This may be the best value Bordeaux I've ever bought. $13 at BevMo (a store I hate, but I was desperate), purchased in 2014 for a tasting I was doing, and I thought so much of it I went back for every last bottle. I should have left the wine alone for ten years as it's turning out, but because it was so inexpensive, I was biased toward thinking it an early drinker despite what I tasted. Now that I look back over the TNs I compiled over time, it's obvious how wrong (and bullheaded) I was.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (last night)
Apparently my previous predictions of this wine peaking were completely unfounded. It's not there even now. Did not decant but found significant improvement in the second hour, with stern black fruit acquiring some juicy red friends and leather notes coming up around the edges. The way it's trending, this will continue to improve over the next 3-5 years, and might still hold surprises thru 2030. For a $13 BevMo purchase, pretty incredible.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (in 2020)
Violets and red fruit with good acidity. Only medium body but all the better for it with a black truffle risotto.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (in 2019)
What an amazing $13 Bord Sup. Cassis fruit with loamy forest and mushroom notes. Great balance and finish. Potentially at peak now, no idea what to expect from here.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (in 2016)
Damn this is good. For $13, that is. Foresty and loamy, but showing good black fruit at this point. Solid, good structure. Perhaps time to put these in the drinking queue.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (in 2015)
Opened and decanted last week, then returned to bottle and drunk five days later. Surprisingly little change during that time. Big and loamy with strong flavors of black cherry, blackberry and something scorched like some syrahs have. No idea where it's going, but it's not the delight it was a year ago.
2010 Château de Marsan Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux Red Bordeaux Blend (in 2014)
Ridiculously good for $13. Dark fruit, loamy, with a lot more complexity and authentic Bordeaux-appropriate structure than I would have believed possible for the money.