A rare line-up and a château in the Médoc, in pictures

I’ve sent out a weekly photo journal since the start of our harvest in late August, with almost all of them having the same caveat: ‘sorry, we don’t sell these wines, or not today.’

So here is something rather original – a story with some pictures of another vineyard, the (mature) produce of which we can deliver (in the UK) next week.

Before I bore you with my photos, here are the 5 different cases for sale on our Bauduc website. I’ve never really been a buyer of half bottles until now but if you’re drinking less and not entertaining, why not? Especially if the provenance is sound.

Château La Cardonne 2010, AC Médoc
It’s rare to find a quality 2010 claret at this price and from a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur to boot. Andrew McInnes’s strategy is a most unusual one for Bordeaux – to cellar his wines until they’re ready (Château Latour now do the same). Bottles best decanted to let the wine open up, halves more mature. 13.5% vol.
Château La Cardonne 2012 AC Médoc
This is a lovely, medium-bodied claret that’s just hitting its peak, and 2012 has always been a softer, balanced vintage with just enough ripeness, smooth tannins and a round texture. 46% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc and aged for 14 months in French oak. Decant for best results and keep plenty of halves to hand. 13% vol.
Château Cardus 2012 AC Médoc
This is the second wine of Château La Cardonne. A really attractive, easy drinking Bordeaux that’s fully mature and delicious now. We’ve drunk our case too quickly so we do need to make another trip to the Médoc for more ‘samples’. 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot blend, aged in stainless steel. Fine value for a wine of this age and quality. 13% vol.

These are lovely mature clarets from a Médoc Cru Bourgeois Supérieur at a seriously decent price, from a vineyard run by an extremely amiable Scotsman. The half bottles are a real find and brilliant for the circumstances we all find ourselves in.

You’ll find these wines in ‘Specials‘ on our website, and in ‘Other châteaux‘.

The barrel cellar at Château La Cardonne. I’ve been a couple of times this year with our friend Philipp Schwander MW from Switzerland. We advise Philipp on Bordeaux wines for his extraordinarily successful operation, Selection Schwander.

La Cardonne is run by Andrew McInnes, a Scotsman with a terrific sense of humour that seems slightly out of kilter with the often sombre image of the Médoc. For evidence of this, see Andrew’s videos on Twitter @acmcinnes. (Twitter bio: ‘I run the family vineyard. Well sort of.. ‘.)

A claim to fame of Château La Cardonne is that it was owned for many years by the Rothschilds of Château Lafite, until 1990.

Domaines CGR have three Cru Bourgeois châteaux – the others being Château Ramafort and Grivière. The impressive winery has been completely updated in the last decade or so.

Château La Cardonne is aged in French oak barrels.

The winemaker – usually referred to as ‘technical director’ in estates like this – is Magali Guyon, who used to work at Château Lynch Bages. She’s been at La Cardonne for 20 years.

One of the seriously impressive aspects of the operation is the commitment to age the bottled wine in their cathedral-like underground cellars. The temperature is controlled and constant (if I recall correctly, at around 12ºC).

All that you see above ground of the vast cellars is this entrance. There’s a handy lift.

Andrew delights in explaining that La Cardonne is on the highest plateau of the Médoc. Which isn’t that high up, in truth, but the views across the vineyards are terrific, as seen from the new tasting room, towards the Gironde estuary.

We put the tasting room through its paces. This was a blind tasting in which his 2012s showed well, as we say in the wine game. So too did some subsequent vintages (happily) for release later on.