Winescout.info                Original & exciting wines from producers who deserve it to be better known

Navigation bar is missing? Please click
home

and learn more about winescout.info - other original and exciting wines, criteria, opinions and updates.



France

Château l'Argenteyre  2002, A.C. Médoc Cru Bourgeois. **HERITAGE WINE**

Colour: very dark red with still some purple.
Nose: quite expressive, ripe, rich, creamy, with lots of earthy and spicy berry fruit, some nuances of very ripe Merlot (raisins) subtle, very well integrated and dosed oak, quite deep, clean and well balanced. Quite modern, approachable style, ripe, but (happily) without the ubiquitous overdose of oak.
Taste: powerful, very ripe, quite rich, some alcohol, very warm fruity, round and meaty, nice ripe tannins, some supportive oak, a bit low in acidity, but still quite well balanced. Earthy, smoky and mild style, clean and ripe fruit.
Finish: reasonably long, mild, with some alcohol, tannins, earthy, nice fruit nuances, impressions of smoke and a hint of sweetness.

* A rich and mild styled Médoc with power and many nuances in an earthy and ripe fruity style, mild acidity, nice depth of flavour, very well integrated supportive oak, clean and very well made, no hard or aggressive impressions.  Smooth expression of the terroir.

- Ready to drink now, will keep until ca. 2008, will become a bit softer, more complex with time but is not a great keeper. It has traded the necessary balancing acidity for keeping for a ripe smoothness.

- This is a very well produced Médoc. Obviously made of very ripe grapes high in sugar and lacking a little bit in acidity. This generous alcohol content and mild acidity makes the wine so easy going now, but prevents it from mature well into a nice old age.  The producers (Famille Reich) are honest and hard working producers continuously busy improving their wines and vineyards.  They do not exhibit the greed and short mindedness of too many Médociains: their prices have always been realistic and in pace with quality. Their vineyards are potentially not the most refined in the whole Bordeaux region, but about the finest around in their village: situated on very gravely ridges and densely planted. They are still planting extra vines in the vineyards to increase density even further, also the proportion of Petit Verdot is increased, so they are very seriously concerned about making the most out of their vineyards. They produce two wines. The first is Château l'Argenteyre, from old vines (21 ha.) and best cuvées, recently awarded Cru Bourgeois and the lighter, more elegant and easier Château Les Tresquots (7 ha), not their second wine but a neighbouring separate estate. The vineyards of Château l'Agenteyre are clearly the better ones, with older vines too. Their vinification equipment is very good, not state of the art like at some more prestigious châteaux, but very effective.  Carefully monitored vinification and intelligent use of high quality oak (both wines) result in wines that express their provenance and vintage year perfectly.   Impressive quality / price ratio for a Medoc.

- lotnr.: L 02 VV

- tasted: 01-12-’04 (same bottle was still very good and even had improved after 8 days.)

- estimated retail price ca. 10 euro

-  production:  49.000 bottles

- Château l'Argenteyre, Philippe & Gilles Reich, G.E.A.C. des Vignobles Reich, Courbian, 33340 Bégadan, tel.: + 33-556 415234 / fax.: + 33-556 415234 / e-mail: chateau-argenteyre@wanadoo.fr