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"De gustibus non est disputandum." - There is no disputing matters of taste.

Coming attraction

February will be BORDEAUX MONTH.  We'll explore why Bordeaux is often referred to as the "King of Wines."

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Welcome!  This blog is focused on finding value-priced wines that offer excellent taste and quality.                      Please feel free to add comments about the posts and make suggestions for other excellent wines that can be purchased for under $25.

Format

Most of the posts will focus on a single wine.  Every couple weeks, I'll try to summarize all of the wines discussed so far for a particular type of wine like Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon.  Occasionally, I'll offer a news article or a "How to" article on various topics (tasting wine, collecting wine, storing wine, etc.).  The posts are tagged with keywords that are listed on the right side below.

Monday, January 25, 2010

2005 Chateau Belle-Vue, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux

The vineyard for Chateau Belle-Vue is planted with 26-year old vines, and it is located adjacent to famed Chateau Giscours and the elite Margaux appellation.  Robert Parker gives it 88 points, "One of the few Bordeaux wines to include Carmenere in the blend, Belle-Vue's final blend in 2005 is 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 20% Petit Verdot, and 3% Carmenere.  It reveals more tannin along with great fruit, medium body, and plenty of character."

The list price is $26, and Bottle Barn currently has it on sale for $12.99.  If you don't mind moderately high tannin levels, Belle-Vue is an excellent choice for fairly-priced, high-quality Bordeaux.  This wine should age nicely for 6-8 years.  For drinking now, I suggest double-decanting and letting it breath for an hour or more before serving.  (I tasted it over the weekend and the tannins were quite noticeable even with double-decanting -- it was much softer and smoother the second day.)  With the list price of $26, I think it offers only average QPR.  For a sale price of $12.99, I think it becomes a high-QPR wine.

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