Bordeaux 2016 Cru Bourgeois: Haut-Médoc
Despite this being a less prestigious appellation than Pauillac, St Julien and the like, experience has taught me that the Haut-Médoc is often the most interesting appellation when it comes to the Cru Bourgeois category. While there are very good wines made further north, in the Médoc appellation, they tend to reflect the predominance of clay in the soils, with greater proportions of Merlot in the blend as a result, as well as the cooler windswept climate.
While admittedly the Haut-Médoc appellation incorporates all manner of terroirs, and there are blends that range from mostly Cabernet Sauvignon to almost entirely Merlot, it is here that we are most likely to find the classic left-bank combination of gravelly soils with a Cabernet-dominant assemblage, with Merlot playing second fiddle, the blend spiced up with a soupçon of Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot or even Malbec. This is, I suspect, the sort of wine most Cru Bourgeois drinkers are looking for; a typical left-bank style, without a typical left-bank cru classé price tag.
It is looking through my top-scoring wines here that the quality of the 2016 vintage shines through. I don’t recall any previous Cru Bourgeois tasting that gave forth such a slew of high quality wines (I missed the 2015 tasting, but that was a vintage which favoured the right bank rather than the left, and bargain hunters should have kept themselves busy with minor right-bankers from the St Emilion plain, Castillon and Fronsac). Top dog here is the 2016 Château Belle-Vue, a very strong effort from this consistently over-performing château (pictured) which is surely a contender for the Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel level come the 2018 vintage. It is such a great wine for the money.
