Chateau Le Puy Barthelemy 2017

Chateau Le Puy Barthelemy 2017, Biodynamic Claret, Old School, Authentic flavour of pre-war right bank Claret, rich yet with outstanding freshness. Barthelemy is named after their family’s ancestor who expanded the vineyard in 1832. It is seriously good, much richer than the Grand Vin and rounder, with layers of flavour and sweet fruit that just keep going on and on. I tasted it in the Loire Valley at a tasting of Biodynamic wine producers and was blown away by the richness and texture of the wine. The fruit comes from a plot of vines known as Les Rocs and once in barrel the wine is dynamised (stirred) every day for two years, using the lees – the soul of the wine – to enrich it and imbue it with a deep core of minerality. This is a tremendous wine to cellar and will likely age decades if you so desire but pretty amazing to pull out on Xmas day now as well!

Owned by the Amoreau family since 1610, Château Le Puy overlooks the Dordogne valley on the same geological plateau as Saint-Emilion and Pommerol, once called the ‘Plateau of Wonders’.

The Château was originally built at the beginning of the 17th century and later extended in 1832 by Barthélémy Amoreau. There are 35 hectares of vines spread over three plots with soils made of clay, limestone and silica. It's quite common to find some sharpened flints between the vines as some parts used to be battlefields in medieval times. There vines are 85% of Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% of very old vines of Carménère. There is also a small patch of old vines of Semillon from where they make their delicious un-sulphured white Marie Cecile. The current crop of family wine makers, Jean-Pierre, Françoise and Pascal are the 15th generation and winemaking methods have barely changed in all that time meaning that Chateau Le Puy Claret has a taste reminiscent of the 1940's and 1950's (so i am told) truly reflecting the terroir, the moderate climate and the finesse of the grapes varieties. They work using biodynamic principles, no chemicals, low yields, no yeasting nor chaptalization, long ageing and very low added sulphites if any. These are rare bottles in Bordeaux, not trying to impress wine critics or grab headlines, not trying to fetch mind boggling prices on the international markets (although the older they get, the pricier they become) and not trying to express anything other than what they can produce in their vineyard. They are bottles of Bordeaux that made me like Bordeaux again and although we have rarely had the opportunity to taste the very old vintages, we know these wines age majestically.A wine maker according to Jean Pierre Amoreau....‘Being a wine grower is being an artist with method, audacious with reflection, enthusiast with meditation, ardent with patience, stubborn with imagination, thrifty with generosity.’