Chateau Mayne Guyon
Wine: Chateau Mayne Guyon.
Grapes: Merlot (80 percent), cabernet sauvignon (20 percent)
Region: Blaye, Cotes de Bordeaux, France
Vintage: 2009
Price: $7.99
Availability: Trader Joe's
In the glass: Chateau Mayne Guyon wine is a deeply opaque ruby-red color with a dense core going out into a firm, light red to pinkish rim definition with medium-high viscosity.
On the nose: There are freshly crushed red berry fruits with a minty fresh component, hints of boysenberry and crushed marionberries, concentrated cassis fruit juice, balsa wood notes and underlying notes of cherries jubilee and light smokiness over vanilla bean stalks.
On the palate: There is good extract of red fruits dominated by red cherries, Mirabelle plum skins, spice components, then some good fruit-driven mineral notes and vague traces of wood. Altogether, it is a pure fruit-driven wine. The midpalate has great richness from the top vintage character of the wine with yet more red fruits and earthy minerals going into a solid finish that lingers with great balance between the fruit and the tannins. This is a fine, full-bodied effort made from classically proportioned grape varietals.
Odds and ends: The year 2009 was among the top three vintages ever recorded in Bordeaux, so basically any wine made there that year is top-notch. This wine is a huge overachiever, coming from this "petit Chateau" and winning Gold Medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles - which is easily the world's most prestigious wine competition - in 2011. This wine is also a classic Bordeaux-blend with merlot dominating and cabernet sauvignon to supplement. It is as good a way as any to start off the new year, providing the proverbial fireworks in a bottle. It's a good deal at less than $8 at Trader Joe's. Drink it with a nice steak frites with some herb butter. It should provide great drinking pleasure from now through 2016 at least.
Gil Lempert-Schwarz's wine column appears Wednesdays. Write him at P.O. Box 50749, Henderson, NV 89106-0749, or email him at gil@winevegas.com.
