Chateau Grand Village 2018 Bordeaux Superieur
- Buy 6 for £17.09 each and save 5%
- Buy 12 for £16.55 each and save 8%
Chateau Grand Village is located in Mouillac, just beyond the borders of Fronsac. The estate is run by the Guinaudeau family, owners of Pomerol's legendary Chateau Lafleur. This wine has always been one of Bordeaux's great value wines, but in recent years, in fact probably starting with this vintage, the 2018, we have seen the wine reach new levels of brilliance. The wine is incredibly rich, but so polished, refined and masterfully put together. You can certainly recognise the Lafleur DNA (their Cabernet Franc is grown from cuttings from Lafleur of an old biotype of this variety called Bouchet) in this wine for its power and richness. It wasn't until after I had made my tasting note that I noticed this vintage is a whopping 15.5% alcohol. In my 30 years of selling Bordeaux I have never seen this before, but it's not obvious on the palate. With a hour's decant, you can enjoy this right now, but I have experience of older vintages, and it has great capacity for ageing. A true bargain from Bordeaux, which is a bit of a rarity nowadays.
"This has huge personality and is a wine to start taking serious note of. The fruits here are pretty dark, the Cabernet Franc really taking the lead, with more cool blue fruit than is usual with Grand Village, real grip and depth to the tannic hold and salinity through the finish. From the Guinaudeau family of Château Lafleur." Jane Anson, Decanter Magazine, 92 Points
"Bright crimson. Really quite a heady nose. Rich and luscious but with good freshness. Much more sophisticated than most Bordeaux Supérieurs because there's the richness on the nose but a dry, fine-tannined finish. Though it's still quite dry on the end and is clearly made to age."
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com, 16.5+ Points
France | Bordeaux | Bordeaux Supérieur | Chateau Grand Village | 78% Merlot, 22% Cabernet Franc | ABV 15.5% | Drink 2021 - 2031+
The Region
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is the region of France, along with Burgundy, that most fine wine drinkers gravitate towards. The reds are almost always a blend of anything up to 6 black varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere. Depending on what part of Bordeaux you are in determines which of these varieties dominates, but largely speaking, Merlot is generally the number one.
The heartland of the Cabernets is the Medoc, the left bank of the Gironde Estuary, which is sub-divided into communes and AOCs, the most famous of which are (north to south) St Estephe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux. Among these 4 communes are where the Grands Crus of the Medoc 1855 Classification are to be found, but there are other AOCs where you can find less expensive wines such as Haut Medoc, Listrac-Medoc and Moulis.
To the south of the city of Bordeaux you can find the Graves, Pessac-Leognan and Sauternes AOCs, the latter of which is for sweet white wines whilst the former two are known for both reds and dry whites, normally from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with a smattering of other minor varieties.
The right bank of the estuary is Merlot territory. This is where you will find St Emilion, with all its satellite villages, and Pomerol, the latter being the centre of gravity for Merlot-based wines. However, the most important vineyard of all is the Entré deux Mers - between the seas, or rivers in this case - where the bulk of Bordeaux's wines hail from, many of which are simply labelled as Bordeaux or Bordeaux Superieur, and Bordeaux Blanc Sec or Entré deux Mers for its whites
The Producer
Baptiste Guinaudeau, Chateau Grand Village, Chateau Lafleur
The Guinaudeau family are owners of the prestigious Chateau Lafleur in Pomerol, one of Bordeaux's greatest wines, known for its long-lived and powerful wines. The family also owns Chateau Grand Village, a Bordeaux Superieur located just beyond the border of Fronsac where they make sublime wines at incredible value for money. Mostly Merlot with some Cabernet Franc which is from cuttings from Lafleur itself and the resulting wine shows the same DNA of richness and power. The same vineyard team from Lafleur also tends the vines at Grand Village, with the same expertise and dedication to making exceptional wines
The Chateau also makes some very accomplished white wines, but we are great admirers of their red, and plan to take on more of their wines in time.