermentation and ageing are conducted in thermo-regulated stainless steel vats.
Cellaring potential:  Can age 3-4 years, however approachable now.

Our Tasting notes:  Big rich nose.  A good weight with fruit and tannins in balance.  Tannins are smooth and velvety.  A pleasant, round, fruity wine, with some chocolaty notes.  Long and balanced.

This easy drinking red typifies the value for money wines that DiscoverVin is bringing downunder

8.Chateau de Saurs 2010 $24.00 

From an ancient vineyard that has been producing quality grapes for many centuries, premium grapes are now being made into modern, organic and clean wines while retaining characteristics typical of the terroir. Great value for money!
Terroir:  Galliac is a small appellation north of Toulouse. It is considered a rapidly improving region, driven by small independant producers such as Chateau de Saurs.

Grapes:   A blend with  Merlot, Syrah and Braucol in equal measure
Winemaking:  Traditional methods of harvesting and destemming. Harvested by parcels of vines which are pressed in separate vats, and vinified for 8 to 10 days at a maximum 30°C. Regular rotation for optimum extraction of colour, while at the same time preserving aromas. Fermentation takes place over 6 to 8 months in vats, then bottled.


Tasting notes : Chateau de Saurs Rouge Tradition AOC Gaillac red has a deep red ruby-garnet colour, and has a very attractive bouquet of cherries, blackcurrants, with discreet hints of aniseed and cinnamon which are more present at the finish. A balanced, round, elegant wine revealing subtle soft tannins, it charms the palate and would be a good accompaniment to meat and cheese. Great to drink now but would improve with a year or two of cellaring. 
Alcohol: 13.5%

This wine was awarded a Silver medal at the Concours National des Vignerons Independants 2010.

9. Chateau Haut-Peyrous Peche au Carrelet Graves Blanc  $46.20 

The Haut-Peyrous estate is owned by Marc Darroze from the famous Darroze family of Gascony. His aim is to produce wines with lots of personality, by making the most of the quality of the terroir on his estate. That’s why Marc has taken steps in order to obtain certification of his estate as an organic wine producer.  Since June 2008, all work on the estate (soil, treatments) has been carried out in accordance with organic production criteria. Its great that this classy white has made it into the top 10.

Region/Terroir:  Graves

Grapes:  Semillon (75%), Sauvignon Blanc (25%).
Alcohol: 13.5% VOL
Soil:  The surface soil is made up of clay and loamy sand covered with pebbles, typical of this part of the appellation. The subsoil is also composed of sand with clays more or less deep, depending on the parcels.

Wine making:  This wine is made from a blend of Sémillon (75%) and Sauvignon (25%), a portion of which was matured in one-year-old barrels.
Cellaring Potential:  Drink now.

Our Tasting notes:  Lively nose with spice and mineral notes and vanilla from the oak.  Lovely soft and round mouth feel.  Richness and complexity on the back palate and a lovely soft acid backbone.

Also reviewed by Gary Walsh in Winefront 

"Threw this into a tasting of oak worked ‘Graves’ style Margaret River wines of a similar price...Grassy, but flamboyant with plenty of gooseberry and tropical fruit, laced with aniseed and spice. And really, that aniseed is something of a feature. Medium weight, old oranges and savoury wood influence, minerally edges, but all up much quieter to taste than the nose would suggest. Nice wine.
Rated : 90 Points
Tasted : May13 
Drink : 2013 - 2017+ "

And by Sean Mitchell in Grape Observer
"It is yellow to gold in colour, and opens to clean light intensity aromatics of straw, lemon, minerals, wet stones and dried herbs.  The palate, like the blend, is more semillon than sauvignon blanc.  It is dry and quite full bodied, with some depth in its expression of hay, green melon, grass, dried herbs and some notes verging on white peach and honey.  Overall, I think this is a good to very good quality wine due to its concentration and depth of flavour

10 Chateau Jolys Cuvee Jean 750ml $32

This is a great, value-for-money example of the sweet wines of Jurançon-delicious fruit and sweetness but perfectly balanced and without being cloying. 

