Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A juicy, flavorful red with chocolate, orange peel and plums. Medium body. Dusty tannins. Flavorful finish. A blend of 66% merlot and 34% cabernet sauvignon. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Predominantly Merlot, this wine has soft tannins while also having the rich elegance of a Saint-Julien. Structure and density come both from the tannins and the generous blackberry flavors. The wine is ripe, ready to drink from 2023.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Bright cassis, violets, lead pencil, and a touch of minerality all emerge from the 2017 Chateau Lalande-Borie, another classic, incredibly elegant 2017. Medium-bodied, with silky tannins, considerable elegance, and a solid spine of acidity, it's a beautiful, classic Saint Julien to enjoy over the coming 10-15 years.
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Decanter
An excellent St-Julien in terms of value for money, and the Borie team have done a good job again in 2017, although it is far from the brilliance of the 2016. This has a clear muscular frame and lovely salinity on the finish. 40% new oak. Fairly closed right now, lacks some generosity, a mark of the vintage but appealingly dark with well extracted fruit that clearly made it to full ripeness. Early drinking, one to look out for. 50% frost, as these vines are a little further back from the river.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bruno Borie mentioned that there was a little frost on the western part of Saint-Julien here. A blend of 66% Merlot and 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, the medium garnet-purple colored 2017 Lalande-Borie has a beautiful nose of red roses, dusty soil and powdered cinnamon with a core of red currants, black cherries and kirsch plus a touch of warm plums. The palate is medium-bodied with a chewy frame and lively backbone supporting the muscular fruit, finishing savory and with great persistence. To be aged for 12 months in barrel, in one-third new oak.
Barrel Sample: 88-90 -
Wine Spectator
Sleek, with loganberry and red currant coulis flavors racing through, lined with mouthwatering savory, apple wood and iron notes on the finish. Leans toward the minerally side. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Best from 2021 through 2029.
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.
An icon of balance and tradition, St. Julien boasts the highest proportion of classed growths in the Médoc. What it lacks in any first growths, it makes up in the rest: five amazing second growth chateaux, two superb third growths and four well-reputed fourth growths. While the actual class rankings set in 1855 (first, second, and so on the fifth) today do not necessarily indicate a score of quality, the classification system is important to understand in the context of Bordeaux history. Today rivalry among the classed chateaux only serves to elevate the appellation overall.
One of its best historically, the estate of Leoville, was the largest in the Médoc in the 18th century, before it was divided into the three second growths known today as Chateau Léoville-Las-Cases, Léoville-Poyferré and Léoville-Barton. Located in the north section, these are stone’s throw from Chateau Latour in Pauillac and share much in common with that well-esteemed estate.
The relatively homogeneous gravelly and rocky top soil on top of clay-limestone subsoil is broken only by a narrow strip of bank on either side of the “jalle,” or stream, that bisects the zone and flows into the Gironde.
St. Julien wines are for those wanting subtlety, balance and consistency in their Bordeaux. Rewarding and persistent, the best among these Bordeaux Blends are full of blueberry, blackberry, cassis, plum, tobacco and licorice. They are intense and complex and finish with fine, velvety tannins.