It feels like everywhere I turn lately, someone is raving about Right Bank Bordeaux superstar Château Le Puy. Whether it’s on destination wine lists in Paris or Manhattan; gracing its own multi-page spread in Forbes or The New York Times; or drowning in praise from Decanter and the Wines of France guide, everyone seems to be discovering this 17th-century estate.
But for me, the most exciting part of all this hysteria is that Château Le Puy is stealing the hearts of young wine enthusiasts who often overlook Bordeaux. It’s not empty hype or coincidence, either—respected critics, Michelin-level sommeliers, and twenty-something entrepreneurs are cramming into restaurants clamoring for the same wine. The reason is this: With a fascinating backstory and a reputation for what may be the most conscientious natural farming in the entire region, Château Le Puy is bottling astoundingly pure, elegant, and terroir-driven Bordeaux. This is serious, serious wine for Bordeaux purists, especially from the extraordinary 2015 vintage.
[*PLEASE NOTE: This wine is on special order and will ship from the SommSelect warehouse the week of March 18th.]
Château Le Puy is located on a remote and unusually elevated part of the so-called “hill of wonders”—the same plateau that is home to Right Bank’s most elite properties, like Pétrus in Pomerol and Cheval-Blanc in Saint-Émilion. There is no prestigious village appellation on the label of Le Puy’s wines, but there are whispers that this property may soon be designated the Côtes de Bordeaux’s first Grand Cru—the château and its 54 hectares of vineyards are situated in what was traditionally known as the ‘Côte de Francs,’ which lies east of Saint-Émilion on the same high plateau of limestone, clay, and silt.
The Amoreau family has been farming grapes on this same slope since 1601. After WWII, when chemical agriculture became the norm in Bordeaux, Le Puy continued just as it had for centuries prior: horses and plows, enriching soils with compost and symbiotic flora, and maintaining a rich, self-contained ecosystem of forests, fruit trees, and wildlife. For 17 generations, and long before “organic” was a buzzword in the wine world, Le Puy was farming the hard way out of principle, not profit.
Chateau Le Puy has also been practicing biodynamics for longer than “Godfather of Biodynamic Wine” Nicolas Joly. This painstaking approach transforms these already special soils into a dream location for Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carménère. Average vine age is 55 years, but on a hillside that has never once been marred by chemicals, it’s not unusual to see far-older vines. Le Puy’s vinification process, like everything at the property, is patient and as natural as possible. All harvesting is done by hand and grape clusters are carefully destemmed before a lengthy 3-4 week fermentation on skins. There is no addition of sulfur, CO2, or sugar (a common practice in Bordeaux) at Le Puy. Following fermentation, there is no fining or filtration; just 12 months of gradual evolution in an ancient, 50-hectoliter foudre, then a final 12 months in 228-liter ‘Burgundy’ barrels before six months of bottle age and release.
The 2015 was a long, dry, and warm growing season that resulted in many muscular and high-octane reds in Bordeaux. So, it’s a testament to Château Le Puy’s integrity and unique philosophy that this 2015 “Emilien” feels like it’s floating on my palate. This ethereal, almost “weightless” quality, combined with vivid, three-dimensional aromatic savor reminds me as much of top-tier Burgundy as it does Bordeaux. It’s a truly memorable, elegant wine that will stay in your subconscious long after the last drop has been sipped from your glass. Of course, this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s enjoyed fine Bordeaux from the 1970s and ’80s: Red Bordeaux used to be far more about pristine aromatics and elegance than rich, dark-fruited muscle—it’s as if in eschewing chemical farming and modern cellar gadgetry, Le Puy has managed to preserve the soul of Bordeaux from decades past, which is why all subsets of the wine cognoscenti are snatching it up. My advice: purchase a few to stash away in your cellar (at a recent Le Puy tasting in NYC, bottles from the early 1900s were singing with perfect pitch) and grab one for this coming holiday season alongside a standing rib roast. This is a fascinatingly emotive wine and there’s no better introduction than the 2015 vintage!
