CH. Belle-Vue

Finally, I opened my first bottle of Bordeaux in what seems like months last Saturday. My cousin came over, we had some fresh salad, lamb, grilled fish, chicken......a fairly large meal, and what better than a red wine from one of my favourite vintages for Bordeaux.

The 2004 vintage is underrated, if there ever is such a thing for Bordeaux. Not a lot of attention, because the wines are classic and elegant, instead of blockbuster. Which is great, because this is exactly the kind of wine I love. Delicate and intellectual - it's not an easy wine to drink and understand, but that's ok. And of course, it means that prices are more reasonable. Relatively speaking, that is.

We drank a 2004 Ch. Belle-Vue, AC Haut Medoc. It's a property located next to Ch. Giscours, so it shares the same soil, same location, but not the brand name and corresponding price. I have a few bottle of this stored away, but LCBO had a sale on it - it went down to $26.25, down from $31.70. Quite a significant drop, which is terribly upsetting, since it means I overpaid by quite a bit when these were just released.

I opened it the previous night. Lean and unforgiving, but incredible saturation of colour and the fruit was so fresh. It needed a lot of decanting and aerating - a few hours later, it begins to put on weight. Develops a creaminess, vanilla, but remains balanced. Good acidity, lots of classic Bordeaux flavours - red fruits, graphite, some smokiness. Long finish. My cousin didn't really like it. Callow palates, stay the hell away!

Fantastic wine, I can't wait until 2015, which is when I'll begin drinking this wine again.