The Chateau Poyanne Cotes de Bourg Bordeaux 2009
is a Trader Joe’s $5.99 exclusive sourced from Estate grown grapes (The Albert Schweitzer vineyards) in the Côtes de Bourg Appellation about a half hour away from the town of Bordeaux in Southern France. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and while it is an Estate grown, produced and bottled wine, it seems to be produced specifically for Trader Joe’s and is not Chateau Poyanne usual bottling. 2009 was a terrific vintage for Bordeaux wines, the best wines were superb, the middling wines were really good and the folks who never seem to make a decent wine were producing killer wine. This wine is a “no brainer,” you almost never find Estate produced and bottled (from a first class vineyard, to boot) from not only from Bordeaux but a sub-AOC selling for under 6 bucks, how can you not give it a try? Trader Joe’s does not give much information on the making of the blend, but Chateau Poyanne traditionally ages their Red wines for 12 months in French oak barrels. The alcohol content is 13.5%.
The color is black cherry red with a strawberry halo. The nose is light, almost but not quite delicate, plums, faint chocolate, a bouquet of flowers, a hint of coffee and a little vanilla. This does not hit the palate like a $5.99 wine, tannins, oak and acidity are all in the mix. Bordeaux wines are all about balance, virtually all $10 and under wines are all about fruit flavors, so as a Bordeaux wine, the Chateau Poyanne features texture, fruit and structure equally. It starts with red fruit, soft plums, black cherry and then bitter dark chocolate, a little sandpaper brush across your palate from the tannins followed by tart cherry and licorice. The flavors all have good length, they linger for a while. This is not a juicy, delicious wine, it’s not bad tasting by any means, it is just a wine that features its structure in equal parts to its fruit flavors. The finish is full and long.
The Chateau Poyanne Côtes de Bourg is an honest to goodness, real taste of Bordeaux for less than six dollars. Bordeaux wines do not try to hide the tannins, the oak and the acidity, instead they prefer to showcase how well they integrated them into the wine. A $5.99 wine that showcases its integrated tannins, oak and acidity is unheard of. I am sure you can find better Bordeaux wines than the TJ’s Chateau Poyanne Côtes de Bourg, but a better $5.99 Bordeaux, I don’t think so.
