Canadian Wine Guy

Well it has been a long while since a review and without a doubt this is a good place to start. Bordeaux’s can often times be overstated and over appreciated, largely due to the huge price that many collectors pay for bottles from famous Maisons in the upper echelons. The Château d’Argadens is a smaller house located south of the city of Bordeaux and slightly north and east of the town of Langon in a region called Côtes des Bordeaux - Saint-Macaire. Originally this house was called Château Salle d’Arche but when the Maison Sichel bought the house in 2002 they renamed it after a noble family from the town of Saint-Macaire. While a small house for many a year, the Sichel clan (it is still a family business) has plans to make it into one of the better maisons in the Bordeaux-Supérieur category. For those unfamiliar with d’Argadens but knowledgeable about Bordeaux’s, you will be familiar with another Sichel house Château Palmer, one of the bigger names with reputation to match in Médoc.

The d’Argadens red is not hard on the wallet, surely due to the Sichel family looking to have a solid entry into the affordable Bordeaux export market. Since 2002 was their first vintage I am sure the years to come (with mother nature approving) will come to find more and more refinement. The terroir lends itself to excellent wine and the almost equal split of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and a small growth of Cabernet Franc grown on a good altitude slope. On to the tastings!

As I decanted this, I thought to myself, “self, this looks about right”. A slight rusty hue to the colour but otherwise a nice solid red, neither cloudy nor “see-through”. The initial scents were distinctly black cherry and the legs (if you believe in such things) were long and slow. Initial sniffing led to large cherry with solid strawberry to compliment. I must say it was much “fruitier” then I was expecting. The first few sips (with solid chewing and slurping) brought about those same flavours as well as a nice hint of oak, not too uncommon! Further jumping into the wine the fruit mellowed, the tannins were even and the wine had a lovely balance, something that can be expected of a five year old red. Hints of vanilla and molasses lent itself to this easy drinking red. I was expecting more tannin and puckering in my mouth then I received, all of which was a pleasant surprise. Without a doubt this would be an excellent wine to have with a medium dish (not too spicy, not too weak, think grilled chicken or pork with a glaze) but I would much rather have it with a nice piece of Blue and Emmental cheese with maybe a few other local “stinky” (as Mrs.CWG would call them) cheeses to compliment. The wine would also be a great bottle to bring to a dinner party as it could be easily served with dinner or enjoyed before or after the meal.

Too many times people expect great robust and complex wines to come from Bordeaux, this wine has elements of both but in large is a very solid affordable wine from a great region. It will not displease the purchaser and will achieve it’s greater goal, tingling the senses, due to this I am giving this wine an 87.
Mrs.CWG says

“Would like to grab a bottle or two for another night!

The hope is, over the upcoming years, that the Château d’Argadens starts producing even more

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Tonight I felt like stepping back into the lovely world of Bordeauxs, and in this case the Saint-Emilion region of Bordeaux. St Emilion, despite it’s newer classification system is actually the oldest region in Bordeaux. The vineyards are in the Saint-Christophe des Bardes region of St Emilion which has been designation by UNESCO as World Heritage. Saint-Christophe des Bardes is located east and slightly north of the city of Bordeaux. The grapes grown in the region are primarily Merlot with Cabernet Franc and a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon also grown. This wine includes a blend of all three from what I could ascertain.

On to the wine. Well I can tell you the first thing about this 2004: It needs to age. Not a little bit, a whole bunch. I’d say after the tasting was done and the bottle consumed that I will not open my other 2 bottles of this vintage for 5 to 6 years. Originally I thought: “Well maybe 3 to 5 years”, but in all reality this wine needs a great deal of time to mature. This is not to say it was a poor wine, or lacking good wine crafting, it simply was too tannic to be opened now. The 2004 vintage in the Bordeaux region was not a highly regarded one, of recent harvests only 2002 seems to be regarded less, but as this is now my 5th or 6th Bordeaux from 2004 I can honestly say that the issue is not as much a lesser quality harvest but more so very uneven product, as odd as that is to say from Bordeaux.

On to the tasting! First note was the colour on decanting, it was very purple/ruby with not a hint of rust in it. The initial smells were distinctly cherry with a hint of black currant. Initial taste followed through with the smells first discovered with a heavy tannin on the finish. Over a couple more sips the wine brought forward more oak and a hint of caramel. Without a doubt the finish stayed with strong tannin in the mouth and oak on the tongue. This wine at this stage would be excellent with Cajun, Creole, spicy lamb, or you can insert a spicy or strong bold type meal here. I would not recommend this to be drank on it’s own in it’s current condition, check back with me in a few years to see if that changes!

Despite it’s youth and need for cellaring it gets an 85 (we will revisit this in a few years)
Mrs.CWG says

“Good thing the meal was spicy, made the wine compliment it well”

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Anyone who knows the CWG knows that I have a great love for Bordeaux wines. Not sure when it occurred but somewhere in my upbringing I felt that to be a red wine of stature the wine had to be from the Bordeaux region of France. Obviously that is not the case, but the region still provides brilliant wines, year in year out (though some may argue the early 90s should be excluded from that statement). Maybe one of the things I love best about Reds from this region is you can find some real gems for decent prices. While some may be out buying into Bordeaux futures (I will explain the concept some other time) or plunk down obscene money for a bottle from a first growth, I am content with trying to find an excellent producer that will give a nice complex wine with a lovely touch and finish. I am sure those that return to read this blog will see a consistent smattering of Bordeaux’s, for this I will not excuse myself!!

On to the wine, Chateau de Seguin is a vineyard just slightly ease of the city of Bordeaux in the Entre-Deux-Mers region (see map below). Seguin produces a solid Bordeaux-Supérieur that comes in, even at a frugal person’s budget, quite reasonably (I think it was in the 16 to 18$ range if memory serves me correct). The wine itself can probably sit for 3 to 6 more years to mature but as I bought two bottles there was no reason to wait on one of them. Opening the wine revealed a lovely hint of black cherry. The wine ended up being smooth with distinctive aromas of cherry, raspberry and a solid hint of oak (not surprising). The wine was surprising robust and pleasantly chewy, something I was not expecting for the price and the youth. This wine will be a nice compliment to a spicy meal or nice steak, maybe with a nice mushroom sauce.

Solid wine, it gets an 86.
Mrs.CWG says

“very smooth”

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