Winemaker Notes
Deep color with hints of mauve and purple. Intense, elegant complex nose with spice, toast, black fruit and mineral aromas. Powerful and full-bodied attack, evolving mid-palate to full, dense fruit flavors. A balanced whole with silky, delicate tannins and a lingering aromatic finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Like many former Bordeaux underachievers, Malartic-Lagraviere has been making beautifully elegant, classic/textbook Pessac-Leognans under a relatively new Belgian administration. Plum, cassis, smoked herb, tobacco, and licorice-like scents emerge from the medium dark garnet-tinged 2003. Dry tannins in the finish do not detract from the wine's overall seductive personality. While this is not one of Malartic-Lagraviere’s finest successes over recent years, it is an excellent wine to enjoy over the next 10-12 years
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.