Given that Château La Peyre sits just a scant mile from Lafite Rothschild, and even closer to ‘Super’ Second Growths Cos d’Estournel and Montrose, it’s a miracle this reliably outstanding estate continues to offer its top wine at a relative “bargain” price. I’ve said before that La Peyre should be on every sommelier’s shortlist for under-pricing while over-delivering quality in Bordeaux’s left bank.
The shockingly vivid typicity and depth of fruit in each glass, combined with a bulletproof track record for producing consistent, long cellaring wines in even the most troubled vintages has made Chateau La Peyre one of SommSelect’s favorite estates in the region. Still, I’d have to say that today’s 2012 is the hands-down best vintage I’ve ever enjoyed from La Peyre. It’s a terroir supernova! This still-adolescent vintage has many, many years left in the tank, but that shouldn’t dissuade anyone from uncorking a few bottles ASAP. It’s a one-bottle masterclass in the primacy of old vine, Cabernet-driven Bordeaux and a truly stupendous value.
[PLEASE NOTE: Today’s offer is only available on pre-arrival. All bottles will ship from California the week of February 11th.]
Tasting a bonafide label from a storied terroir such as Saint-Éstephe is an extraordinary experience that cannot be replicated outside the region. Once you do finally locate that bottle, and still have a padded wallet, that’s the turning point, the switch that opens your eyes to breathtaking wine experiences. La Peyre’s 2012 recalls the region’s golden era of wines that possessed limitless cellar potential, thundering terroir, and astounding quality at a fair price.
As with all great wines, the one truly indispensable part of the equation at Château La Peyre is the soil. Dany and René Rabiller’s 30+-year-old vines sit on a patchwork of gravel, limestone, and a small amount of clay. The gravel offers optimal drainage; limestone imparts the striking mineral intensity; and clay is instrumental in retaining necessary moisture during the area’s parched summers. Dany and René are ruthless in their vineyard maintenance. Vines are pruned aggressively in winter and 'green harvested' throughout the growing season in order to increase concentration and ripeness when the grapes are finally hand-harvested in the fall. Although these efforts simultaneously lower yields and profits, the benefits are evident in the glass. Château La Peyre offers impressively consistent, robust and concentrated wines, even in cooler years, and this wine affirms the old cliché that great wine is made in the vineyard.
Still, this family’s obsession with quality doesn’t stop in the vineyards. Following harvest, grapes are meticulously sorted, then are left to enjoy a slow, gentle cuvaison (maceration) in their small cellar, which allows optimal extraction of color, tannins, texture, and flavor. Their wines are aged between 12-15 months in 40% new French oak, which buys the sometimes rambunctiously youthful wine some time to ease into adolescence. The final destination of this lengthy process is a densely structured, layered, complex Bordeaux.
Château La Peyre’s 2012 Saint-Estèphe displays a dark garnet-ruby core that is entirely opaque, hinting at the slow-building, formidable power to come. As I always say for La Peyre’s wines, if you seeking out classic Left Bank aromatics, this is it. While most vintages demand 60 minutes in a decanter to shed the armor of youth, this 2012 erupts with cassis, dried purple flowers, and a bushel of black and red plums shortly after the cork is pulled! The aromas seem to explode out, followed by the touchstones of Saint-Éstephe terroir: fresh cedar, underbrush, damp clay, graphite, tar, coffee grounds. Really, nothing beats the heady aromatics and cedary savor of aged Bordeaux. Though bottle age has softened this wine considerably—I can only imagine how tough it was upon release—it shows wonderful intensity and supple complexity on the palate. Deep and sensuous with a concoction of ripe and dried black/red fruit, this is fully integrated and ready to impress now, though it will continue chugging along for the next five, 10, even 15 years. Therefore, I encourage you to safe keep several bottles while opening a few now alongside your favorite classic meal. I enjoyed my latest bottle alongside a staunchly anti-modern standing rib roast with mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, and a generous dollop herbed crème fraîche. When it comes to Bordeaux, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it old school!
