Château Plaisance Bordeaux Supérieur 2005

The 2005 Château Plaisance Bordeaux Supérieur is apt testimony to just how outstanding the 2005 vintage is in Bordeaux and how adept Claude Gaudin, the estate’s winemaker and vineyard manager, is at crafting flavorful, stylish red Bordeaux that easily shames many more illustrious Bordeaux wines from fancier addresses. Deeply colored and aromatically stunning, the 2005 Château Plaisance blesses the chosen few fortunate enough to find a bottle of it with a gorgeous Margaux bouquet – an aromatic profile ripe with fresh crushed blackberries, cassis, graphite, and just enough loamy earth tones to add complexity and depth to this utterly charming claret. Warm, textured, and rich in the mid palate, the 2005 Château Plaisance provides sophisticated drinking now, and the promise of even more to come. Beautifully balanced and long on the finish, this is one 2005 Bordeaux you will want to drink again and again. Enjoy it now and for the next several years. For optimal enjoyment, we suggest allowing this first rate Bordeaux at least 15-20 minutes open before consuming. Enjoy!

Although fine red Bordeaux offers the taster plenty of flavor and sophistication, it gravitates more towards simple, well-prepared dishes than heavy, spicy meals. Consequently, we recommend you serve the 2005 Château Plaisance with rotisserie roasted chicken, pheasant, filet mignon, rabbit, or veal that eschew heavy sauces. Tender veal chops, grilled slowly to perfection and topped with mushrooms and a blackberry reduction sauce constitutes one of our favorite dishes with the 2005 Château Plaisance. For the more adventuresome, why not try complementing this sophisticated Bordeaux with a French classic – Chicken Barigoule – a rotisserie fried chicken breast with braised artichokes, garlic, pearl onions, carrots, asparagus, and tomatoes. It is a simple but very elegant meal that showcases the finesse and subtlety of this medium weight claret. Finishing a meal with a glass of the 2005 Château Plaisance and some delicious Edam, Port Salut, or similar styled soft cheese provides another superb way to enjoy this engaging wine at its peak. Salut!

Château Plaisance is one of those tiny jewels that Bordeaux has the uncanny ability to hide from us for only just so long. Château Plaisance is a veritable château in the classic style that is owned by Jean-Louis and Isabelle Chollet. It sits adjacent to the Margaux commune. Unfortunately for the owners of the château but fortuitous for the consumer, Château Plaisance sits just across the tiny vineyard road from Margaux and the Haut-Médoc on alluvial soils near the Gironde, so it is only entitled to bear the title of Bordeaux Supérieur. However, Château Plaisance is Margaux in everything but the name, and darn good Margaux at that. The only down side to this charming property is its diminutive size: only 22 acres (10 hectares) of vines are under cultivation and production is strictly limited. In good vintages Château Plaisance is a blend of Merlot (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (20%), and Petit Verdot (10%). The estate’s high percentage of Petit Verdot is rare among Petit Bordeaux châteaux and almost as unusual among the great classified growths. Only extraordinary châteaux whose Petit Verdot can fully ripen in fine vintages dare to cultivate such a high percentage of this potentially extraordinary varietal. In outstanding vintages such as 2005, Petit Verdot adds intense color, spice, structure, and a sophisticated feel to the finished wine, and such is the case with the 2005 Château Plaisance.