This St.Emilion Grand Cru is a wonderful combination of all that was, is, and what can be exciting about Bordeaux. Rich and smooth without a hint of over-extraction, this wine blends modern knowledge with classic Bordeaux character. It will be interesting to see what it will be like with a few years laying down. Presently a very affordable Grand Cru from a well known Chateau ! ...although stocks of this excellent year are disappearing fast.

CHATEAU BEAUMONT

Having enjoyed a good few bottles from the Haut-Medoc estate of Chateau Beaumont, it's time to recommend this under-rated wine to fellow Jensenites.

'The Wine Doctor', Chris Kissack, has this to say about Chateau Beaumont,

“My first encounter with Chateau Beaumont was a vicarious one, when a companion at a claret tasting saw fit to extol the virtues of this Cru Bourgeois property, prompted by his having recently opened, and enjoyed immensely it seemed, the 1990 vintage. His purchase seemed a little akin to insider knowledge, as I must confess that at the time I was not very familiar with the estate. In more recent years I have had the good sense to better acquaint myself with this under-rated Haut-Médoc chateau, and have come to appreciate these wines for their classically styled lines and, of course, their good value.

The origins of the estate are quite recent compared to many other Bordeaux properties; in the mid-18th Century the land belonged to the Duc de Duras, marshal of France, and was a mix of fallow arable land, pasture and moor-land. In 1772 it was purchased by Henri Labarthe, who set about clearing and draining the land in preparation for the establishment of a vineyard. Labarthe thus set the wheels of this Haut-Médoc estate in motion, but it was M Bonnin, who acquired the vineyard in 1824, that named it Beaumont. From him it passed to the Marquis d'Allègre in 1830, one of the richest men in all France. The chateau, an imposing three-storey affair constructed in the Mansard Renaissance style, characterised by the split slope of the roof and the dormer windows that adorn the lower slope, flanked in this case by rather exotic octagonal turrets, was erected in 1854 by the Bonnin brothers, who acquired the property from d'Allègre in 1849. The estate then passed through the hands of a number of distinctive individuals, starting with its purchase by the Comte de Gennes in 1860, Jean-Victor Herran, Minister for Honduras, in 1872, and then the French industrialist Joseph Germain, who acquired the property in 1890. Germain made some significant investment in the estate, expanding the vineyards to three times their original size, and he was also responsible for the construction of the chai in1894.

During the 20th Century the estate then passed from pillar to post,successive owners including the Della Grazia company of Milan, a Lieutenant Colonel Ignacio Andrade, and a retired Venezuelan senator by the name of Dionisio Ramon Bolivar Carvajal, a relation of the famed South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, before coming into the hands of Bernard Soulas, who undertook an overdue refurbishment of the grand chateau.

The modern era for Beaumont began in 1986, with the acquisition of the property by the Société Grands Millésimes de France, a joint business venture created by Groupe GMF and Suntory, the latter already having had a presence in Bordeaux since 1983 as proprietors of first Lagrange, and the following year Beychevelle. The new owners found themselves in possession of 105 hectares of vineyard planted on well drained, deep and gravelly soils. The vineyard is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), with 35% Merlot and the balance Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The vines average 25 years of age and are planted at 6666 vines/ha. The harvested fruit is fermented in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats with three weeks of maceration. The oak is one third new each vintage, the wine resting in barrel for up to fourteen months. Of the Chateau Beaumont, there are about 40000 cases per annum, and a lesser amount of a second wine labelled as Chateau d'AvrignyAs I allude in my opening paragraph, when looking for good value I don't doubt that Beaumont should be on your shopping list. And in a great vintage such as 2000 or 2005, these wines make exceptionally good buys indeed."

We would like to  recommend the old family firm of Tanners Wine Merchants as being a worthy supplier of wines to owners of the Jensen FF!

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