Organic & Natural

Organic

The composition is 60% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine is marked by a vibrant ruby/garnet color married to a richly spicy nose with hints of tobacco and coffee in the background; the flavors are dominated by red currant, cassis, and raspberry; the texture is silky and the wine is smooth and generous on the palate; the subtle tannins have grip but are graceful making this wine particularly welcoming over the near term.
The Pueyos follow traditional vinification techniques. After a 3 day cold maceration, fermentation takes place in both cement tanks and stainless steel tanks. Either way, temperatures are closely monitored so the fermentation proceeds at a controlled pace with maximum temperatures reaching 28 degrees Celsius. The “cuvaison” (fermentation + maceration) usually lasts between 15 and 20 days. Closely monitoring the temperature during fermentation helps avoid extracting the harsher, more bitter tannins that can appear if the temperature gets too high. Half of the wine is aged in barrels for 18 months following fermentation. Only 25% new barrels and 25% one-year-old barrels are used each year, to avoid overwhelming the fruit. The second part of the cuvée is aged in cement tanks. The two parts of the wine are ultimately blended, then fined with egg whites before bottling.

The 2017 vintage was tied for Third Place in PJ Wine's - Wine of the Year 2021 blind taste-off.

Organic / Biodynamic

92 points Vinous
The 2020 Les Plantes, the young vines bottling in this range, is packed with super-ripe dark red/black fruit, graphite, leather, tobacco and licorice. Powerful and heady, with exotic ripeness and tons of sheer allure, the Plantes is gorgeous. Ripeness is definitely pushed to the edge.

The 62-hectare estate, of which some 55 hectares are planted, has been directed by Gonzague Lurton since 1992 and farmed biodynamically since 2013. Soils are quaternary gravels, with a rather low percentage of clay when compared with the likes of Chateaux Margaux and Palmer, and Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend, delivering wines of perfume, intensity and concentration. Lurton finds that physiological maturity and analytical maturity are much more synchronized with the new farming methods, even if in a vintage such as 2018 he's suffered, producing a mere 6,000 bottles. Recent vintages have certainly been on a qualitative roll, and today Durfort Vivens (the winery's premier bottling) unquestionably lives up to its 1855 second growth status. Given the quality of the brilliant 2020, prices remain decidedly reasonable, and readers should take notice.

Chateau Durfort Vivens is no newcomer to Bordeaux, they have been around since the 1700s in one form or another. It is rumored that a bottle of Chateau Durfort Vivens in 1844 would have cost more than any other Margaux, other than Chateau Margaux itself. Also, America’s first wine connoisseur Thomas Jefferson ranked it just behind Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, and Chateau Margaux in his famous travel diaries. During the 1855 classification, Chateau Durfort Vivens was ranked a second growth of Margaux. Today I am sure the wines taste differently, however, this does show the pedigree and history of these vineyards.

Today the winery is owned by the renowned Lurton family. In 2009 they experimented with organic farming, loved the results, and fully converted all their vineyards to organic and biodynamic viticulture by 2013. They then received their Demeter certification making Chateau Durfort Vivens the first classified growth in Margaux to be fully certified 100% biodynamic.

A single-vineyard wine made by the winemaking team of Margaux estate Ch??teau Siran, this wine has structure, dense tannins and layer upon layer of black fruits. 2019 was an excellent vintage in Bordeaux.

80% Merlot, 10.5% Petit Verdot, and 9.5% Cabernet Sauvignon. From an eleven hectare single-vineyard plot on the Margaux border. 25 year-old vines planted in a sandy gravel subsoil with clay topsoil. Fermented in stainless steel and aged for twelve months in French oak, with two rackings.

"This outstanding property in Labarde in the southern part of the Margaux appellation is making consistently delicious, fragrant, deeply colored wines that are in quality on a par with the best Grands Bourgeois Exceptionnels." - Robert Parker, Bordeaux: The Definitive Guide For The Wines Produced Since 1961

Chateau Siran is a highly regarded Bordeaux producer vinifying wine in Margaux. We have had a vintage or two of their Margaux over the years, but we didn?????t know they produce a second wine named Saint Jaques De Siran. And it is this wine that recently knocked our socks off while tasting through an assortment of French wines. Saint Jacques de Siran is a throwback to the Bordeaux of yesteryear with its oak-influenced characteristics. This is not a new-aged, acid-driven Bordeaux all about upfront juicy fruit. No, this has all those classic notes that made Bordeaux popular in the first place, like cedar, saddle leather, tobacco leaf, and dried fruits. I had a flashback while tasting this that it was the early 2000s and I had Bordeau from the nineties in my glass!

Chateau Siran has long been recognized as one of the top estates in Margaux. The property has been in the Miailhe family for six generations????? a total of 160 years. Today, the property covers 88 hectares, with 38 hectares planted to vines. The other fifty hectares are left as woods and meadows, for their beauty and to promote biodiversity, a priority of the Siran team.

