Château Laronde Desormes Bordeaux Supérieur 2019

The weather smiled on Bordeaux in 2019, yielding another excellent vintage to which the 2019 Château Laronde Desormes will aptly attest. Volume is a shade below average, but the quality of the wines in 2019 is once again superb. Left Bank châteaux such as Laronde Desormes, whose cépage or blend contains a good percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon, have benefited the most from the hot dry weather that prevailed throughout the harvest. The 2019 Laronde Desormes is especially deep in color, hauntingly aromatic, and packed with blackberry and cassis fruit as well as plenty of ample ripe tannins. Complex and deep, the 2019 Château Laronde Desormes commands attention. It is more structured than in previous vintages, yet it embodies Margaux’s elegance and cachet. Once again, Claude Gaudin has produced an exceptional petit château that puts to shame many more expensive Haut-Médoc wines, including some very pricy Margaux offerings. For optimal enjoyment, serve the exceptional 2019 Château Laronde Desormes at cool room temperature (58°-62° F) after 30 minutes or more of aeration, or cellar it for a couple more years for an even greater treat; you won’t be disappointed. Anticipated maturity: 2022-2028. Salut!

Fine red Bordeaux such as the 2019 Château Laronde Desormes provides the perfect foil to poultry, red meats, rich sauces, and wild fowl such as duck, pheasant, and quail. It also provides the ideal companion to Sautéed Veal Medallions with a Brown Tarragon Sauce or Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter. Roast Duckling, prepared with a blackberry demi-glace, and Pan Seared Duck Breast, served with a creamy risotto or wild rice, will also shine in the company of the 2019 Château Laronde Desormes. Filet Mignon or fine Tournedos topped with Shitake mushrooms makes another tasty accompaniment as does a well-prepared Chicken Fricassee. Soft creamy cow’s milk cheeses such as Gouda, Morbier, Muenster and Port Salut complement this comely petit château, too. In our experience, simple, fresh, high quality ingredients provide the most rewarding accompaniments to fine red Bordeaux such as the 2019 Château Laronde Desormes. Bon Appétit!

Under the care of the renowned viticulturist/winemaker Claude Gaudin, Château Laronde Desormes consistently fashions one of the finest and longest lived Bordeaux Supérieur or petit château. This little gem of a property produces only a few thousand cases of red Bordeaux wine each year from the estate’s 22 acres of vines. But, unlike most petits châteaux offerings, which hail from far flung corners of the sprawling Bordeaux appellation, Laronde Desormes is located in Macau on the border of the Margaux appellation in the Haut-Médoc. The Haut-Médoc is Bordeaux’s most renowned appellation for Cabernet Sauvignon and home to the world’s finest wine addresses: Château Margaux, Château Latour, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton, and many more. As is the case with real estate, location is everything in the world of wine. Laronde Desormes as it turns out is the “small house” in the most wonderful upscale neighborhood. It’s separated from the prestigious Margaux commune by just several meters and a row of trees, and because Laronde Desormes’s vineyards are located alongside the river Garonne, the resulting wine can only be labeled as Bordeaux Supérieur and nothing more. This is not so lucky for Laronde Desormes but very fortunate for wine drinkers who are searching for top notch Bordeaux at a price that won’t break the bank. If Château Laronde Desormes were positioned just a few more meters away from the river, its price would be double or triple – at the very least – of what it is now.

Château Laronde Desormes remains under the expert guidance of winemaker Claude Gaudin. Gaudin is renowned for his viticultural expertise and enormous success with a half dozen of the Haut-Médoc’s most illustrious petits châteaux, including nearby Château Barreyre. His success at Laronde Desormes lies in extracting extremely low yields from dense plantations in the vineyard and a strict selection process. Laronde Desormes’s yields are much lower than their more famous and much more expensive Cru Classé neighbors a few meters away in Margaux, which is mind boggling. In addition, Gaudin selects only the best barrels for inclusion in the château’s grand vin (this month’s feature), and the rest is un-oaked and sold in Europe for early consumption. All these factors contribute to the quality of wine produced at Laronde Desormes. The cépage or blend at Château Laronde Desormes is typically 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, and 5% Petit Verdot, which is nearly identical to the nearby Margaux properties. The strict selection process practiced by Gaudin and the predominance of Cabernet Sauvignon allow Château Laronde Desormes to age beautifully for up to a decade or more.