Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier Bordeaux Supérieur 2019

The 2019 Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier Bordeaux Supérieur (65% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot) is an expressive young red Bordeaux that is ripe, round, and utterly satisfying. Its regal purple robe underscores the authority of the 2019 vintage and the particular success of Château Lescalle in what is certainly one of the finest, most consistent Bordeaux vintages. Moreover, the comely Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier offers up decadent aromas and flavors of ripe blackberry and plum fruit, cedar, and rain-washed forest floor. Its supple fruit flavors and well-integrated tannins provide flesh and bone to the wine’s youthful exuberance at the same time that they endow this handsomely wrought Bordeaux with the promise of years of fun-filled pleasure. For optimum enjoyment, we suggest allowing the 2019 Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier 15-20 minutes of aeration before serving at cool room temperature (60°-64° F). A bit of aeration will allow the wine’s fruit to come to fore and its youthful tannins recede to charm the palate. Anticipated maturity: 2023-2025. Enjoy!

Although fine young red Bordeaux is rarely one’s first choice to serve as an aperitif or to simply sit around and sip after dinner, the exuberant 2019 Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier is a welcome exception to the rule. Frankly, this authoritative, flavor-filled claret pairs as easily with a clean glass as it does with the delights of a splendid table. More important, perhaps, is the recognition that the true glory of red Bordeaux in a vintage as fine and powerful as 2019 lies in its ability to complement the culinary delights of a simple kitchen as easily as haute cuisine. However, one need not be elaborate when serving red Bordeaux, but Bordeaux does have an affinity for the best cuts of meat as well as simple, well prepared meals. Whole roasted chickens, stuffed with a savory sage farce; loin lamb chops, served with garlic mashed potatoes; prime rib of beef au jus in the company of haricots verts; crown roast of pork; and tender veal chops, grilled slowly to perfection and topped with morels and a blackberry reduction sauce are just a few tried and true dishes to pair with the 2019 Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier. Meatloaf and other mid-week staples make equally fine companions to this wine, as Château Lescalle is no snob: it is as comfortable at an elegant dinner party as it is with a simple mid-week meatloaf, and adept at elevating any meal to a special occasion. Bon Appétit!

Fine red Bordeaux provides a natural companion to many of the world’s finest cheeses. The 2019 Château Lescalle Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier provides a tasty, downright compelling accompaniment to host of international cheeses such as Gouda, Gruyère, Havarti, Morbier, Muenster, and Port Salut to name just a few. To learn more about the world’s finest cheeses as well as wine and cheese pairings, contact us at www.cheesemonthclub.com.

The outstanding 2019 vintage in Bordeaux produced a bevy of outstanding red Bordeaux wines that continue to astound critics and consumers alike. From top to bottom, the 2019 vintage in Bordeaux offers an embarrassment of riches. Furthermore, nowhere does one get more bang for the buck and more pleasure from young Cabernet and Merlot based wines than from the finest Bordeaux Petits Châteaux from the 2019 vintage. Moreover, Château Lescalle is one of the finest 2019 Petits Châteaux from the Bordeaux Supérieur appellation.

Château Lescalle is counted among the top echelon of Petits Châteaux because it consistently fashions wines of charm, grace, and remarkable drinkability. This over-achieving château is owned by Jean-Louis and Isabelle Chollet, the proprietors of several outstanding Bordeaux properties, including nearby Château Plaisance. Château Lescalle was built in 1875 by shipping magnate Emmanuel Tessandier and its vineyards lay on the edge of the famous Margaux appellation. The estate actually consists of two pieces of land, one in Les Paruades near Château Maucamps, the other in the village of Lescalles itself.

Although Château Lescalle lies adjacent to the Margaux commune, Lescalle’s well-tended vines are planted on alluvial soils near the Gironde rather than on higher ground further inland, which only entitles Château Lescalle to bear the title of Bordeaux Supérieur. However, Château Lescalle is Margaux in character, if not in name, and a very fine wine indeed. The vineyards and winemaking are tended by Claude Gaudin, whose repertoire of high-achieving Haut-Médoc and Bordeaux Supérieur châteaux are among the best in all Bordeaux. The only downside to this charming property is its diminutive size and limited availability. Château Lescalle’s Cuvée Emmanuel Tessandier is the estate’s flagship offering. It is a traditional Margaux blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot from the château’s mature vines, which is then matured in barrel.