Throughout 2017, Bordeaux has been the gift that keeps on giving, providing us with many of the best pound-for-pound reds we’ve offered—including today’s incredible bargain from the Médoc. As I’ve mentioned before, my business partner and I had the opportunity to taste through a huge selection of perfectly stored reds while visiting one of Bordeaux’s top négociant houses last year.
Today’s 2009 from Château Livran was a standout even before I saw the price, after which it became our biggest direct-import purchase of them all. To be able to drink something with genuine breed, from an acclaimed vintage, with several years of flattering bottle age under its belt, for less than $20, seemed too good to be true. My instinct was to hoard it, and now, after arriving direct from the négociant’s cool cellars to ours, it is ready to be hoarded by you. Do you have a large gathering coming up and want to drink well on a budget? This is your red. Do you like having a go-to ‘house’ wine on-hand in quantity? This is your red. We’ve offered many stellar Bordeaux values this year, but “Les Sources de Livran” 2009 is the most eye-popping of them all. This is more wine—authentic, place-expressive wine—than you might have thought possible at this price point. Well, guess what: It’s possible, and it’s delicious!
Located in the hamlet of Saint-Germain d’Esteuil and carrying the Médoc AOC designation, Château Livran is at the northern end of Bordeaux’s ‘left bank,’ not far from where the Gironde River empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The Médoc AOC (not to be confused with the Haut-Médoc designation that reaches toward the city of Bordeaux to the south) produces only red wines and has the classic mix of sand and gravel closer to the river’s edge and more limestone and clay as you move west. Livran is situated in more clay/limestone-dominated soils, which are more hospitable to the Merlot grape, but they also incorporate a substantial amount (45%) of Cabernet Sauvignon in their vineyard mix. For a wine at this price point to contain that much Cabernet (which is costlier to grow than Merlot) is impressive, and one of the things that struck me about this 2009 was how much classic Cabernet character—particularly the savory tobacco/pencil lead qualities—shines through in this bottling.
Château Livran has a total of 27 hectares of vineyards, and is classified as a ‘Cru Bourgeois’—one of the five major Bordeaux rankings and one that is updated every year. Around 250 châteaux are given the classification, which is now renewed yearly and published every September. It is, to put it mildly, a category absolutely groaning with great-value reds, not to mention a reminder of just how vast the Bordeaux region is: Overall, Bordeaux contains 60 different AOC zones producing nearly a billion bottles of wine yearly, and there were a few afternoons last year when I felt as if I’d tasted them all. But boy is it worth it when you come across an elegant, maturing red like this one.
“Les Sources de Livran” is the ‘second’ wine of Livran, meaning that it was styled to be more accessible in the first place, but this accessibility was further accelerated by the ripe, generous 2009 vintage. This wine is in a great place right now, still offering up deep fruit but making the transition to something more savory, smoky, and complex. In the glass, it’s a medium garnet with only slight hints of bricking at the rim, with aromas of dried red and black cherry, red currant, tobacco, pencil lead, green herbs, and a hint of ground coffee. Its texture is supple, with perfectly mellowed tannins and still-fresh acidity driving a long, very aromatic finish. There’s no reason to wait—drink this wine with pleasure, often, over the next few years, perhaps decanting right before service for sediment or simply pulling the cork and pouring slowly and gently into Bordeaux stems. Its pitch-perfect balance and satisfying savor are both functions of proper maturity and this wine will only taste better with food. I’d say try your first bottle with Julia Child’s take on hamburgers for the most elevated Tuesday night dinner of your life. Who’d have thought such sophistication could be so affordable? Cheers!