Region/Terroir: Château Jolys, the largest estate in the Jurançon AOC with its 36 hectares, nestles on the superb hills of Chapelle de Rousse village.
The gentle slopes are exposed South / South-West and form amphitheatres facing the Pyrenees mountains. Soils are chalky and clayey.
Grapes: Cuvee Jean is made from 100% Petit Manseng grapes. The grapes are late harvested using the passerillage method, and the resulting concentration of sugar gives for perfectly healthy, golden and extremely ripe grapes.
Wine making: After total destemming and maceration before fermentation, we keep only the free-run juice to make this wine (juice obtained before pressing), in order to obtain the best of the richness and the aromas of the Petit Manseng grapes. After cold settling, alcoholic fermentation is carried out in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks (at around 20°C so as to preserve the aromas).
Barrel ageing for 9 months in French oak barrels.

Our tasting notes: The nose presents notes of honey, acacia, apricot and peaches. On the palate, after a fresh and round attack, we find the same aromas and complexity as with the nose. The palate is powerful yet smooth - Petit Manseng at it's very best. Fabulous length and balance. This wine, like many from Jurançon, is pleasantly sweet without a cloying finish.
Cuvée Jean can be drunk young or cellared for up 10 years.
It's best served as an aperitif, with foie gras/pate or smoked salmon, and also pairs perfectly with creamy fish and poultry dishes as well as cheese.

We are happy to publish this list of our top 10 wines for 2013. It emphases the rise of dry rosé and then had a nice spread of dry white, a premium dry white, some interesting reds, and a luscious dry white wine from the Pyrenées.

If you are in the trade, this gives you some idea on the wines that could do well in your business. These are wines that our consumers love the most!

Prices listed refer to those on our consumer website. Trade prices/lists are available on application info@discovervn.com.au

Roche-Audran best value Rhone wine in the french press

Prestigious French wine magazine Revue du Vin de France ("French Wine Review") recently reviewed wines from the Côtes du Rhone. 

It named DiscoverVin's new red wine from Roche Audran as one of the best value current release rhone wines in the February 2014 edition. 

The blind tasting was conducted in Avignon in September 2013 and wines from more than 210 wineries were tried and 80 reviews published.

The article pointed to the progress made in the quality of wines produced in the region during the last 20 years. Today it offers "a large palette of wines at sound prices." In fact according to the article's author-Roberto Petronio-the wines of Cotes du Rhone offer "the most beautiful" wines in France at good prices.

Here is the review for the Roche Audran Cotes du Rhone , newly arrived at DiscoverVin . This review was written in French and we have done our best to translate!

"Domaine Roche Audran 

13.5/20

A nice generous vegetable nose which is a beautiful invitation to taste. In the mouth it is the smoothness of the texture which seduces with plenty of savoury material- the fruit is omnipresent. Imagine yourself biting on the skin of a ripe grape (but without excess) and taking in the pulp. Here is a generous and complex wine. A wine from the village of Visan to drink everyday without restraint! "

This particular wine is made with a blend of Grenache (70%), Carignan (15%) and Syrah (Shiraz) 15%. Alcohol 15% Vol. 

This is an up and coming producer producing wine by biodynamic practices. To learn more look here .

This wine is available on-line and is also in a number of stockists. Contact us at info@discovervin.com.au for up-to date information on the restaurant or wine shop near you. Trade prices available info@discovervin.com.au

As always drink in moderation!

Bordeaux Dinner The Bathers Pavilion Balmoral Wednesday March 5th 2014

This is going to be a magical dinner at the Bathers Pavilion at Balmoral Beach, matching the award winning cuisine of Serge Dansereau with some fine Bordeaux wines. Places limited. Call Bathers Pavilion (02) 9969 5050 to reserve.