Inexpensive Bordeaux - Paging Alex

At the link is a list of 18 2009 Bdx that I can get in DC for under $20. As the topic of bargin Bdx comes up evey so often, anybody know if any of these are worth tracking down?

http://www.bassins.com/sale/2009-bordeaux-wine-sale.php

I'm very interested in the opinions you get, Brian.

Ch Clarke uses to be good juice in the late 90s!

[James Roscoe]

I got that email too. As I don't get over to MacArthurs I wonder if it is worth the trouble.

[Jenise]

Covert should have some interesting input for you. He talks about buying from Zachy's "Unsung Heroes" list from time to time, which would be Bordeauxs in this price range. I'll call his attention to this thread.

Ch. Beulieu, Bel Air, Bouscaut and Cheval Noir have been perennial players in the affordable Bordeaux segment for the US. They tend to maintain pretty high levels of quality and usually aren't egregious in stylistic excess.

Can't really say about the others.

Arnauton, Beaulieu, and Cheval Noir (a classic wine from Mahler-Besse) are good.
Grand Maréchaux is a reputable wine, but I wonder why it is more expensive than many of the others...

Don't know Bel Air, but knowing who owns it I'd definitely consider it worth a try, and Castillon is a much under-rated region.

As for Thieulay, the red is good, but the white is even better.

All the best,
Alex R.

Thanks Hoke and Alex. I purchased a mixed case based on your recs. Its a strange sort of happiness when a case cost less than $200. I will try to post notes as I open them.

Thanks so much for seeking my inputs, Jenise, but I am afraid I can’t help. The “unsung heroes” I purchased from Sherry-Lehmann were instructive as a life’s lesson but less than rewarding gastronomically. They helped me realize that while generic Bordeaux appellations are technically Bordeaux, they are not what my psyche thinks of from the term. A bottle needs to talk to my mind (specifically my right brain) in order for me to feel I am drinking a Bordeaux, and anything short of good cru bourgeois has not been capable of doing that. I realize that part of that failing can be explained by the perceptional subset of psychology that explains how if a person thinks a wine is lesser it will taste lesser. I could possibly be fooled by drinking a “better” wine unbeknownst to me poured into an unsung hero bottle. So I have ceased and desisted in drinking any of my unsung heroes anywhere other than at picnics under a warmt sun and near the water with hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, baked beans, grilled vegetables and girls in shorts. In that setting most or all of them are fine, and one might be better than another at one moment but not necessarily at the next, with a different mix on the paper plate or vision in the eye. Every single one was good. So an opinion regarding wine quality is contextual to me.


As an aside, I am an eternal optimist in that I know one can create good things almost regardless of his original intent. When I realized I would not be able to drink my unsung heroes in elegant settings, I provisioned them gratis at a community picnic. If I had known that they would be the hit that they were, especially because I included real Bordeaux glasses to drink them out of, I would have purchased the bottles expressly for that purpose. Luckily I have enough heroes left to enrich and ornament a couple of more picnics over the next couple of summers.

Too late for Brian, but a couple thoughts:
I'm with Hoke on Bouscaut, but the wine I'm thinking of is a Pessac-Leognan, this seems to be a Bdx AC. I guess this is their property outside of Graves
Cheval Noir is often on US bistro lists and often a good buy, usually a safe approachable style.
Les Grands Maréchaux is a Parker fave, pretty modern /low acid, though not totally OTT.

Ignoring Brian's list, here are some other under $20 Bdx I have enjoyed in more than one vintage:
Caronne Ste Gemme, Ste Colombe, Picque Caillou, Tayac.
If on sale the Moueix negociant wines can offer value.
But my favorite Bdx cheapies are the related chateaux of Grolet (Cotes du Bourg) and Peybonhomme (Cotes de Blaye), really nice non-spoofy wines at good prices.

So picked up my mixed case yesterday and looking at the listed alcohol content has me slightly worried.

Ch Beaulieu - 13.7%
Ch Cheval Noir - 13.0%
Ch Bel-Air - 14.5%
Ch Arnauton - 14.5%
Dom Bouscat Classique - 14.5%
Ch Grand Marechaux - 14.5%
Ch Thieuley - 13%

I realize that 2009 was a ripe vintage and most of these are melt based but to have all of them at 13% or more with over half the selections listed at 14.5% took me by surprise. Obviously will reserve judgement until tasting.