2008 | Chateau Le Gay

Racy blackberry and graphite notes are framed by light toast and mineral in this vibrant, expressive red. The ripe tannins are well-integrated and give backbone to the plush texture. There's beautiful balance, with depth and drive.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: One of the top successes of the vintage, the 2008 Le Gay, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc (13.5% alcohol) was produced from tiny yields of 25 hectoliters per hectare. Bottled unfined and unfiltered, it exhibits a dense purple color as well as a sweet nose of spring flowers intermixed with blueberries, blackberries, dark raspberries, crushed rocks and white chocolate. Full-bodied, super intense and extremely promising (although it is unusually backward for a 2008), it will benefit from 5-7 years of cellaring and may merit an even higher score in a decade or so. It should last for 30+ years, making it one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage.

• Jeb Dunnuck: The 2008 Le Gay is a beauty. Still lively colored, with a complex bouquet of blackcurrants, savory cherries, earth, and dried herbs, this beauty hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, fine, elegant tannin, and a silky, layered, seamless texture. It has a beautiful finish and is an incredibly classy, elegant wine.

Producer Information

Château le Gay is a leading Bordeaux wine estate in Pomerol, producing Merlot-based wines. Its reputation has risen steadily in the new millennium, and has garnered high ratings from critics, including a score of 99 for the 2010 vintage from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. There are 10.5 hectares (26 acres) of vines in one holding, planted on clay and gravel soils in the north of the Pomerol plateau. Some 90 percent of plantings are Merlot, with the remainder Cabernet Franc. Château le Gay counts Lafleur and La Croix de Gay among its neighbors. The grand vin is made from vines that are at least 40 years old. A second wine, Château Manoir de Gay, is also produced, from younger, higher-yielding vines planted in 2006. Total production of around 40,000 bottles is split roughly equally between the two labels. Grapes are hand-harvested into small cartons, with bunches passing twice through sorting tables before destemming. Individual berries are then sorted again before vinification. A programme of cellar reconstruction began in 2002, on the acquisition of the property by Catherine Péré-Vergé, heiress of the Cristalleries d'Arques glassware company. This culminated in a move to micro-vinification of all vineyard plots in new oak barrels after a period of cold maceration. The wine is aged in the same barrels for around 18 months. Other properties owned by Vignobles Péré-Vergé include La Violette, Montviel and Tristan in Pomerol, plus La Gravière and Moulin La Gravière in Lalande-de-Pomerol, amd Monteviejo in Argentina.

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