Château Maurac Haut-Médoc 2010

The 2010 Château Maurac Haut-Médoc captures the essence of the outstanding 2010 vintage. For openers, it is a deeply colored wine whose youthful bouquet provides a nice draught of blackberry, licorice, and peppermint. But it’s in the mouth that the 2010 Château Maurac truly begins to show its colors. It offers a wealth of lush ripe black fruit flavors and great concentration – hallmarks of the splendid weather that prevailed throughout the 2010 vintage. Yet, there is a lot more to this wine than what first greets the nose and taste buds. Behind Château Maurac’s polished jammy fruit flavors lies a tannic core that will easily carry the wine into the next decade and offer the patient wine drinker the exquisite pleasure of consuming a mature, sumptuous Haut-Médoc. Although we completely understand why someone would want to drink this wine now as we did, we strongly suggest laying this classic 2010 Bordeaux down for a few years for optimal enjoyment. Whether you opt to drink this wine now or later, we suggest you allow the 2010 Château Maurac Haut-Médoc plenty of aeration prior to consuming. An hour or two in a decanter wouldn’t be too much. Enjoy!

As a classic Haut-Médoc the 2010 Château Maurac provides the perfect accompaniment to grilled beef and lamb, as well as many classic French dishes. A fine red Bordeaux the stature of the 2010 Château Maurac deserves accompaniments of similar stature. Moreover, fine red Bordeaux is born to be consumed with food at table. Duck à l’Orange, Escalopes de Veau à la Crème (Medallions of Veal in a Mushroom Cream Sauce), Gigot d’Agneau (Roast Leg of Lamb), and Tournedos Rossini (Filet Mignon with Artichoke Hearts, Foie Gras, Truffles, and Madeira Sauce) all provide wonderful accompaniments to highlight Claude Gaudin’s concentrated, full-bodied red wine. However, simpler selections and the world’s finest cheeses shine in Château Maurac’s company as well. Homemade bread and classic French cheeses such as Cantal and Pont l’Eveque offer excellent alternatives to haute cuisine to accomapnay the 2010 Château Maurac. Salut!

In Bordeaux, the world’s most renowned wine appellation, location and vintage mean almost everything. The realtor’s mantra, “location, location, location,” certainly rings true in Bordeaux. First comes terroir, which is all about location, and then comes weather, which makes the vintage. The 2010 Château Maurac has both of these bases covered: it hails from an ideal location and the 2010 vintage is nothing short of outstanding in Bordeaux. In addition, Château Maurac has third base covered in expert winemaker Claude Gaudin.

Château Maurac is strategically situated in Bordeaux’s southern Médoc, which is home to the renowned wines of Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac and St. Estèphe. Château Maurac lies just outside the boundaries of these smaller, more famous communes. It is a beautiful estate located near the fabled châteaux of Sociando-Mallet and Chateau Charmail. Its soil is a blend of gravel and limestone, making it an ideal site for Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Winemaker Claude Gaudin fashions classic Haut-Médoc Bordeaux, a deep, intense wine that can age beautifully for a decade or more, from nearly equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Gaudin fervently adheres to the adage that fine wine is made in the vineyard. Consequently, he has opted for a very dense plantation of vines at Château Maurac that naturally reduces the yield per vine and increases the concentration in the resulting wine. Traditional vinification prevails at Château Maurac and is followed by ageing in a combination of new and aged oak barrels. All of this adds up to ripe, structured Bordeaux of great concentration.