A Special Tasting of Red Wines of Bordeaux’s Left Bank

By

Ronald Jan, M.D.

In " The Celebrated Wines of Bordeaux” posted on February 25, 2022, on https://wechineseus.com/  , I introduced  "the classification of the wines on the Left Bank" 【west side of the Gironde Estuary/Garonne River in Bordeaux】based on the price of the wines at that time. Four wines were selected as the top and were designated “First Growth”.  Among the most celebrated (and most expensive) wines of the world are the wines of Bordeaux in the Southwest part of France. The 1855 classification (modified later in 1973 including Chateau Mouton-Rothschild) gave the world a ranking of First through Fifth “Growth” (or tier ranking) of the wines of Bordeaux. Of course, we are aware of these five top red Bordeaux wines that achieved the honor of “First Growth”  - Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Haut Brion. But we cannot all afford these wonderful wines [some as high as $2500 / bottle for 2015 vintage].  A special tasting of red Bordeaux wines was hosted by Philip Parks and Debbie Stack. 12 wines from the “Left Bank” (West side of Gironde Estuary & Garonne River) of Bordeaux were tasted and contrasted. These 12 wines came from the same areas as the First Growth Bordeaux wines but are more affordable . Below is the evening’s program.

Wine Tasting Program [Photo Courtesy of Ronald Jan, M.D.]

The tasting order revealed characteristics of the “terroire” (climate and soil conditions). All the wines were spectacular and met expectations. From the North to the South regions on the Left Bank…

                St. Estephe: more clay favoring more Merlot than usual, but the predominant grape is still Cabernet Sauvignon

                Pauillac: highest elevation with gravel and excellent drainage favoring Cabernet Sauvignon…includes 3 of the 5 First Growth wines (Ch. Latour, Ch. Lafite, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild).

               St. Julien: smallest production district with consistently high quality

                Margaux: thinner layer of gravely soil with excellent drainage … includes 1 of the 5 First Growth wines (Ch. Margaux)

                Pessac-Leognan (sic): oldest vineyards & mostly gravel located on the Northern part of Grave…includes 1 of the 5 First Growth wines (Ch. Haut Brion)

A few observations: The younger wines tended to have higher amount of alcohol and as predicted younger tannins making the wines more bitter yet with good amount of fruit. With the variation in winemaking styles, it would be wrong to generalize from the individual wines tasted. But all the wines reflected well the black fruit (blackberries, black cherry) with intense tannin and herbaceous notes and moderate acidity characteristic of Bordeaux red wines.  All qualities that would pair well with that rib-eye steak with excellent fat marbling.

 My favorite of the evening was the 2015 Chateau Beycheville from St. Julien.

2015 Chateau Beycheville from St. Julien [ Photo Courtesy of Ronald Jan, M.D.]

The wine was young (7 years old) yet with good integration of flavors, it was well balanced with soft tannins and good amount of fruit, medium acid and medium plus on the length of finish. Many thanks to Debbie Stack and Philip Parks for their insights and generosity in arranging this wonderful tasting of the red wines from the West part of Bordeaux (“the Left Bank”). No doubt, this was a very unique and enjoyable wine tasting experience. . 

[Chinese version of this article will be posted on wechineseus.com on Friday March 18, 2022]

(About the author: Dr. Ronald G. Jan who specializes in Vascular Surgery is a Clinical Professor of Surgery at the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. As a hobby, he holds WSET level 3 certification in wines and has been writing and publishing wine commentaries.)

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