Back Up the Truck #9!
2010 Château La Coudraie
The Value of the Year?
It's been over five years since our last value Bordeaux offer. We had almost given up on finding Bordeaux in the value price-range.
And then, we tasted Château La Coudraie.
Simply put, 2010 La Coudraie drinks well above its paygrade. Beyond the context of Bordeaux, this may be the value of the year.
It's impossible not to focus on the value presented here, but it also feels somewhat unfair to the wine. La Coudraie delivers such honest charm and outright quality that the emphasis on value should never obscure this fact.
We tasted La Coudraie alongside a bunch of other wines, including 1er Cru Burgundies, and we found ourselves so intrigued by La Coudraie that we kept returning to it. It was, above all else, honest. That was before we knew the price. Once we heard the price, we became even more interested.
Gently priced Bordeaux is one of our most requested items. There's a good reason for this. There was a point when Bordeaux provided people with food-friendly and affordable wines.
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Sadly, finding these sorts of wines has become extremely difficult. So many of the wines are either too expensive or just seem industrially made and innocuous. That's why we were so taken aback by La Coudraie.
It delivers deep, fairly powerful classic Bordeaux flavors of cassis, crushed leaves and minerals with round tannins and a fresh finish. In the end, there's an easy to drink joyous quality to the wine that makes it irresistible.
With Thanksgiving and the winter holidays around the corner and the temperatures dipping, La Coudraie is the prefect wine to have around in quantity. It works exceptionally well as a cocktail wine and can be paired with a wide range of meat dishes from leg of lamb to roast chicken.
One of the reasons for the unusual level of quality and soulfulness in La Coudraie has to be its importer, Daniel Johnnes. Johnnes is currently the wine director for Daniel Boulud's restaurants and has been hugely influential in educating Americans about Burgundy. He applied the Burgundy sensibility in seeking out family winemakers in Bordeaux. This might seem banal, but this is very much against the current for Bordeaux.
Another reason for the high level of La Coudraie's 2010 is that 2010 was a big vintage for Bordeaux. Robert Parker calls it one of "three greatest Bordeaux vintages I have tasted in my career."
This is the kind of bottle you should have on hand for entertaining, a glass at the ready for guests coming in out of the cold as well as an extra bottle to bring to say thanks to those hosting you. For this reason, we've gone right to case pricing.
Should you, for some strange reason, not be able to get through a case this winter, there’s nothing wrong with holding on to this for next year or breaking it out for some grilled steaks in the summer.
Deals like this always disappear in no time. It's best to give us your request as soon as possible and we'll try our best.
To order, reply to this email or call the store at (212) 980-9463.
Ian McFadden
Director, Fine & Rare Wine
Crush Wine & Spirits