If you enjoy French wine, mark Saturday Sept. 29 on your calendar. That is when Signature BC Liquor Stores will be releasing the much-awaited 2015 vintage from Bordeaux.
Master of wine Barbara Philip is the category manager for European wines and she chose the almost 200 wines. “I love the vintage! It’s bright, it’s structured, it’s the greatest vintage we’ve seen in five years.
“I remember when I was in Bordeaux in 2016. Everybody was excited, the journalists, the buyers, because we hadn’t seen that ripeness of fruit and that complexity and the tannins for five years,” Philip added.
“2015 is forwardly drinking and you can open the bottle and enjoy it so much sooner than the vintages which are leaner in fruit and tannic and more classical. It’s great for the consumer and that’s another reason why I’m excited about the 2015s. I can have a $25 bottle of Bordeaux that tastes like Bordeaux and that’s good.”
Most Bordeaux wines are red and usually the expensive high-end ones can be exquisite, even in good but not great years. Philip provided good news to consumers, “What excites me about 2015 are the lower priced wines. I love a little wine that we bought quite a few cases of,” she said.
“It’s Château de Rouidier, it’s $25 and for me it ticks off all the boxes. It’s not going to be a wine that will increase in value. It’s not going to be a wine you can cellar for 10 years, but you can cellar it for two or three years, and it tastes like Bordeaux. It tastes like plum and cassis and it has good tannic structure,” Philip said.
Château le Roudier is a Bordeaux Superiéur, the entry-levelappellation d'origine controlee (A.O.C) granted to certain French geographical indications for wines.
Another good buy is Château Brown Pessac-Léognan ($55), which received 92 points from the prestigious British wine magazine, Decanter. “Elegance and balance with a sexy flourish. Medium drinking, great pleasure.”
It’s from the Left Bank of Bordeaux, the region that has the top first, second, third, fourth, and fifth growth châteaux from the 1855 Classification. Although it’s on the Left Bank, Brown belongs to the lesser Cru Bourgeois designation, which doesn’t have huge price tags but delivers great value.
I was also impressed with another Left Bank Cru Bourgeois, the 2015 Château Poujeaux Moulis-en-Medoc ($65).
James Suckling, one of the world’s top critics of European Wine gave the Poujeaux 94 points. “Suave, brambly mixed summer berry fruits take center stage on the nose with a very nicely layered palate carrying fresh bright berry flavours into an upbeat finish. Smart wine. Try from 2022.”
As in previous years, there is an inventory site, https://specialevents.bcliquorstores.com/bordeaux2015/, listing all of the Bordeaux being released in 30 stores around the province and describing them in detail.
All of the wines are available at the 39th and Cambie BCLS Signature Store. Richmond’s Brighouse will carry an extensive variety of the collection, and the Ironwood store will have some of the wines. Doors open at 9:30 am on the 29th.
Eric Hanson is a Richmond wine educator
