Pour this wine blind for that friend of yours who claims to hate Merlot. There is no way anyone knowledgeable about wine could deny its nobility. Now with close to a decade of bottle age, Château le Jard’s ’08 isn’t merely velvet-textured and still dripping with plummy fruit, but deeply evocative of the deep clay and gravel soils of Néac, one of the two neighboring villages that comprise the Lalande-de-Pomerol AOC. Whereas the soils of Lalande-de-Pomerol itself—which sits closer to the Isle and Dordogne Rivers—are sandier and its topography flatter, Néac is hillier and richer in clay, climbing toward the limestone plateau of St-Émilion. Merlot represents about 80% of all grape plantings in the appellation, and about that same percentage in today’s cuvée from le Jard.

If you go looking for Château le Jard on a map, you won’t find it; this is a proprietary label created by Château Chatain in Néac (perhaps there are several properties in the area with ‘Chatain’ as part of their name). Château Chatain has been in the La Guéronnière family for generations, and only recently (2015) did longtime proprietor and vigneron Hugues de La Guéronnière hand the reins to his daughter, Christine, though he remains active in all facets of production. The family describes its viticultural practices as ‘sustainable,’ using chemical interventions sparingly if at all, and this red was aged primarily in used oak barriques for 12-18 months before bottling.

This 2008 from Château le Jard is resolutely classic in its styling, with a barely perceptible oak influence and a deep gravelly savor complementing its still-vibrant fruit component. As in neighboring Pomerol, Lalande-de-Pomerol reds are deep, dark, voluptuous expressions of Merlot, and you’ll notice a substantial contribution from Cabernet Franc (about 15%) in this cuvee as well, particularly on the nose. In the glass, it’s a still-youthfull deep ruby leading to garnet and pink at the rim, with rich, inviting aromas of red and black plum, brandied cherries, orange rind, and damp violets mingling with more savory notes of leather, tobacco, and wet clay. It is at a perfect point in its life, especially texturally: the tannins have softened to the texture of velvet but there’s also freshness and considerable power. We opened this wine and revisited over the course of the day, and it continued to unfold and broaden; it is just now showing more mature ‘secondary’ notes and has many years of life still ahead of it. This is a wine to decant for sediment just before service and watch as it continues to improve over the course of a great meal. Enjoy it at 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems alongside the sweet-gamey push-pull in the attached recipe. Lots of deliciousness for the dollar here. Cheers!