Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A beautifully balanced young red with currant, chocolate and hazelnut aromas and flavors. Medium to full body, juicy tannins and a flavorful finish.
Barrel Sample:92-93 -
Wine Enthusiast
This softly textured wine is an almost equal blend of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Its tannins are already well integrated, giving the promise of some easy aging over the next few years.
Barrel Sample: 91-93 -
Decanter
One of the unsung heroes of Pessac-Léognan, turning out brilliant consistency at fair prices. This is extremely juicy, really feel the mouth-watering freshness running through muscular black fruits. Successfully conveying the easy balance of the appellation, this is unfussy and high quality. One third new oak for ageing. Harvest September 24 to October 9.
Barrel Sample: 92 -
Jeb Dunnuck
Checking in as a blend of 52% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, and a splash of Petit Verdot, the 2019 Château La Garde offers a medium-bodied, nicely focused, structured style that carries plenty of darker currant, black raspberries, spice oak, and dried tobacco aromas and flavors. It fleshes out nicely with time in the glass and has wonderful purity of fruit. Short-term cellaring is advised here.
Barrel Sample: 90-92
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
Recognized for its superior reds as well as whites, Pessac-Léognan on the Left Bank claims classified growths for both—making it quite unique in comparison to its neighboring Médoc properties.
Pessac’s Chateau Haut-Brion, the only first growth located outside of the Médoc, is said to have been the first to conceptualize fine red wine in Bordeaux back in the late 1600s. The estate, along with its high-esteemed neighbors, La Mission Haut-Brion, Les Carmes Haut-Brion, Pique-Caillou and Chateau Pape-Clément are today all but enveloped by the city of Bordeaux. The rest of the vineyards of Pessac-Léognan are in clearings of heavily forested area or abutting dense suburbs.
Arid sand and gravel on top of clay and limestone make the area unique and conducive to growing Sémillon and Sauvignon blanc as well as the grapes in the usual Left Bank red recipe: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and miniscule percentages of Petit Verdot and Malbec.
The best reds will show great force and finesse with inky blue and black fruit, mushroom, forest, tobacco, iodine and a smooth and intriguing texture.
Its best whites show complexity, longevity and no lack of exotic twists on citrus, tropical and stone fruit with pronounced floral and spice characteristics.