Chateau Lagarosse 2005: The Third Time Is the Charm!

Chateau Lagarosse 2005, Premiere cotes de Bordeaux

I tasted this first in 2008, then again in 2010. I recently took my 2012 bottle to task while making dinner a few nights ago. I’m happy to say that if you are storing this wine, it is finally ready for prime time!

The color is deep garnet with ruby edges. The nose is red plum, grass and a little spice. In the mouth, I experienced lovely red fruit (cherry, red plum) with an extra hint of acidity (perhaps cranberry) over the top. In the younger samples, the acidity was behind the fruit and tannin, it seems the fruit has mellowed for the balance to be even and the wine to truly shine. Nice finish with notes of clay, tobacco leaf and cedar. This paired well with red meats on my first evening with this bottle, as well as with cheese and dark chocolate on the second evening.

Premiere Cotes de Bordeaux (southern Bordeaux) wines can offer some excellent value in Bordeaux that have similar qualities to the areas of Graves and Medoc without the hefty price tag. I’ve seen this wine from $13-19 online, and picked it up locally for $15- which was a tad much when it was young, but a great deal now that the wine is mature and well balanced.

It’s interesting to note that this vineyard was purchased by an American billionaire in 2002 who in turn sold it to a Hong Kong investor in 2011. You can read more about that HERE.

Years ago, fellow oenophile buddy David Hoover cautioned me about drinking good reds before they were fully developed, and this wine is a good example of a wine that appears lackluster in youth but shines in maturity. The old adage “the third time is the charm” certainly is right in this instance.

à votre santé! 

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