2022 Château Le Puy, Emilien, Vin de France, Bordeaux, France.
Formerly part of the Francs Côtes de Bordeaux appellation, Château Le Puy, which left the official AOC to focus on making the best wine possible, without rigid rules, is now, like the famous Château Lafleur, who left the Pomerol AOC recently, a Vin de France label. Blessed with outstanding Bordeaux vines and a long history, that dates back to 1610, Le Puy is crafting natural and organic offerings, like this beautiful Emilien Merlot based rouge. This dark garnet hued 2022 is ripe on the palate with a structured full body, with roughly 80% Merlot and the rest made up from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and even a touch of Carmenère, showing off concentrated mulberry, plum, currant and spiced cherry fruits, as well as hints of acacia flowers, toasted cedar, light herbal/anise and olive notes, plus a lingering loamy stoniness. Supple, Merlot, influenced tannins and pleasing fruit density make for a very rewarding Bordeaux wine that is from a distinctive and unique terroir, that winemakers at Le Puy want to highlight through natural non intervention methods. Raised for 24 months in mostly used barrels and bottled unfined and unfiltered, this Emilien, getting better with every sip and, as I have said before, is faintly earthy, much less flashy or oaky than most Saint-Emilion or Pomerols these days. This wine, which I’ve been following since the 2011 and 2012 vintages is a lot of wine for the money, especially for those that want a nuanced and organic Bordeaux.
Château Le Puy, an estate made terroir driven and natural/organic wine, as I’ve mentioned in my prior reviews, is crafted by Jean-Pierre Amoreau and his son, Pascal, who oversee the vineyards and the cellar here. The Chateau’s vineyards are situated on the same plateau as Saint Emilion and Pomerol and sits on the second highest point in the Gironde at 110 meters above sea level (approximately 350 feet) with clay, silex and limestone soils. Their vines, mostly as expected are Merlot, at 85%o f the area, but also planted to a number of other red varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon (6%), Cabernet Franc (7%) along with a touch of Malbec and Carmenère along with a plot of Semillon for the Château’s white wine. Both of the Grand Vin reds, the Barthelemy and this Emilien are blends that include a breakdown of all the estate red grapes in roughly the same percentage as grown on the estate. The Château Le Puy, 100% certified biodynamic, Emilien is from 50 year old vines, all hand tended and harvested without any chemicals, only holistic/natural treatments and the wine is fermented using only native yeasts and with no SO2 during the ferments. There’s a raw seductive presence in the glass here with the latest Le Puy and it should drink excellently for another decade, with good cellaring, but there less need for patience with the generous nature of the vintage, though it deserves a good meal to bring out all of its complexity.
($59 Est.) 94 Points, grapelive