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Château Tayac, Margaux

Bordeaux, France 2012 (750mL)
$29.00
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Fruit
Earth
Body
Tannin
Acid
Alcohol

Château Tayac, Margaux

Today’s wine seemed to be everywhere I looked when I last visited Bordeaux—every restaurant seemed to have Château Tayac on offer by the glass, and every retail shop seemed to have a case-stack of it. Either they have one seriously fantastic sales team, I thought, or this might be something worth checking out. One sip of this 2012 and we were excitedly arranging to buy a big parcel of our own: Rarely have I seen so much classic Margaux character packed into such a modestly priced bottle.
There’s dense, cassis-rich Cabernet Sauvignon fruit but also a pronounced soil and mineral character that summons the old-school British term for Bordeaux reds: “claret.” It’s an unmistakably ‘Old World’ wine in a Bordeaux landscape which, at this price point, is dominated by more oak-sweetened, ‘international’ interpretations. There’s a dark, gravelly, unmistakably ‘Margaux’ intensity that informs every sip—yet another transporting red Bordeaux at a price that really seems too good to be true. This is a wine to hoard by the case and enjoy over the next few years—always with a satisfied, perhaps even smug, smile on your face as you savor its remarkable value-for-dollar.
In classification-happy Bordeaux, Tayac is listed as a cru bourgeois, a category of châteaux just below cru classé (“classed growth”)—and very fertile hunting ground for seriously over-achieving wines. The estate has been in the Portet family for four generations, headquartered in the commune of Soussans, just north of Margaux proper. The family farms its 37 hectares of vines according to the méthode Cousinié, a vineyard management protocol named for the agronomist who developed it, focused on soil balance and nutrition. The Tayac vineyards are characteristically rich in gravel, and are planted to 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot. Fermentations are carried out in a mix of stainless steel and lined concrete vats, and the wine is aged 12 months in 35% new French oak barriques.

Now with a few years of bottle age behind it, the 2012 Tayac offers a layer of leathery, gravelly savor over its still-vibrant core of dark fruit. In the glass, it’s a deep ruby moving to garnet and slight hints of orange at the rim, with heady aromas of black currant, cassis, black raspberry, cigar box, dried herbs, cocoa, and a hint of cedar. Medium-plus in body, its tannins have had a chance to integrate, although the wine’s structure remains focused, firm, and mouth-watering. While many Bordeaux reds at this price point are more bass than treble, this one has its bass notes and its high tones in beautiful balance. While it will continue to age gracefully over the next 5-7 years, I’m also an advocate for jumping in now: Decant it 30-60 minutes before serving in Bordeaux stems at 60-65 degrees. Apparently, there’s such a thing as “easy” duck confit (see attached recipe), and this wine would complement it perfectly. Contrast the rich braised meat with some bitter salad greens, like dandelion, underneath, and revel in the mineral intensity of this classic, and underpriced, Bordeaux.
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Country
France
Region
Bordeaux
Sub-Region
FranceMargaux
Soil
Sand & Gravel
Farming
Sustainable
Blend
55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Petit Verdot
Alcohol
14.0
OAK
35% New French
TEMP.
60-65
Glassware
Bordeaux Stems
Drinking
Now-2025
Decanting
30-60 Minutes
Pairing
Duck Confit

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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