The majority of Chateau Siran?????s vines are planted in the commune of Margaux, but they also have a very special 11 hectare parcel on the border, which is classified as Bordeaux Superieur and bottled as ?????Saint-Jacques de Siran?????. The terroir here has clay topsoil over the famous Bordeaux sandy gravel subsoil. The vines are planted at a density of 5,000 vines per hectare and average 25 years old. The Miailhe family has practiced sustainable agriculture since 2000 and the vineyards have been certified sustainable, HVE3 since 2018. Only organic fertilizers are used and they work with grass cover and plowing to control weeds

Organic / Biodynamic

94 points Vinous
The 2022 Clos Puy Arnaud is a dense, extroverted wine. Inky dark fruit, licorice, menthol and cloves are all amplified. Usually Clos Puy Arnaud is more refined, but in 2022, the vintage dominates and speaks loudly. Even so, this is a compelling offering. I look forward to tasting it with bottle age.

95 points Jane Anson
Tasted at the Palmères de Castillon event, where I was a jury member, and this was one of the wines picked out blind. I checked it against a different bottle at home later, and suggest that it is given at least half an hour in a carafe, as it remains fairly closed, but once again this is proof of the quality of 2022, and it's a seriously impressive wine that offers wonderful value. I'm always a fan of Clos Puy Arnaud, and you get the deft precision of the winemaking here, coupled with ripe blueberry and raspberry fruits, liquorice, black tea, pomegranate and slate-scrape tannins. - Inside Bordeaux

70% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon

Organic / Biodynamic

94 points James Suckling
Very fine and fruity with a medium body. Juicy brightness with blackcurrant, fresh rose stem and crushed stone undertones. Precise and focused. From biodynamically grown grapes with Demeter certification.

90-92 points Wine Enthusiast
Barrel sample. A ripe, smoky wine, this hasfine tannins and a texture that is soft and juicy. The black fruits, from a vineyard in the heart of Margaux are rounded while keeping structure.

91 points Vinous
The 2022 La Gurgue offers an intriguing mix of dense, pliant fruit and lifted aromatics that add notable flair. Crushed flowers, mint, spice, blood orange and white pepper are all lifted in the glass. The blend is 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot and 17% Petit Verdot, with the high amount of Petit Verdot lending palpable aromatic presence and an exotic quality. La Gurgue is super distinctive in 2022. I would give this a good bit of aeration, as there is a bit of reduction today. This was raised in once-used barrels, concrete ovals, new oak and amphorae.

Organic / Biodynamic

97-99 points Jeb Dunnuck
One of the biggest successes on the upper plateau is the 2020 Chateau Clos Fourtet, and it does everything right in the vintage. A magical, perfumed bouquet of red plums, black cherries, white truffle, and white flowers just screams Saint-Emilion, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, flawless overall balance, a dense mid-palate, and a liqueur of rocks-like minerality on the palate. Building incrementally with time in the glass, this is thrilling stuff that should offer some up-front appeal in its youth yet benefit from 7-8 years in the cellar and keep for 30 years or more. Bravo! The blend is 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 3% Cabernet Franc that’s still resting in 50% new French oak.

98 points Vinous
The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a towering, statuesque beauty that captures all the personality and character of this site in a wine that marries vertical intensity, power and explosive energy. Black cherry, gravel, menthol, sage, crushed rocks and chocolate all soar out of the glass. This is a tremendous showing from the Cuvelier family.

96-98 points Wine Advocate
The 2020 Clos Fourtet is a blend of 90% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Cabernet Franc, harvested from 15th to 30th September and weighing in with an alcohol of 14.5% and a pH of 3.6. It is being aged for 14-18 months in 50% new oak barrels, 48% second-fill barrels and 2% amphora. Deep garnet-purple in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with ripe, expressive notes of crushed black plums, juicy black berries and black cherry preserves, followed by hints of ground cloves, cinnamon stick, camphor and cedar chest. The medium to full-bodied palate is jam-packed with bright, vivacious black fruits, framed by velvety tannins and bags of freshness, finishing with great length

Organic / Biodynamic

99 points Jeb Dunnuck
#26 in Top 100, 2022. Pure class, the 2019 Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse De Lalande is another brilliant wine from director Nicolas Glumineau that checks in at the top of the vintage. A blend of 71% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, and 6% Cabernet Franc that was harvested from mid-September through October 8th. Brought up in roughly 60% new French oak, it hit 14.1% natural alcohol with a pH of 3.7. More elegant and poised from bottle than barrel, it offers a brilliant perfume of creme de cassis, lead pencil shavings, tobacco leaf, damp earth, and graphite. Deep, full-bodied, and pure perfection on the palate, it has this incredible marriage of Latour-like stature and regalness buffered by wonderful, sexy, seamless fruit, which no doubt comes from the higher Merlot content and makes Comtesse de Lalande so singular and unique. It builds slowly with time in the glass and has remarkable purity of fruit, ultra-fine tannins, perfect balance, and a finish that just begs you to pour another glass. It has a seductive, seamless profile that offers pleasure even today (although it needs lots of air to show at its best) yet needs 7-8 years of bottle age to hit the early stages of its prime drink window and will evolve for another 40-50 years if stored properly.

