May 27th, 2010

’09 Bordeaux Futures…

They don’t have to be expensive to be good!

Several of our customers have written or called us recently asking about some of the bigger chateaux, which won’t be released officially in the Place de Bordeaux until later in the futures campaign. After VinExpo in China this week, we anticipate some of the bigger names to start popping next week, so please stay in touch and keep an eye out for our offers.  Mysteriously, several other wine merchants are offering wines even though they have not been released yet through the appropriate channels.  Rest assured we will offer every wine of note once we have invoices, confirming the price and quantity from a negociant with whom we have a solid relationship.  Beware of those who are jumping the gun!  This is how people get screwed! We have some clients who are still waiting for their 2005 Bordeaux Futures from certain West Coast merchants.

If you’re gaga over velvety, exotic merlot-based wines that were either exceptionally delicious or thoroughly disgusting in the extreme 2009 vintage, these three estates were our favorites out of  the numerous wines we tasted in the under $30 per bottle category.  There’s no reason to be shy here as we’ve locked in great allocations of these delicious and inexpensive examples of what the ’09 vintage is capable of with great winemakers.  These three are sure to be sought-after wines once they land and show well in their youth but also worthy of 10+ years of cellaring.

2009 La Tour du Pin – Cheval Blanc’s Latest Acquisition

Chateau La Tour du Pin was originally part of the Figeac estate until 1876.  It went under the name La Tour du Pin Figeac during several ownerships until it was acquired by the owners of Chateau Cheval Blanc in 2006 and renamed La Tour du Pin.  The new owners utilized much of the same winemaking team of its more famous sibling.  They have dramatically turned the estate around both in the vineyard and in the winery to get the most out of the 40 year old vines (75% Merlot, 25% Cab Franc) situated ideally on complex clay and gravel soils.  Tasting this wine side by side with Petit Cheval and Cheval Blanc at the ’09 En Primeur tastings in Bordeaux, Justin and I were amazed at how well it stood its ground and the quality to price ratio for this wine.  You should know that this wine will drink right out of the gates but has the stuffing to endure for 10+ years in the cellar. Great Buy!

2009 Chateau La Tour du Pin (St. Emilion)

$27.95 per bottle

"2009 La Tour du Pin is the finest wine I have ever tasted from this property. It reveals terrific fruit intensity along with a full-bodied unctuosity, great purity, sweet tannins, and a heady, long finish…It should drink well for 15+ years."

(92-94*pts RP, Wine Advocate)

"Readers will notes an asterisk (*) after some wine scores. I added this to signify when I thought a wine had the finest potential of all the offerings I had ever tasted from that estate in nearly 32 years of barrel tasting samples in Bordeaux." Robert Parker

2009 Clos les Lunelles – Gerard Perse’s Cotes de Castillon Expedition  

Clos les Lunelles was in relative obscurity until it was purchased by Gerard Perse of Chateau Pavie in 2001.  The quality of the wine and the scores immediately began to skyrocket, consistently making it the wine of the appellation each vintage.  The biggest change was lowering the yields dramatically on the predominately merlot vines grown on clay and limestone soils.  In fact, the ’09 was cropped at 22 hectoliters per hectare, which you wine geeks now is an extremely low yield in Bordeaux.  It is an excellent value and a great drinking or every day wine for lovers of Pavie and similarly styled wines.

2009 Clos Les Lunelles (Cotes de Castillon)

$28.95 per bottle

"One of the top wines of the Cotes de Castillon, it boasts an inky/purple color as well as tremendous opulence, body, purity, and density, plenty of sweet boysenberry and blackberry fruit, noticeable, but subdued wood, full body, and an unctuous texture. It should drink well for 12-15+ years. (Tasted four times)."

(92-94pts RP, Wine Advocate)

2009 La Vieille Cure – The Cure for the Expensive Bordeaux Myth 

La Vieille Cure (LVC) is one of the most storied wines of Fronsac with a long history of great wine-making dating back to the 18th century. LVC has benefited from the purchase by a group of Americans in the 1980s, who restored the property and more recently by the focus on the appellation of Fronsac with the increasingly high price of Pomerols.   Ideal exposure, good drainage and old vines, some of which are over 100 years in age, are the ingredients for great wine here.  We’ve had great success selling and drinking La Vieille Cure and its second wine from the 2005 vintage and can’t wait for the more supple ‘09s to get here. We do not anticipate having this wine available for long, so please get your orders in quickly if you want to add this to the cellar in a couple of years. For your information, we are selling the 2nd label from this estate La Sacriste 2005 for basically the same price as we are offering the Grand Vin from ’09.  Don’t Miss!!!

2009 Chateau La Vieille Cure (Fronsac)

$23.99 per bottle

"The opaque purple-hued 2009 offers a beautiful aromatic display of camphor, blueberries, acacia flowers, raspberries, and crushed rocks. Full-bodied and pure with a nicely layered texture, the vintage’s unctuosity and thickness as well as freshness and definition, this sleeper of the vintage is another beauty from La Vieille Cure. It should drink well for 15+ years."

(90-93pts RP, Wine Advocate)

Matt Tornabene

President

Manhattan Wine Company

Phone: 973-574-8701

Email: matt@mwcwine.com

Justin Christoph
Senior Consultant
Manhattan Wine Company
Phone: 973-574-8701
Email: justin@mwcwine.com

If you would like to place an order, reply to this email or click on the blue wine link above.  From there, you will be redirected to the page on our site where we are selling this wine.  On our site, you can check available quantities in real time, access complete tasting notes from the world’s most influential critics, and complete your orders.  If you’d prefer to do it the old fashioned way, please don’t hesitate to give Matt or Justin a call at 973-574-8701.  We look forward to hearing from you.