Château Tour Chapoux Bordeaux Supérieur red 2019

I promised that I would write about a 2019 Bordeaux and I finally got round to buying one and drinking it with my wife. I was pleasantly surprised about this wine. I was a bit fearful that it would be too early to drink. In a previous blog I suggested that it would be best to keep the 2019 vintage for a couple of years before drinking it. Much as I hate to say it, I was wrong; you can drink this wine as the tannin is very soft. The wine has much of the character of the region and it is of quite high quality. At less than £10 a bottle in a British supermarket it represents good value for money and I recommend it. You can find it at a discounted price; supermarkets are lowering the cost of some wines to attract customers. You can find some bargains but it would be better if the pound had a higher value against the Euro and the Greenback; however I can't see much prospect of this in the near future.

This website gives a good description of the 2019 vintage in Bordeaux.

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/opinion/news-blogs-anson/bordeaux-2019-vintage-what-to-expect-436453/

Château Tour Chapoux Bordeaux Supérieur 2019 is mainly Merlot based wine so it is made for easy drinking. However, this wine will keep and improve in the bottle for a few more years. This wine went down well with steak and chips and we were able to savour it over two evenings.  It is light enough to drink on its own if you feel that way inclined, but I wouldn't do that as it deserves to be matched with food.

2019 was a good year for Bordeaux so it is worth buying a few bottles to lay down if you can afford it.

This wine was rated 3.5 out 5 on this website, below. I am not a lover of ratings but if I had to I would have given it 4 out 5 on the basis of value for money.

https://www.vivino.com/GB/en/tour-chapoux-bordeaux-superieur/w/2150579?year=2019

https://www.waitrosecellar.com/chateau-tour-chapoux

It pays to keep your wine -part 2

 Even though most wines can be drunk young , it pays to keep the better ones to mature in the bottle.

2013 Pietro Sartori Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG. This red wine was superb. It is made from partially dried Corvina black grapes blended with other approved varieties in the Veneto region of North East Italy. It is so well known that it is often referred to as just Amarone. This wine has all the attributes of the wine style of the appellation. It is fruity and very complex and concentrated wine with a full body with well balanced acidity, tannin, sweetness and alcohol at 15%. It is dry wine. You have to drink this wine with strong food; it really is too strong to knock back on its own and I recommend that you don't.  We tasted it over two nights with a venison stew and it went perfectly with it. To buy it now you will have to pay over £60 a bottle. I can't remember where or when I bought it but I did not pay anywhere near that price, so it was a good investment. I do not buy wine to make money so my investment only paid off as a tasting sensation. This wine will keep a lot longer. Would I be tempted to pay £60 plus for another bottle of this vintage - well yes? This is top wine.

https://www.vivino.com/pietro-sartori-amarone-della-valpolicella/w/113

2013 Alain Mathias Bourgogne Epineuil red AC. This wine is is from the  north west of the Burgundy region, on the outskirts of Tonnerre, and it reflects the nature of the cooler climate. The wine is made from pinot noir grapes grown in the limestone soils. The vines are raised bio-dynamically. The wine is fully ready to be drunk now at is near its peak. I am astounded that Alain Mathias can produce a wine that exactly reflects the "goût de terroir" of the area for such a reasonable price. My wife and I love this wine and so we have an affection for wines from the area. Her family is from the Yonne where top wines such as Chablis and Epineuil are from.

Epineuil red is much lighter than the wines from Bordeaux or Veneto and it can be drunk on its own but I never do this; it really should be drunk with food. We tasted ours with pintade. 

https://www.map-france.com/department-Yonne/

The concept of "goût de terroir" is alien to many wine lovers. If you go to the region and drink a good Epineuil then you will know what I mean. This wine style is unique. It is recognisable and it jumps out from the other red wines of Burgundy including the top ones which also have their own "goût de terroir". "Goût de terroir" does not just reflect the soil that the vines are grown in; the climate and the match of the grape variety to the soil and weather also have an influence. When I am tasting other so called "pinot noir wines" from anywhere else, including France, I have difficulty recognising which country they come from. I can't tell a Washington state "pinot noir" from a New Zealand one. All I know is that the pinot noir grape does not like a hot climate.  

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/us-geologists-challenge-gout-de-terroir-64004/

If you are in France you should really visit the Yonne. Alain Mathias also produces superb  Chablis.  his wines are superb and great value for money. We have just finished our last bottle of Epineuil: it is difficult to go to France now, so we are looking forward to a delivery.

http://www.domainealainmathias.com/