Chateau Le Boscq – Cru Bourgeois
French Cellars
José Peñín’s Selection (93 Points)
It is a chateau owned by Dourthe group since 1995, an enormously influential firm in Bordeaux, able to select its own suppliers for its wines, acquiring a certain number of chateaux distributed in different Bordeaux “apellatións”. They are chateaux with autonomy to elaborate their own brands. The model to follow consists of elegant wines, which mark the place of origin, with fluent touch, which, in the case of Le Boscq, is elaborated by Benjamín Bruneau and his team in an 18-hectare vineyard.
In order to understand what “Cru Bourgeois” means, it is to be noted for my readers that this range hosts the wines and Crus that were not included in the mythical classification of Cru Classé of 1855. Therefore, depending on harvests, the quality of a “Bourgeois Cru” wine can reach the “classé” level, boasting of belonging to Saint Estephe municipality.
Why have I chosen it?
Thanks to its elegance, identity and, of course, its price, taking into account Saint Estephe municipality prestige. Furthermore, its mineral soil condition with a gravel surface, which ensures homogeneous ripening, and its subsoil with a clay layer, which provides its permanent water nutrition, give me confidence of its regularity. A dark cherry colour is typical of Medoc, with black fruit (redcurrants) elegance and minerality, well-assembled from the three varieties that make up the wine. In the mouth it is tasty, rich in nuances, with harmonious tannins and subtly toasted oak creaminess and with remarkable persistence in the mouth. What is more, the higher percentage of 55% Merlot in Cabernet Sauvignon area gives me confidence of it having more silky tannins with Cabernet nerve contribution and 32% Cabernet Franc complexity and 10% Petit Verdot, creating its complementary tannic touch.
Harvest: The harvest was done by hand in small boxes, plot per plot, when the grapes reached their optimum maturity. Manual classification was done in two vibratory tables: one to order the clusters before having the stems removed and the other to order berries or grains by size. Finally, the berries are sent to barrels through transport belt to be slightly crushed before entering the tubs.
Wine making: Cold maceration is carried out for 7 days between 7° and 8°C to extract all its fruit potential of the aroma. Later alcoholic fermentation is carried out for 6 to 8 days, according to plots characteristics, with 1 to 3 wine bottom-up pumping and / or 1 pigeage per day, according to the tub.
Malolactic fermentation is developed partly in the deposit and partly in oak barrels, only 20% of which are new, in order to preserve, on the one hand, new wood smoke and, on the other hand, the greater presence of primary fruit and soil traits, taking used barrels.