[Château Beauvillage](http://Château Beauvillage, Médoc 2022 Cru Bourgeois), Médoc 2022 Cru Bourgeois

A young-ish, Left Bank Bordeaux: [Château Beauvillage](http://Château Beauvillage, Médoc 2022 Cru Bourgeois), Médoc 2022 Cru Bourgeois

This wine was one of my less-but-better purchases on the way back from a family holiday in Europe last year. The price was €11 — more than I have historically tended to spend at the Auchan just outside the Calais Shuttle terminal— but for around £9 sterling, I got Cru Bourgeois status and a Paris Gold.

Years ago, when I first started tasting older Bordeaux, I fell in love with the idea of mature wines and made a point of seeking out the oldest bottles I could find. These days, with market preferences changing, demand falling and mature wines much easier to come by as a result, I have been able to pick up plenty of older bottles, such as a 2019 Cepa Lebrel Rioja and a 2014 Pessac-Léognan. With the cellar now generously stocked full of mature reds, I do find myself occasionally yearning for the primary fruit of something younger.

They say:

The Château Beauvillage terroir consists of a combination of clay-limestone and gravel. The fossilised stones and heavy, clay soil produce full-bodied, elegant wines. Benefiting from the close proximity of the Gironde Estuary on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, this 25-hectare estate has vineyards in three villages (Couquèques, Saint-Christoly de Médoc and Civrac) offering a range of conditions conducive to a long harvest, ideal for picking Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes at peak ripeness.

“Made up of fossilized stones and strong earth, our terroir gives Château Beauvillage wine breadth and elegance.”

Ever since the vineyard was created in 1925, the choice of cultivating Merlot grapes seemed only natural. Perfectly suited to the estate’s terroir, Merlot represents 55% of the blend, resulting in smooth, round wines with red and black fruit aromas (raspberry and redcurrants), developing with age to reveal hints of prunes, violets, forest floor, and spices. Cabernet Sauvignon, another traditional grape variety of the Médoc appellation, complements the blend.

The combination of these two grape varieties account for the colour, structure and lovely black fruit aromas of our wines, as well as their outstanding ageing potential.

A note on vintage:

2022 was something of an odd vintage in Bordeaux. Georgie Hindle characterises it as a paradoxical year given the extreme conditions and resulting quality, yet the wines from the 2022 vintage in Bordeaux are consistent and pleasurable, offering plenty of immediate enjoyment and long-term cellaring ability, even at the value end.

Jancis Robinson notes: The dry season translated into small grapes with thick skins, therefore berries that were unusually high not just in fermentable sugar from the heat but also in colouring matter, flavour and the tannins that ensure longevity. All that was missing in them was acidity that was exceptionally low after record high temperatures. So how come the resulting wines have such amazing freshness? [It seems] winemakers have learnt from previous hot vintages such as 2003 and 2018 what to do and what not to do, but so, it seems, have the vines themselves.

I say:

Expressive, fruited yet savoury Bordeaux; drinking nicely now

55% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon blend

35yo vines, aged 12 months in oak

14.5%

deep crimson: expressive crushed, dried dark fruits, graphite, oaky-peppery spice and damp earth; plush, ripe, dark-plum and blackberry fruit, dried green herbs and pencil shavings; firm, slightly grippy tannins. Full, dense and concentrated yet fresh and harmonious. Slightly warming on the finish.

Very Good.

Drinks nicely on first pouring; opens up further with aeration and can be cellared.

Match with lamb or darker game.