Guest Author - Jim Fortune

2004 Chateau La Grange Clinet
Grand Vin de Bordeaux
Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux 13% ALC by VOL

From the back label is a short description. "Clinet means steep hill. All our vines are grown on these hills and the grapes are traditionally fermented and oak aged. The entire 2004 vintage was bottled during the last two weeks of April 2006, with 173850 bottles filled."

I mentioned in a previous review about the economies of wine. The more bottles produced the lower the price and the less produced the higher the price. Lower production could mean that the reputation of the winery is such that they do not want many bottles produced to keep the price higher.

You will see some wineries sell off their production to other wineries or they will produce more bottles under a different label. This is where your relationship with a wine seller is important because often the wholesaler who comes around to the wine dealer will tell them that this is the 2004 XXX Bordeaux. However, the 2004 FFF Bordeaux is from the same winery and sells for $3 dollars less. Inside information like this would be illegal in some trades, but not this one. You can often ask the wine seller if they know of any wines or wineries that are like this. You might have to develop a relationship with a wine seller over time to get this information, so keep asking as you feel your relationship gets stronger.

The Chateaux La Grange Clinet did not have the same nose or smell when I took the cork out as the Chateaux La Rame. Also, I did not let the wine breathe at all like I did with the Chateaux La Rame. I uncorked and poured right into the glass. Since I am doing research for an article on letting wine breathe, I have decided that I will just skip the wine beathing and enjoy the wine right out of the bottle for the very first sip to the last.

This wine was smoother than the 2005 Chateaux La Rame. Now I guess you could reason that the 2004 was a year older and maybe that extra year of aging took the edge off the wine. Although the description on the back label states "oak aged" I could not discern any oak flavor or smell at all. I noted that there was not a strong alcohol smell that I noticed with the Chateaux La Rame, so the initial nose was very pleasant.

The color was a dark purple and again with this year, just like with the 2005 Chateaux La Rame, I could not pick out any berry or cherry flavors like the experts do when they describe a bottle. The bottle was enjoyable and I feel that it was worth $10.99.

I mentioned that I picked up three bottle of the Bordeaux - two were the 2005 vintage and one was the 2004. So far, the 2004 at $10.99 has my vote. I will try to complete the evaluation of the 2005 Chateaux La Pierre Levee at $15.99 and finish my three bottle evaluation of the Bordeaux for another article.

Until next time, let me know what is on your mind, and how you are doing, O.K.?

Oh - have you signed up for our Wine Newsletter? My first issue went out on January 15th.

Jim Fortune - the Bella Wine Guy