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| February 19, 2008 |
  
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Most people don't have wine cellars or wine rooms or wine closets or cabinets. Most people don't buy wine to age, as if they were 19th Century English barons, socking away case upon case of long-lived wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy in stone chambers deep under their country houses for the sake of their children and grandchildren, or, nowadays, for the auction houses.
In fact, only about five percent of the wine made in the world - though it receives 95 percent of the publicity - is intending for laying down. The rest, that vast other ocean of the world's wine, is meant for drinking within the first one to two years.
Still, those glamourous wines exist, and they can be glorious. And they can be disappointing, but as long as they're part of the realm of wine, I'm going to write about them for the people who have the time, the space and the fiduciary joie de vivre. In truth, we tend to drink wines that can age too soon, preferring, to our contemporary tastes, the vigor and rigor of youth to the mellowness of autumnal maturity.
Chateau Greysac 2003
We were at a party a couple of nights ago, drinking Rosemount Shiraz and nibbling snacks, when our host handed me another glass and said, "Here, try this."
I took a few sniffs, and the bouquet of cedar and tobacco, walnut shell and potpourri, black currants and black cherries said, "Bordeaux." Not great Bordeaux. This was pretty simple and direct, though quite attractive, a reaction confirmed by a sip or two. I stayed with that glass for the next hour, deriving immense satisfaction from the tidy and very drinkable wine that was mild enough, though well-structured with firm tannins, to have, perhaps, a few years on it. By "mild," I don't mean innocuous; the wine possessed warm and spicy black fruit flavors with balance and poise that approached elegance, while its sleek qualities could not be mistaken for glibness. This was a well-made and thoroughly enjoyable little wine.
Finally, I approached our host and asked the name of the wine. The answer? Chateau Greysac 2003.
Ha!
Greysac, which is widely available in the United States, is the property that for many people served as an introduction to Bordeaux way back when. Casual wine drinkers who couldn't name a single chateau of the 1855 Classification or even tell you what that classification means could probably name Greysac as a wine they had tried or even bought a case of now and then.
The property is in Begadan, the southern-most area of the vast Medoc, where hundreds of chateaux turn out well-made, traditional red wines. Greysac encompasses about 54 acres and produces about 40,000 cases of wine annually. A sturdy, gray old house rises above the vineyards. The cepage -- the proportion of grapes in the vineyards -- is 45 percent merlot, 40 percent cabernet sauvignon, 10 percent cabernet franc and 5 percent petit verdot. Ten years ago, the proportion of cabernet was greater than merlot; the switch has helped to soften the wine and give it more suppleness.
Greysac 2003 is classified Cru Bourgeois Superieur. This is according to a system that tried to make sense of the Cru Bourgeois category launched in 1934. According to the revision, a process started in 2000 and completed in 2003, there are nine chateaux at the top Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel level; 87 at the Cru Bourgeois Superieur level; and 151 named Cru Bourgeois. The intent was that the status of the chateaux would be reviewed every 12 years.
All of this effort was nullified in 2007, however, when a court in the city of Bordeaux decided that members of the selection committee had operated under conflicts of interest because they had done business with the chateaux they were evaluating. The result was that everybody went back to Cru Bourgeois.
Anyway, I was happy to become reacquainted with Chateaux Greysac in its version of 2003. At about $15 to $20 a bottle, I would recommend buying it by the case.
Chateau GreysacChateau Greysac 2003 Merlot 45%, cabernet sauvignon 40%, cabernet franc 10%, petit verdot 5% Medoc, Bordeaux, France About $15 - $20 Very good+ Greysac 2003 is a model for a wine of its reputation and aspirations. The bouquet offers cedar and tobacco, black currant and black cherry, with touches of walnut shell, wheatmeal, plum and potpourri. It's solid in the mouth, but smooth and supple, its black fruit flavors nicely fitted over a framework of spicy oak and slightly grainy tannins. There's nothing rustic or "backwoods" about this wine. It's warm and approachable and integrated, and, for its moderate size, approaches elegance. Drink now through 2010 or '13. Imported by Diageo Chateau and Estate, Napa, Cal. |
| Print Review: Chateau Greysac Chateau Greysac 2003 |
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