An Extraordinary Find (again!): 2006 Bordeaux for $15 & the PERFECT Turkey Day Claret!
Posted on: 11/13/18 1:40 AM
Earlier this year we offered what I think might be the fastest selling Bordeaux in Gordon’s history. Perhaps not surprising given that what we’d found to offer was quite extraordinary. A twelve year old, stunningly good Bordeaux, drinking brilliantly, for $15.
I bought what I intended to be enough stock for an e-mail offer and to sell stacks of the stuff in our retail stores. Instead, it sold out in about an hour. Whoops.
The headline news is that we’ve got one more shot. This time I got twice as much as the first time, so on that basis we should be a good for about two hours. Buy quickly and buy in as much volume as you’ve got space for. I’ve included my original offer below but as I concluded there, even if for some strange reason you don’t like this as much as I think you will, at this price you can cook with it, give it to your friends, or serve it at a party. You could not possibly hope to have a better value option to have on hand for the holiday season.
The one thing I’d also like to stress up front is that this is not your average $15 Bordeaux. By that I don’t just mean that it’s good, but that stylistically this is an old school, old fashioned claret. It seriously benefits from quite a lot of time in a decanter to soften up. This is not big, easy, juicy fruit. This is earth, smoked meat and spice with dark fruit present but not dominant. It is a wine to serve with a meal, served to me blind there is no way on earth I wouldn’t pin this as significantly more expensive than it is.
Château Machorre 2006, Bordeaux AOC
Dark colour, with a classic and impressively complex nose of gentle spice, cedar, red and black fruit. Smooth silky texture with nice refreshing acidity. This is absolutely delicious old school Bordeaux, classy from start to finish. Perfect with a nice bit of red meat, it does throw a bit of deposit and improved after a bit of time in the glass, so I’d recommend giving this a decent decant. Not something I often bother with for wines at this price, but this a special case.
More about the wine:
When people say that Bordeaux is expensive, this is the kind of wine that makes me want to scream about and jump up and down waving in their face. I’m not sure there is anywhere else you can find such mature, complex and simply delicious wine at this frankly outrageously good price.
To be up front, I can’t tell you a tremendous amount about it, as this is not a wine I’d ever come across before I stumbled upon it in Bordeaux in October. I know that it’s from a rather nice spot on top of the hills of Saint Macaire overlooking the Garonne river towards the south of Bordeaux, fairly close to opposite Sauternes and Barsac. I know that as a result one of the dangers of red wine production here are the mists coming off the river, but that Machorre’s elevated south/south east facing spot on limestone and gravel soils gives great drainage, elevation and sun exposure, meaning that when conditions are right, they can make damn good wine here.
More important than that though, having been introduced to it by a friend in Bordeaux, I know that this is absolutely delicious, and that the price is almost a joke in the best possible way. As well as my colleagues here, I’ve tasted it with a British Master of Wine, as well as with the owner and winemaker of an extremely famous second growth, and all of us were completely bowled over by the quality at the price point.
At this price, there is no reason whatsoever not to take at least a case of this. Even if for some strange reason you don’t like it as much as I think you will, at this price you can cook with it, give it to your friends, serve it at a party. However, I can pretty much guarantee that this is going to be one of those wines that people will be asking for more of months after it’s gone. Buy it while you can, and buy it with gusto.
Back to Blog