Had a sip of this at a wine tasting at Trader Joe's, and figured I'd write a little bit about. It's Chateau Lafon-Rochet's 2009 Bordeaux. The term "Bordeaux" is a catch-all for any wine blend from the Bordeaux region of France, as you might expect. There are many varieties: both red Bordeaux and white Bordeaux exist, although red is most common, with a variety of grape blends. Today's is red, as you can see, and is from the Saint-Estèphe AOC located in the Médoc subregion. This wine is a blend of:
- 67% Cabernet Sauvignon
- 27% Merlot
- 5% Petit Verdot
- 1% Cabernet Franc
Like much of the world's classified wine (that is, wine that is made under strict purity / technical laws), Bordeaux wines may only be made of certain grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carménère (although that grape is much less common today.) You all know my thoughts on blends with minute quantities of mixing varietals (like Cabernet Franc in this instance, the amount of which totals a few teaspoons and thus seems pointless) so let's see how this plays out. I only had a small sample to try, but my initial reaction was that it was almost too light - there were some light floral flavors (think rose water) with a few hints of oak and some red fruit. Of course, it is ten years old, so naturally one would expect the flavors to be softer, but here they're almost too faded. Not much on the finish, either, but has a tiny tinge of alcohol ester on the aftertaste.
This bottles retails for $43.99, so quite expensive and rather steep in my opinion for what you get. Still cool to try it though - I think most of the Bordeaux I've had is your run-of-the-mill stuff you get in the store for $15.
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