98 points Wine Advocate
One of the wines of the vintage, the 2019 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande soars from the glass with complex aromas of wild berries, tobacco leaf, loamy soil, burning embers and hints of violets and rose petals. Full-bodied, deep and complete, it?????s velvety and seamless, with a broad attack and a multidimensional core of lively, succulent fruit. Concluding with a long, expansive finish, it?????s a remarkable young Pauillac that will offer many years of thrilling drinking. Congratulations to Nicolas Glumineau and his team, who are ushering in a new golden age at an address where standards were always very high.

98 points Vinous
One of the most elegant Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande I can remember tasting. The 2019 Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande is very clearly one of the wines of the year. Statuesque in its bearing, the 2019 possesses tremendous depth and intensity right out of the gate. Dark fruit, gravel, smoke, licorice and incense draw the taster in. The 2019 is like a great book. You don't want to put it down. Each taste reveals a new layer, a new shade of nuance. The 2019 is quite simply one of the most elegant renditions I have tasted recently. That said, it is also incredibly austere and in need of cellaring. Don't miss it. Tasted three times.

Organic / Biodynamic

96-98 points
The 2020 Pichon-Lalande has a backward nose similar to that of its neighbor Pichon-Baron, and so I decanted the bottle for 45 minutes. It then revealed gorgeous scents of blackberry, wild hedgerow, seaweed (Japanese nori) and wild mint. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit and gentle but insistent grip. Very intense but not ripe; there is a coolness about this Pauillac that I like, while the finish is very classically styled and leaves behind a persistent, slightly briny aftertaste. This is a magnificent, cerebral Pichon-Lalande that will deserve serious aging and the patience of anyone still waiting for The Cure's new album. Tasted three times, including directly from the chateau. Neal Martin

97 points Wine Spectator
A wow wine. This is packed with cassis, loganberry and mulberry flavors that hint at the vintage's warmth, but this stays poised and fresh, with a sleek structure built on graphite and iron. Offers violet and lilac lift in the background and a groundswell of sweet tobacco, savory and singed cedar details that emerge through the finish, all with a fine-grained and rather luxurious feel. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2030.

95-97 points Wine Advocate
Deep purple-black in color, the 2020 Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande begins on a single, well-defined, wonderfully pure note of ripe blackcurrants, opening out to a melody of redcurrant jelly, kirsch, ripe blackberries and tar, with emerging suggestions of dark chocolate, cardamom, ground cloves and violets, with a waft of black truffles. Medium-bodied, tightly wound and with loads of fantastically nuanced black fruit layers, it has a rock-solid frame of finely grained tannins and bags of freshness, finishing long and mineral laced. The blend this year is 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc.

Organic / Biodynamic

In 2022, Le Puy’s Amoreau family acquired the vineyards and cellar of their friend and neighbor Regis Moro, a fellow low-tech low-interventionist whose vibrant, rugged, makeup-less wines never fully connected with the Parker-influenced times during which he operated, but which have stood the test of time with aplomb. Vieux Chateau Champs de Mars “Johanna”--Regis' top wine, from Merlot between 70 and 120 years of age planted in the sandy clay-limestone of the Castillon-Cotes de Bordeaux appellation.

Sometimes a winegrower is too far ahead of their time to be properly appreciated during their career. Regis Moro, along with his wife Therese and son Sebastien, founded Vieux Chateau Champs de Mars in the early 1980s, in the rolling hills of the Castillon-Cotes de Bordeaux appellation, mere kilometers from the Amoreau family’s legendary Chateau Le Puy.

Locale is not all Moro shared with Le Puy, however: Regis took a similarly rigorous approach in his vineyards, working organically from the outset and gradually incorporating biodynamic treatments; he also adopted low-intervention cellar work, favoring spontaneous fermentations, eschewing temperature control and new oak, and bottling very gently and naturally.

Moro’s focus on farming and fermentation over flashiness, however, put him out of step with his era, a time during which the rise of powerful critics steered Bordeaux well off-course from traditional practices and into the realm of big extraction, big oak, and big impact. While gaining recognition in certain circles?even garnering “Winemaker of the Year” in the influential French publication Le Point in the early 2000s?Regis’ project never quite took off in the way he hoped (or, we think, deserved), and in 2022 he sold his vineyards and winery to the Amoreau family, longtime friends and supporters.

Along with the acreage and the cellar, the Amoreaus were thrilled to obtain a treasure trove of older vintages which had lain undisturbed since they were bottled. The sandy clay-limestone terroir of Champs de Mars is beautifully suited to Merlot, which comprises 80% of the wine’s blend, complemented by 20% Cabernet Franc. Named after his granddaughter, “Johanna” was Regis Moro’s top wine, containing his oldest vines (70 years on average, with a parcel planted in 1904) and employing a more serious elevage than the basic cement-aged Champs de Mars bottling. The 2000 Johanna was hand-harvested, destemmed completely, given a 48-hour pre-fermentation maceration, and vinified in 50-hectoliter tronconic oak casks for 60 days with manual punch-downs; it then spent 18 months in well-used 225-liter barrels clarifying naturally, and was bottled without fining or filtration.