Ron's enquiry about affordable wines from Margaux incited me to take a look at this one. I love left-bank claret but seem to open them far less than in the past. Finding a good pairing, particularly for old ones as we discussed in a previous thread, is part of the problem and I jumped at the opportunity provided by a farm-house chicken to serve this nice, quite young example.
Château Labégorce Zédé Margaux cru bourgeois exceptionnel - suspended classification - 1999 – Alc. 12.5%.
In Januray 20010 I wrote that it was a lovely example of Médoc from this unfashionable but often elegant vintage. It was at its peak, I think, with a fragrant Margaux bouquet of fine red fruit and flowers and a gamey - veering to barnyard - streak together with a medium bodied harmonious, discreetly structured and quite long palate still showing some expressive primary fruit and fresh acidity underpinned by some secondary development including minerals and by some gamey darkness which added complexity. This went very well farmhouse chicken in a creamy sauce laced with coffee; 16/20++. . The only difference last night was that the gamey streak was less evident - a little wet leather at most - and there was no coffee in the sauce.
Starting from 2009 vintage this wine has been merged into Château Labégorce but, according to Wine Searcher, earlier vintages in the 00s of Labégorce-Z are available in the USA for prices in a $30-45 bracket. My guess is that 2001 is likely to be the most gracious drinking right now.