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Château Trapaud, St-Émilion Grand Cru

Other, France 2011 (750mL)
$28.00
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Château Trapaud, St-Émilion Grand Cru

I wrote in a recent offer about some of the trends we observe over a year of tasting and selecting wines for this site, and without a doubt one of the strongest categories—if not the strongest—for value has been Bordeaux. We’re finding serious over-achievers on both “banks” of the Gironde, but the St-Émilion AOC, on the Right Bank, is a standout.
Of the major Bordeaux appellations known to a broad range of consumers, St-Émilion is arguably the best place to look for the greatest quality-to-price performers, with this 2011 from Château Trapaud being the latest of many delicious examples. Situated not far from the legendary Château Pavie on the limestone and clay soils of the côtes, or upper slopes, of St-Émilion—the appellation’s best terroir—Trapaud is emblematic of another trend: the embrace of organic viticulture in a region long associated with the abuses of chemical farming and mechanization. Run with passion by fourth-generation owner/cellar master Béatrice Larribière, Trapaud delivered a silky, layered, mineral red in 2011, one that’s both enchanting right now and capable of improvement for many years to come. This is the kind of wine, and the kind of château—small, sustainable, hands-on—that’s making Bordeaux cool again. It’s a wine to hoard by the case. Like your favorite pair of jeans, you’ll re-visit it often, and it’ll deliver every time!
As is so often the case in Bordeaux, the history of this château goes back centuries, but we’ll pick it up in 1927, when Georges Larribière acquired the property, which at that time included four hectares of vineyard. It passed to Georges’ son Gaston, then Gaston’s son Andrew, growing slightly along the way, and then it was Andrew’s daughter Béatrice’s turn starting in 1997. Trapaud’s vineyards span 15 contiguous hectares on the St-Émilion côte, in a prime position just four kilometers from Château Pavie and three from famed garagiste Château Valandraud (which is headquartered in the same village, Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse). Béatrice, who did stints in both California and Australia to broaden her winemaking horizons, converted her vineyards to organic viticulture and was certified as of 2009.

The soils at Trapaud are the clay/limestone typical of the côte, mixed with some sandy loam. This wine is a blend of 70% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon from 40+-year-old vines, fermented in concrete vats then aged for about one year in French oak barrels (50% of which were new).

When I first put my nose in a glass of this wine, I didn’t know its price, and let me tell you—this is a very serious wine I would have expected to be much more expensive. It’s a deep ruby with garnet reflections at the rim, with a super-satisfying mix of sweet and savory notes on the nose: black currant, black plum, damp violets, coffee grounds, cedar, bay leaf, and crushed black rocks. It is layered and rich, with soft tannins, but there’s also a pronounced minerality that lends it grip and mouth-watering texture on the palate. It’s dark-toned but also very elegant and perfumed, not merely a blocky mix of extract and oak. If you’re enjoying a bottle or three with friends tonight, about 30 minutes in a decanter should do the trick before serving in large Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees. This is also the latest in a long line of under-$30 Bordeaux that absolutely deserve a few slots in your cellar. This will continue to evolve and develop even more complex secondary aromas through 2025. As I write this, in fact, I can’t resist peeling off a few bottles from the pallet for drinking tonight with a good old-fashioned pot roast. Grab some for yourself—it’s a crowd-pleaser and a crazy bargain. Cheers!
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Country
France
Region
Other
Sub-Region
FranceSt-Émilion
Soil
Clay & Limestone
Farming
Certified Organic
Blend
Merlot 70%, Cabernet Franc 20%, Cabernet Sauvignon 10%
Alcohol
14.5
OAK
50% New French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2025
Decanting
30 Minutes
Pairing
Pot Roast

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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