Grape Variety
Bordeaux Blend
A Bordeaux Blend is a blended red wine that contains only those varieties that are authorized for use in the red wines of the Bordeaux region of France. Bordeaux is the most famous and highly coveted wine blend in the world. Like many wines with a long history, there’s a lot to learn, so we’re here to just cover the basics.
- Red Bordeaux blend is primarily composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, with smaller portions of Malbec and Petit Verdot.
- White Bordeaux blend is primarily made of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, with a splash of Muscadelle in the mix
While there are both red and white Bordeauxs, the name Bordeaux is primarily associated with the red wine blend. Red Bordeaux is a red wine that is always made from blending Cabernet Sauvignon wine and Merlot wine together, though the proportion of each depends on the location of the winery that made the wine.
- Left bank blends : tend to be higher in tannins, alcohol and acidity. They are powerful, rich wines that are said to age a bit better than wines from the Right Bank.
- Right bank blends : tend to be softer, less tannic and lower in alcohol and acidity. Because Merlot is the dominant grape, they are much more juicy and usually ready to be drunk much earlier than Left Bank Bordeauxs, and they’re often less expensive.
St. Estephe Wine
Saint Estephe is somewhat burdened by its reputation as the slowest to mature, toughest and most tannin of all Medoc wines. But the wines are honest reliable and fair value. Growers are introducing more Merlot in the vineyard to cope with conditions that are a little cooler than in the other more southerly Medoc communes and soils that are decidedly more clogged with clay.
When to drink
Generally good Saint Estephe is best enjoyed between 10 and 20 years of age although broader Merlot rich wines should open up nicely after six years. Don’t expect wine from a leading property to be ready before 10 years.
St. Estephe Wine Style
These are the brawniest wines of the Haut-Medoc and the tannins will always give an earthy scratch to the texture, no matter how refined the estate know how well matured the wine might be Blackcurrant and cedarwood fruit peek out with age but never with the brazen beauty of a Pauillac or a St.Julien. Overall the wines are a bit suppler than of yore, muscular where they were once merely rigid and offer a welcome flutter of alluring fruit to offset all that suare jawed integrity.
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- Ch. Le Bosc
- Ch. Cos Labory
- Ch. Haut-Marbuzet
- Ch. Lafon-Rochet
- Ch. Mabuzet
- Ch. Meyney
- Ch. Les Ormes de Pez
- Ch. Phelan Segur
