2011 Château Grandis, Cru Bourgeois Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux, France

A wine for enthusiasts of classic Haut-Médoc; charming, elegant and well balanced. All the quality of a Cru Classé with the price tag of a Cru Bourgeois!

Château Grandis is a small, relatively unheard of, estate of just 10 hectares run by Brice Vergez. Brice and his father before him François-Joseph have deliberately chosen to keep the estate small in order to tend their vineyards as much by hand as possible. It has been ‘Cru Bourgeois’ since 1932, and chose to remain affiliated in 2008 when the rules changed. To this end each row of vines is ploughed rather using systematic herbicide and harvesting is entirely done by hand, as is pruning and a green harvest that helps to ensure full phenolic ripeness in each berry. After picking the grapes are painstakingly sorted by hand and then the grapes from each plot are vinified separately so that each plot can produce a wine interprets each nuance of terroir. Fermentation takes place in temperature controlled stainless steel vats before malolactic takes place. Each vat is then tasted and its quality assessed and those that are of good enough quality and possessing the right character are used to blend the final wine. The final assemblage is then matured for between 12 and 18 months in oak depending on vintage The philosophy here is ‘balance’, producing wines that sit with a fine balance of ripeness, acidity, sugars and fruit flavour while keeping both a sense of place and allowing each vintage to show its character. These are classically styled in every sense of the word. These are classic long lived wines as shown by the back vintages available, we have chosen to offer 2011 at present which still has plenty of life in it, and for this reason Brice is in no hurry to sell each vintage on.