This second wine of Malartic-Lagraviere is drinking just beautifully. Open nose has loads of red fruit, underbrush, savory, gravelly notes, and even a lightly-roasted beef note. Soft and mouthfilling, but light on its feet. Fruit, earthy notes, and savory, low-toned minerals on the palate. Not much tannin in the slightly drying finish. I wouldn’t keep these more than a couple more years. — 8 months ago
2015 vintage. Some definite swings with this wine. Tasting for the third time in three months. Deep, funky leather earth nose. Medium body (and slightly less than the usual Malescot bod). Oak definitely there but more complimentary vs aggressive. Soft/silky tannins. Plums + herbs. If this were a blind tasting, I'd hafta peg this as a 2014-2018 Malartic Lagravières. Def tastes more Graves than Margaux. Best bottle of the three tasted. Scoring a 92.5 but rounding up with the elegance factor. With so much bottle variation (purchased separately 3x), who knows? This one is lighter for Malescot but delicious. — 3 years ago
Pineapple nuances initially but on settling more citrus and nuts. Waxy notes on the palate. Barrel fermented in approx 50% new oak. A style not followed widely by Australian wine makers. They should - the oak adds another dimension. The vines are planted on deep well draining gravel over clay sub soil. I love having wines like this out of the usual. I bought this at Hedonism Wines, London in July 2019. I’ve never seen this Cuvée offered in Australia but may have missed it. Back story - This Cuvée used to be 100% Sauvignon Blanc but under the ownership of Belgian businessman, Alfred Alexandre Bonnie, further investment was made and Semillon was introduced to give more complexity. Now 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon. — 7 months ago
Second wine of Château Malartic-Lagravière. A blend of 50% cabernet sauvignon, 45% merlot and 5% cabernet franc. This has definitely some of the class of the grand vin and it is still very young at 10 years old. Cassis, cedar wood and Graves spiciness. Tightly structured serious wine with cassis and blueberry fruit in a frame of ripe tannin and very good spicy length. Terrific value at 23 euro for a 10 years old wine in a great vintage. No hurry to drink this, I feel there is still a lot of potential and I suspect it might benefit from another 5 years of cellaring. This is clearly an estate to watch ever since the Bonnie family took over. Abv. 14%. — 4 years ago
2019 vintage. Underbrush and certain amount of weediness on the nose. Medium body. Full color. That Graves/Pessac-Léognan milk chocolate texture. Flush and full mouthfeel. Gliding finish. Unexpected balance of fruit and tannins in a pop and pour price range. More oomph (generally) than Malartic Lagravière but less than Chevalier. Drink now? Yes. Drink in 25 years? Probably not. Likely has a end game of 15 years with the sweet spot in the (shocker) 5-8 year range. Picked up at Costco and price was $32 USD. Affordable Graves/P-L not the easiest BDX to source. This was firing from the get go. 7.22.24. — 4 months ago
Lovely white Bordeaux. The Semillon dominated at the beginning, finishing with lemon from the Sauvignon Blanc. Straightforward and nowhere as complex as the Malartic-Lagraviere, but a delicious bottle of wine. The nose had a great citrus and flower aroma. — 2 years ago
Curiosité immacculée, fleurs blanches, abricot, pureté minérale, accentué de quelques épices éparpillées dans le sillage du muscadel.
Un esquif rare qui a vogué brillamment aux côtés de la morue et de la pannetone. — 4 years ago
Robert Ahlstrom
Deep, slightly inky red-purple, pronounced acidity, mature, red currants and cherries, excellent Pessac-Leognan — 2 days ago