When we first introduced Château Chantecler last year, I knew it would be a sensation. After all, this wine’s investment potential is off the charts and the backstory is as compelling as they come. Chantecler is located next door to global icons Lafite-Rothschild and Mouton-Rothschild, dead center of what may be the most valuable vineyard real estate on Earth.
With only one single hectare of vines to farm by hand, Chantecler’s owner/grower/winemaker Yannick Mirande is the last, true small-scale producer in the area and he’s bottling undeniably stellar, five-star Bordeaux. Still, I’ll admit we were not prepared for the swiftness and intensity of the response from subscribers. In a matter of hours, SommSelect’s fastest moving customers wiped out last year’s entire US allocation, leaving many others (and me!) empty handed. So, you can rest assured that we are properly prepared for today’s offer. Today’s 2014 vintage—a year considered particularly strong in Pauillac—is an objectively superior wine with deeper fruit, silkier tannins and even greater cellaring potential. We twisted a few arms this time around and increased our allocation by 25%. It’s still a painfully limited wine that won’t last long, but I’m thrilled that a few more of you will experience its depth, power, and elite terroir. We can offer up to 6 bottles per customer today until our stock runs out. [PLEASE NOTE: This wine is on its way to us directly from its importer and will ship on April 16.]
I said it last year but it bears repeating: Life offers few chances to get in on the ground floor with a rising superstar estate in Bordeaux, let alone Pauillac; in this regard, Château Chantecler is as bankable an investment opportunity as I’ve ever encountered. Pauillac is arguably the single most elite zip code in Bordeaux. The village’s top wines regularly command upwards of $600 per bottle upon release, and for many collectors and sommeliers, they represent the global benchmark for Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated wines. In the entire area of Pauillac cornered by iconic First Growths Château Mouton Rothschild, Château Lafite Rothschild, and “Super Second” Château Pontet-Canet, there is only one parcel—literally one hectare of vines—that still remains in the hands of an independent grower-winemaker. This incomparable intersect of quality, hand-craftsmanship, priceless real estate, and below-market price creates a singular opportunity. Chantecler is a special breed, and this wine belongs in the cellars of all serious Bordeaux collectors.
You may have seen Château Chantecler receiving top honors in a recent
Decanter magazine piece,
“The Last Little Guys of Pauillac.” Yannick Mirande grew up in wine and his family has owned and worked vineyards in Pauillac for many generations. Over the years, the Mirande family assembled a respectable 12-hectare collection of vineyards and were able to earn a living selling their harvest to prestigious neighbors like Mouton and Lafite. In the aftermath of the 2000 “vintage of the century” hysteria, demand for Pauillac fruit skyrocketed and real estate values quickly followed. Yannick’s aunt was unable to resist the temptation of selling almost all the Mirandes’ vines to Mouton Rothschild in 2004. Fortunately, Yannick salvaged the family’s crown jewel, a one-hectare hillside parcel of a Pauillac
lieu-dit, “Plateau de Padarnac,” for himself. Over the next six years, he continued farming and improving his small vineyard, selling fruit to various
cru classé neighbors, and apprenticing while honing his skills in the cellar.
Having made great strides as a winemaker and vigneron, Yannick finally released his first vintage of Château Chantecler in 2010. He bottles only 275 cases of this one cuvée, composed of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. To put that in context, consider that neighboring Mouton ($600/btl), Lafite ($600/btl) and Pontet-Canet ($135/btl) own 676 acres of vines in Pauillac and produce a combined 80,000-85,000 cases of wine each vintage. Mirande farms his small plot of vines using a mix of organic and biodynamic practices. The soil in this hillside site is classic Pauillac gravel, with vines averaging 45 years of age. I was deeply impressed by Yannick’s inaugural 2010 Château Chantecler and furthermore by the visceral power and depth he extracted from the often lackluster 2011 and 2012 vintages. One strong “rookie vintage can be a lucky fluke, but three consecutive releases across a variety of conditions is concrete proof that Yannick knows what he’s doing. Today’s 2014 is the the first vintage since 2010 to offer significant fruit and ripeness and Yannick hasn’t squandered the opportunity!
In 2014, Mirande has hand-crafted yet another Pauillac masterpiece. This wine’s overwhelming sense of power, paired with detailed refinement, is what has makes this particular corner of Pauillac one of the world’s elite vineyard sites. Layers of plump mulberry, plum, and black currant overlap with moist river stone, maduro cigars, cedar and redwood boughs, and Pauillac’s distinct graphite/gunpowder minerality. It’s all here with 2014’s characteristically supple tannins, and a long-echoing finish continues well beyond the last sip. This is a truly stellar, classically styled Pauillac that is built to hold court alongside a butter-basted ribeye with roasted potatoes and creamed spinach. After 45-60 minutes in a decanter, serve today’s wine at 60 degrees in large Bordeaux stems. I can’t stress enough that astute collectors should take advantage of the investment opportunity Château Chantecler offers. Today’s wine will continue to improve for in excess of two decades, and its dollar value will be similarly flattered. So, I’m betting six bottles’ worth of shelf space on the fact that Château Chantecler will be one of Bordeaux’s great success stories of the modern era. I encourage you to do the same!
