My other right bank wine, from , is definitely one of the oldest I have had in a while, a 1995. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve grown a bit weary of Bordeaux. All the high acid, low alcohol Cabernet based wines have started to run together. Being that this is the right bank I was looking forward to something that was likely to be primarily Merlot and/or Cabernet Franc.


The area has a Roman history, with vines first planted in the second century A.D. The actual town of St. Emillion has extensive cellars carved right into the bedrock, even the church has one!

There is, of course, a classification system in place. Unlike the system in the Médoc, which has remained unchanged for more than 150 years, the system here (originally done in 1955) is revamped every 10 years or so with some château being promoted and demoted. The different classes are: Premiers Grands Classés A and B, Grands Crus Classés and Grand Cru. My wine, the 1995 Château Larmande, is a Grand Cru Classé, one of 53 château. Or at least I think that’s how many there are. Of course, in 2006 when a few château were demoted they sued and it got all complicated. I’ve decided that since my wine was made more than a decade prior it's just not worth figuring out!

I have been waiting, however, to write about our recent second viewing of the movie Sideways. We decided that since we had spent time in Solvang and the area where the movie was filmed (and know a heck of a lot more about wine now than we did at our first viewing), it would be fun to watch the wine parts of the movie again. (We fast forwarded through the rest.) Anyway... the grumpy main character of the movie, Miles, is credited for single-handedly reducing sales of Merlot as he famously says “If anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f---ing Merlot!”. Of course his most cherished wine is a 1961 Cheval Blanc. A bit of irony for wine geeks that recognize Château Cheval Blanc as one of only two Premier Grand Classés A in St. Emillion, which of course means there’s a good deal of merlot in the wine. The estate’s vines are 40% merlot.

My wine was dark brick in color with maroon edges. On the nose there was a bit of smoke, oak, licorice, spices and some blueberry. Not having had many aged wines, they all tend to have a similar “aged taste” to me, which always has a hint of smokey bacon to it, and this one wasn’t any different. It was mellow and smooth, not fruity, but woody with a lot of leather and earth.

The Score: ★★★