I have these wines, how long should I age them for? I know those are good regions for Bordeaux wines so I don't want to open them now if they will get better with age 🙂
From what I've googled, 2023 is generally a good year but some wines may be better than others?
by Livid_Painting2285
15 Comments
A decade or two?
I doubt these are any special.
Can’t even see a winery name
It’s Friday I’d be aging then until 5pm tonight
Looks like they are negociant wines? No Chateau names so likely vinified by a Chateau but then sold to a negociant in barrel for them to bottle and label them. These are often surplus, possibly coming from younger vines or underperforming plots in a given vintage and not selected to do into the Grand Vin or second wine. Or simply de-selected to prevent too many branded bottles on the market.
But this does not mean these are poor in any way. They get the same kid glove treatment as the Chateau wine and the negociant only bottles them, although they may blend them with parcels from other Chateau. I would say these will drink for a decade minimum and potentially longer.
Like all negociant bottles with these specific appellations, they will be at best after at least 5 years, 10 is better.
These wines don’t even list a producer on their front labels. That’s not entirely out of sync with French wine more broadly—it can be pretty hard to spot the producer name on the average village-level Burgundy label—but it’s pretty strange for Bordeaux.
The entire Bordeaux model since the famous 1855 classification rests on the primacy of producer over appellation. People buy Château Margaux because it’s Chateau Margaux, not because it comes from the appellation of Margaux. Nobody who buys Mouton-Rothschild is doing it because they love Pauillac in general—it’s because they want that specific producer. The Bordelaise have built an entire wine economy and culture that centres around saying “_This_ producer is better than _that_ producer”, rather than “_This_ specific patch of dirt is better at growing wine grapes than _that_ specific patch of dirt.”
Given all of the above, the fact that there’s no producer on the label here doesn’t bode well for age-worthiness. There’s a slim chance that these will get better with time, but if they were in my possession I’d be popping them open sooner rather than later.
I have some ‘declassified’ Pauillac & Margaux. Wines from first growth estates. They are sold by the estate on the basis that their origin is not released.
I’ll go & have a look at the labels & report back.
The source was The Wine Society, so impeccable provenance.
Max 5 years, the vintages aren’t to good ether
I used to retail the Margaux and Pauillac and I might assume the St-Emilion is in the same family. They’re produced by Maison Sichel who notably own Ch. Angludet among other vineyard holdings.
Obviously no one in sales has ever cherry picked from the truth, but their sales guy insisted that each was made from declassified fruit from a single top estate. The Pauillac was allegedly from a first growth…
At the time they sold for <£20, now around £30 and that’s how best to look at them. They’re not really Pauillac, etc, they’re Bordeaux at a price point. You can definitely age £20-£30 Bordeaux and you might find value in that, but from recollection, the recent releases were pretty easy drinking.
I can’t seem to edit my post or add another picture of the back of the bottles! I have looks and the backs don’t give away a producer, it’s just fluffy words about the areas in general
Thank you for all the great responses, I think I’ll age them for maybe 5 years unless I run out of other reds and then open them 😂
You may enjoy them as you deem suitable mate. 👍🏻
Make sure to store them on their sides until you decide to enjoy them.
I wouldn’t open any Bordeaux before the 10 year mark. But it is a matter of preference…
Did these come out of that box set that you see at places like Sam’s and World Market?
No Bordeaux is approachable under 8 yrs. If you do need to drink them earlier, decant between 1-2 hrs and pair with food