Monday, February 13, 2006

2004 Bordeaux Futures

Yahoo! It's Futures time again. The LCBO Bordeaux Futures ordering is now on and I called placed my order today. Now I have to sit and wait until the dudes in France work on these precious bottles and send them to me. The shipments are expected to arrive in the spring 2007. You have to order by lots of 3, minimum. Here's what I ordered.


Clos du Marquis is the second wine of Chateau Leoville-Las Cases in St. Julien. It's a full-bodied red and the 2004 vintage is supposed to be really good.






The next one I ordered is from the Pomerol region. It's described as medium bodied and like wines from Pomerol is mostly, if not all, merlot. The LCBO tasting notes says it has "bright, grippy tannins". I thought that would appeal to J.





I don't think I've ever had wine from the Fronsac region, so this will be interesting. I did a bit of investigating to see what was being said about this house. It's run by a husband and wife team. The vineyards are 85% merlot and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes are hand harvested and destemmed before fermenting in stainless steel and then the wine spends 18 months in 75% new oak. It's bottled unfiltered. Sounds yum! A review of the 2004 vintage says that it's supple and round, fine finish, long in length. Time will make it more flattering. 'A wonderful hit, not to be missed.' It got good scores from a couple of reputable wine publications, so I'm going to give it a try. I'm quite excited about this one.


TALK ABOUT EXCITED. LOOK WHAT ELSE I ORDERED!
Chateau Margaux was awarded Premiers Cru in the classification in 1855 and is one of the best wines in the world. The 2004 vintage is selling for $265.00 Cdn. That's a little rich for my blood. But the chateau's second wine isn't!
Pavillon Rouge is one of the oldest 'second wines' made in the Médoc. Since the beginning, Pavillon Rouge has been produced from the fruit of young vines and barrels of wine not finally selected for the Grand Vin (Château Margaux). The vinification and maturation processes are exactly the same as for the Grand Vin. One writer says "Though Pavillon has less concentration it's structure has wonderful elegance and finesse. Very nearly as great as the Château Margaux itself."

Once these darlings arrive, I will have to cellar them and let them bottle age for at least 2-5 years for them to be ready. Some will hold for up to 10 years. If I'm still blogging when I open the first ones, I'll let you know how I think they are.

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