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Château Dorléac Graves 2018

As the Bordeaux 2025 vintage primeurs approaches, my latest Weekend Wine choice serves as a reminder that there is a lot more to Bordeaux than the highly priced cru classé wines which will be hogging the limelight during the coming weeks.

Indeed, as I have commented before when discussing other Weekend Wines, while some châteaux in Bordeaux continue to test the spending limits, interest and patience of consumers with their prices (I wonder if these comments will see me refused appointments at yet more châteaux), Bordeaux remains – somewhat paradoxically – a fantastic source of delicious, well-made and attractively priced wines. You just have to look away from the top names and the most prestigious appellations for a moment.

The Graves provides a happy hunting ground in this regard; names both familiar (Clos Floridène, Rahoul, de Cérons and Ferrande, for example) and less well known (such as Crabitey, Vieux Château Gaubert and Saint-Robert) have all proven their worth at various moments over the years. And not one of them has caused me to wince when looking at the price tag.

To this list we should perhaps add Château Dorléac.

Château Dorléac Graves 2018

The Dorléac vineyard lies in the commune of Portets, close to one or two of the aforementioned properties. The proprietors, the Barbe Lapouge family, who actually work from cellars in Sainte Croix-du-Mont on the opposite bank of the Garonne, tend 12 hectares of vines here. As you would expect in this locale the soils have a fine, pebbly and gravelly composition, and the vines are predominantly Merlot, with just 8% planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% to Petit Verdot.

Picked by both hand and machine, the wine is notable for its élevage, which makes use of cuves rather than barrels, and as the label suggests the wine is made with advice from Hubert de Boüard de Laforest, best-known for the renaissance of Château Angélus although he advises at numerous properties across the region, on both banks. The end result is a style in which the fruit shines out, dark, modern, dense and unfettered by oak. The wine is released under the Révélations d’Hubert de Boüard label, a joint venture with the négociant and distributor Yvon Mau, who looked after the bottling and distribution. Much of the Barbe Lapouge family’s output is otherwise sold in bulk or at the cellar door.

In the glass the 2018 Graves from Château Dorléac has a glossy and opaque appearance, with a concentrated matt blackberry hue which fades only a little, out to a dense rim. I find plenty of warm joy on the nose, which brims with blackberry, dried cranberry, dark chocolate and black pepper, tinged with little notes of scented tobacco leaf which serves to remind us of this wine’s origins. The palate convinces with the sweetness of blackberry, dark chocolate, violets and liquorice, swirled within a plush yet peppery texture, which then yields to a finish of energetic, warm and spicy tannins. It’s a style that majors on dark and plush fruit with a polished phenolic structure for frame, rather than oak or acidity. And there is plenty of fresh phenolic grip on the finish too, and a leafy lift. On the whole this is a delicious, easy-going, warm vintage style which is drinking well now thanks to the maturity within the fruit and the absence of restrictive oak. Classically styled? Not really. Ageworthy? A little, although I am not sure I would wait too long; this is about pleasure now. Pushing the price boundaries? Hardly. And deliciously drinkable? Absolutely. The alcohol is 14% on the label. 89/100 (6/4/26)

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