2022 Clos la Coutale - Malbec Cahors

Tour St. Bonnet is located in Northern part of the Medoc (north of St. Estephe). One of the Médoc’s most reliable overachievers, Château Tour St. Bonnet has been under the stewardship of the Lafon family since the 17th century. The vineyards, planted predominantly to Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon with touches of Petit Verdot and Malbec, lie on gravelly soils just north of Saint-Estèphe — prime Left Bank terroir without the lofty price tag.

The 2016 vintage in Bordeaux is already the stuff of legend, and Tour St. Bonnet shows it in spades: deep cassis, graphite, and tobacco leaf framed by supple yet persistent tannins. Unlike many of its neighbors, the wine is aged in traditional large oak foudres rather than small barriques, which preserves purity of fruit and a true expression of terroir.

A classic Cru Bourgeois: structured, honest, and built to drink beautifully now or evolve gracefully over the next decade.

For this over-delivering Beaujolais-Villages, Jean sources organic grapes from excellent parcels around his village of Villié-Morgon as well as Lancié, Saint-Amour, and Saint-Étienne-la-Varenne, and ages the wine through an extended élevage more akin to that of his renowned Morgons than to other regional bottlings. Accordingly, the wine evolves slowly, becoming more poised and complete. Evoking pomegranate, rhubarb, and black tea, the result is a beautiful initiation to Jean’s house style, distinguished by a mesmerizing tension between depth, density, silkiness, and elegance.

-Importer notes (Kermit Lynch)

Phil "discovered" this wine in a chance meeting at the Air France lounge in Bordeaux! This blend of 70% Sauvignon blanc, 20% Sémillon, 10% Muscadelle is a textbook white Bordeaux that is wonderfully crisp and jut plain fun to drink. Fun fact: Hubert De Boüard (owner of Chateau Angelus in St. Emilion) consults on this wine!

Clos des Briords is located on the hillsides of the river Maine, a tributary of the Loire. The site totals 4.40 hectares and the vines were planted between 1950 and 1989, with the vast majority between 50 and 70 years old. These are the oldest vines of the estate and planted on soils of "granite de Thébaud"