| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | France > Bordeaux > Left Bank > Pessac-Léognan |
| Colour | Red |
| Type | Still |
This Pessac Leognan Chateau has been making excellent wines in recent years under the management of owner Jean-Jacques Bonnie whose family purchased the property in 1997. The 46 hectare vineyard is planted with equal proportions of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with 8% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.
The 2017 Malartic-Lagravière is a blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. This has come on nicely since tasting it from barrel. The bouquet is almost understated at first, relying on its purity and delineation to seduce. Scents of blackberry and briary gently unfold with time. The palate is medium-bodied with very supple tannins, a lithe Pessac-Léognan with soft blackberry, red plum and redcurrant fruit laced with clove and white pepper towards the finish. Not a wine of astonishing complexity, but elegant and satisfying persistence. Enjoy this over the next 15 years, possibly longer. Drink 2022-2038.
This has plenty of rich fruit, in the dark-cherry and cassis zone. The oak is nicely played into earthy accents, too. The tannins are smooth-grained and open out smoothly on the finish, delivering creamy, ripe berries. Drink or hold.
The 2017 red Malartic Lagraviere is medium to deep garnet-purple in color. It opens a little broodily with notes of cedar, tar, and sauteed herbs, over a cassis and black cherries core, plus a waft of black olives. Medium-bodied, the palate is savory and refreshing, delivering lightly chewy tannins and a mineral-laced finish.
A carefully extracted, well constructed palate delivers a sense of finesse and freshness. The fruit is not particularly expressive on the attack - you need to sit down with this for a while and wait, allow those retracting tannins to soften and unwind. Eventually, a gorgeously pure expression of cassis comes curling through, with liquorice and woodsmoke notes rounding things off. Needs time.
Drinking Window 2025 - 2038
Deep crimson. Dark, nicely dusty cassis. Dark chocolate and graphite finesse. Dry, fine tannins with the graphite freshness marked on the finish. Elegant, if not charming at the moment. Attractive restraint.
Drink 2023-2032
Half of the crop here was lost to frost although the warmer terroir where the Cabernet Sauvignon is planted was less affected. No second generation bunches were picked. There will be 6000 cases produced of a wine that is made from 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Jean-Jacques compares it to the 2014 vintage "but with more precission". Red cherries, plums and creamy vanilla show on this open and expressive nose. The palate is chalky with tannins and fresh with red and black fruits in a compact, and bright wine. There is added richness from creamy vanilla and toast from the oak, but this is crunchy and elegant through to the finish, with great poise.
Both nose and palate are tight the fruit fresh the tannins obvious. Richer at the back ripe black cherry is backed by cassis the finish lighter fresh a bilberry bramble mix. 2024-37
The tannins are a little too fierce and the fruit is a little too timid, but this is a lovely wine and I like the flavour of the fruit and the length. If the tannins calm down, and I have a feeling that they will, this will work out to be a genial, medium-weight and nicely perfumed wine.
The 2017 Malartic Lagravière Rouge has a precise and focused bouquet with blackberry, briary and mineral scents that gain intensity with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with firm, grippy tannin. This is a more masculine and structured Malartic-Lagravière that might lack the sophistication of recent vintages but delivers fine depth towards the finish. Hopefully the élevage will soften up the edges to make this more approachable by the time it is bottled. 2021 - 2040
A firm and silky wine with a creamy freshness and firm tannins. Dark berries and wet earth. Medium to full body. Linear and tight.
Sixty percent of the crop made it into this grand vin this year. The blend is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, and it was aged in 45% new French oak. Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2017 Malartic Lagraviere features baked blackberries, mulberries, pencil lead and spice cake with hints of chocolate box, menthol and cassis. The medium-bodied palate is plush, soft, juicy and expressive with a spicy finish. Drink: 2020-2033
The tentative blend of the 2017 Malartic Lagraviere is 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot. Deep garnet-purple colored, it is a little closed, offering hints of tar, tilled black soil and yeast extract over a core of blackberries and warm red plums plus a waft of bay leaves. Medium-bodied with a good amount of elegant red and black fruits plus delicately played chewy tannins and a lively backbone, it finishes on an earthy note.
