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Red Bordeaux Wine Review: Chateau Lassegue

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Chateau Lassegue 2005 | Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France

chateau-lassegue-st-emilionWow. That’s the initial impression on the nose, which is generous with aromas of numerous black fruits, spices, mineral, and earth tones. I could sit here and smell the wine all day, the fragrance is so lovely — and continuously evolving. Which takes me to a vital point: decant this wine, several times.

At minimum, I recommend “triple decanting,” which means, pour the wine out of the bottle and into a clean, dry, glass vessel — such as a decanter — then pour it into another vessel (or, back into the bottle, using a funnel), then pour it back into the decanter, then repeat the cycle one more time. This back-and-forth effort from one container to the other will aerate the wine, allowing the deep aromas and delicious goodness to begin to emerge.

I say “begin” because this wine is still quite young, despite being eight years “old.” There are many layers to this complex juice, and only a hint of them are showing themselves right now. Generally speaking, I like to drink high quality (read: expensive) wines when they’re younger than most serious enophiles and critics would recommend, but in this case, even I would stash this in a cool cellar for another four or five years — at minimum. I’m certain this wine will continue to develop and mature for 10-15 years at least before it starts a descent.

As with all wines I’ve tasted by winemaker Pierre Seillan, Chateau Lassegue is [Read more…]

Red Wine Review: Murrieta’s Well The Spur

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Murrieta’s Well The Spur 2008 | Livermore Valley, California

Lately I’ve been spending too much time at my very awesome job, commuting, blogging elsewhere, giving baseball lessons, and doing other things in life that take me away from writing here. I took a look at my list of “drafts” and there are now two dozen waiting in the hopper — but, not all are necessarily “ready” by my standards, which is why they’re not yet published. However, I’m going to make an effort to get some of the reviews out — even without much editing — because if I wait any longer you won’t find some of these wines at your retail shop any longer.

So without further ado, herewith a review of Murietta’s Well The Spur, tasted far too long ago and likely tasting even better now.

A Bordeaux blend — 54% Cabernet Sauvignon 23% Petit Verdot 10% Petite Sirah 9% Cabernet Franc 4% Malbec — from California, but I wouldn’t confuse this with a true Bordeaux. The nose is expressive, dominated by chocolatey spice notes and black fruit — plum, cassis, blackberry. In the mouth you get some sweet oak spice upfront, with blackberry, cassis, black raspberry, and plum flavors following. Decent acidity and dry tannins appear in the finish, which also brings in dusted dark chocolate. For me, this was a hard one to match with food because of the sweet oak character, but it’s a nice “cocktail” wine to drink on its own. For me, it profiles similarly to a modern (i.e., American oak-aged) Rioja. At about $20-$25, this is a good deal.

Visit my friend Christopher Null’s site “DrinkHacker” to read a review of Murrieta’s Well The Spur 2009 vintage, which is more likely to be found at your local retailer.

Find this wine locally via Wine-Searcher

NOTE: I received this wine as a sample