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Château de Malleret, Haut-Médoc, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur

Other, France 2006 (750mL)
$34.00
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Château de Malleret, Haut-Médoc, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur

When the term “claret” was first applied to wine, it was to describe a light, pale red (having been derived from the Latin word for “clear”). It’s been slang among British wine merchants for centuries, most readily associated with Bordeaux, and its meaning has evolved as the wines have.
These days, Bordeaux reds are far from pale or light, but some wine pros toss “claret” around when they encounter a more angular, savory, medium-bodied Bordeaux—a style that was more the norm a generation ago but has been widely replaced by denser, oakier, more extracted wines. What stood out about this Haut-Médoc 2006 from Château de Malleret—aside from the fact that it’s a perfectly mature 10-year-old Bordeaux for under $35!—was its classical, claret-y styling. Even as its tannins have softened to the texture of velvet, it still has acidity that keeps it lively and drinkable. It’s a spicy, aromatic red with finesse—a handsome and distinguished elder in a youth-obsessed world.
To be able to drink a well-aged wine at this price is such a treat; the vast majority of all wine made worldwide is consumed within a year of its release, so it’s always a good day when we’re not committing vinous infanticide. And when it comes to finding affordable aged wines that are both sound and have something to say, it’s still hard to beat Bordeaux. Long-established, if not always widely known, properties like de Malleret are around every corner. And, relatively speaking, they make a lot of wine—making it more likely that they’ll have a back-vintage library to dip into now and again, as de Malleret has done here.

The actual château of Château de Malleret is a quite spectacular building with some 400 years of wine history in the commune of Le Pian-Médoc, which sits between the city of Bordeaux proper and Margaux. It’s labeled a ‘Cru Bourgeois,’ a classification whose definition was changed in 2010 but exists for quality-oriented properties not included among the First-through-Fifth Growth ranking of the 1855 classification. Its appellation, Haut-Médoc, covers a large swath of Bordeaux Left Bank, especially the communes a little further away from the Gironde River, where soils are a little more mixed. It’s still a terroir with a high percentage of gravel, but there are more clays and sands; at de Malleret the grape mix in their 54 hectares of vineyards is 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot.

This 2006 wine shows nice acidity and balance, especially for the “mixed bag” 2006 vintage, which saw extreme heat in July and excessive rain in September. It still has some deep color, though its dark ruby core is leaning more black than purple and there’s some bricking (to be expected) at the rim. The aromatics are lifted and complex, mixing dark-fruited notes of black cherry, cassis, red currant, and black plum with some of Bordeaux’s most telltale signs of maturity: cedar shavings, cigar wrapper, pencil lead and some perfumy herbal/floral notes (is that the Cab Franc poking through?). On the palate it is deep and silky, the tannins smooth as glass, but there’s enough acidity to keep it from falling flat. The finish is long and aromatic, and the overall impact is one of elegance and restraint; I can imagine some tweedy fellow sipping it thoughtfully in his library while reading something weighty and important.

Serve this perfectly mature red in Bordeaux stems at about 65 degrees. We found that it opened up rather quickly, though you will want to decant it for sediment; a half-hour before service should do it. As for a food pairing, we were especially taken with the savory aspects of this wine, and chose accordingly: try it with this recipe for herb-roasted lamb chops, which it should complement gracefully. And, as they say in the UK, Cheers!
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Country
France
Region
Other
Sub-Region
FranceHaut-Médoc
Soil
Gravel and Clay
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
41% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot
Alcohol
13.5
OAK
25% New French
TEMP.
65
Glassware
Bordeaux
Drinking
Now-2022
Decanting
Optional
Pairing
Herb Roasted Lamb Chops

France

Bourgogne

Beaujolais

Enjoying the greatest wines of Beaujolais starts, as it usually does, with the lay of the land. In Beaujolais, 10 localities have been given their own AOC (Appellation of Controlled Origin) designation. They are: Saint Amour; Juliénas; Chénas; Moulin-à Vent; Fleurie; Chiroubles; Morgon; Régnié; Côte de Brouilly; and Brouilly.

Southwestern France

Bordeaux

Bordeaux surrounds two rivers, the Dordogne and Garonne, which intersect north of the city of Bordeaux to form the Gironde Estuary, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The region is at the 45th parallel (California’s Napa Valley is at the38th), with a mild, Atlantic-influenced climate enabling the maturation of late-ripening varieties.

Central France

Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river (634 miles), originating in the southerly Cévennes Mountains, flowing north towards Paris, then curving westward and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean near Nantes. The Loire and its tributaries cover a huge swath of central France, with most of the wine appellations on an east-west stretch at47 degrees north (the same latitude as Burgundy).

Northeastern France

Alsace

Alsace, in Northeastern France, is one of the most geologically diverse wine regions in the world, with vineyards running from the foothills of theVosges Mountains down to the Rhine River Valley below.

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