A Bordeaux Blend, at its most basic, is any combination of those grape varieties typically used to make the red wines of Bordeaux. The phrase, which seems to have originated with British wine merchants in the 19th Century, relates as much to wines made from the blend as to the grape variety combination itself (© Copyright material, Wine-Searcher.com). Far from being an officially defined or legal term, it is almost never used for wine-labeling purposes (although it occasionally appears on back labels). Its equivalent in the United States is Meritage, which is not only legally defined, but also a registered trademark...more
Deep cherry red with coulis-style berry fruit, youthful cherry vibrancy and a rich concentration displaying a delicious freshness.
Regarded as one of the world's greatest wines for around 600 years, Haut-Brion was the only First Growth outside of the Medoc in the 1855 Classification. Grapes are thought to have been grown here since Roman times, and it can boast the first-ever professional wine review, by Samuel Pepys in 1663. Lauded by Thomas Jefferson in 1787, it was the earliest recorded First Growth to be imported to the United States. The estate was eventually purchased by another American, New York Financier Clarence Dillon, in 1935, and it remains in Dillon family hands to this day.
Graceful and mature this Bordeaux Superieur. Shows smoke charcoal cedar and balsamic wrapped around tart cherry fruit and wet leaf earthiness. Nice complexity and sense-of-place at this price point.