A Bernard Magrez wine.

[JimHow]

….

[JimHow]

Deep ruby.

[JimHow]

Monolithic indeed, but sometimes you want chunky and monolithic.

[dstgolf]

Sorry Jim. What's the wine???

[JimHow]

Hint: You have had this wine with me Danny.

[stefan]

La Tour Carnet, maybe 2009?

[stefan]

But I cannot wait to see if my guess is correct. I just finished a glass of 2007 Lafaurie-Peyraguey (my infanticide continues) and have to go watch the Spurs annihilate the Okies.

[JimHow]

When we were in Bordeaux last year at that Wednesday night dinner we had a 2010 La Tour Carnet with fish. We tried to order a second bottle but that was all they had. So I ordered another 2010 Magrez wine on the list…

2010 Les Grands Chenes.

[JimHow]

First of all, this is from 2010… which may just be the greatest across-the-board Bordeaux vintage ever. Secondly, for me, this wine will have a soft spot. We were at a seafood restaurant in the old section of Bordeaux last spring, their wine list was dominated by young Magrez reds. I ordered a 2010 La Tour Carnet for our skeptical group, and they loved the crazy young modern Bordeaux red with the fish. When we tried to order another bottle, they were out of it. So I went with this wine. It was a bit overshadowed by the La Tour Carnet. But this 2010 Les Grands Chenes is a perfect example of why I have argued that it is very much okay to drink young Bordeaux. There are just a few rules you have to follow. One of the main rules is that you can't match up your young Bordeaux against another wine that night. You have to drink it on its own. Take the time to analyze it separately. This was a perfect example. Drunk over about three hours with pork chop. It was monolithic and chunky, but in a good way. Sometimes you're in the mood for chunkiness and restraint. 13.5%. Deep ruby/purple. Nice Medoc nose of cedar, pencil, etc. A good deal at $25. Does it merit the all important 90 point score? In 2010, at least, I say yes. A nice, solid, nothing fussy about it Medoc. Very enjoyable, liked even more than I did when we had it in Bordeaux a year ago, now that I've had a chance to analyze it on its own. 90 points.

[AKR]

Nice pictures. Not sure I've ever seen nor tried that.

[DavidG]

I drank through a 6-pack of 2005 Grands Chênes at a young age, over 2009-2014. So I'm not just an old Bordeaux drinker. I may be old, but not all the Bdx I consume is old. This was a good QPR at $22, and was tasty if fairly chunky, as was your 2010. It also carried a noticeable slug of oak. Maybe appropriate in light of the name: Grands Chênes = great oaks.

[Tom In DC]

Am I the only one who finds the picture of Bernard staring at us creepy?

[Blanquito]

Am I the only one who finds the picture of Bernard staring at us creepy?

Tre creepy! When I first saw it, it reminded me of Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins feeling the lust for the one ring (or in this case, microbullage, spinning cones, and barrel toast, all under the Dark Lord Rolland's influence).

[Blanquito]

[Blanquito]

Or maybe