Description
Château de Clotte, Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux
Today, $25 gets you an impeccably crafted, perfectly preserved, top-vintage Bordeaux that can only be found here—and we couldn’t be more excited.
For years now, we’ve searched high and low for profound Right Bank values from the blockbuster 2015 vintage because it was a year that delivered a rare combination of luxuriousness and elegance. In their initial vintage report, Wine Spectator emphasized the incredible opulence of Pomerol, the absolute perfection of Saint-Émilion, and the immense values to be found in Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux. And although it took a seemingly endless amount of time to secure this deal, Château de Clotte’s 2015 Grand Vin may very well be the paragon of “immense value” to which they alluded. Now at six years old, this is $25 Bordeaux at its most polished, stylish, and breathtakingly elegant. This exceptional blend of Merlot and Cabernets is brimming with lush berry fruit, silky texture, and powerful minerality that all point to Castillon’s mythical terroir and Clotte’s 13th-century vineyard. It’s such a remarkable value, we jokingly considered applying a six-bottle minimum for each order. Ultimately, the choice is yours, just know that we couldn’t recommend this powerhouse red any stronger!
The entire appellation of historic Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux deserves to be a World Heritage site, thanks to landmarks like Château de Clotte: The 150-year-old estate, built by namesake M. Roy de Clott, is impressive by itself but the surrounding vineyards can be traced back to the 1200s! Still, there is so much more to this appellation than its rich history. Côte de Castillon is one of the most reliable “outer-borough” designations in Bordeaux when it comes to quality and price. Additionally, the western reaches of Côte de Castillon directly abuts Saint-Émilion, where you’ll find Château de Clotte flirting with the border just three miles away, in the tiny commune of Les Salles-de-Castillon.
Since 2002, Bruno Laporte has owned the property and its humble 20 hectares of vines. Aside from farming with respect to nature, he and his team practice extreme attention to detail in the cellar: Brief cold macerations; parcel-specific fermentations in a combination of barrels and concrete; and extended maturation in 50% new French oak before blending. Today’s 2015 is approximately 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Malbec.
Not only is Château de Clotte close to Saint-Émilion geographically, but it shares stylistic similarities, too, with plush Merlot fruit and the grippy, savory structure of Cabernets to round it out. Their 2015 Grand Vin reveals a dark ruby core with lighter garnet reflections on the rim. The palate effuses ripe, powerful, and intoxicating dark-berry aromas of black cherry liqueur, huckleberry, boysenberry, cassis, and spiced plum before giving way to gentler notes of cloves, bay leaf, cigar box, crushed stone, leather, and fired clay. The palate is full-bodied and structured, propelled by a lush core of fruit, spice, and damp herbs that are beginning to flaunt some enticing secondary flavors. It’s in a perfect drinking window now and will remain there for several years to come. Enjoy in large Bordeaux stems around 60 degrees after a 15-minute decant. What a find! Cheers!
