2021, Château Grand Village, BORDEAUX Supérieur Rouge (Ch. Lafleur)

Bordeaux Blend: Cabernet Franc (Bouchet), Merlot.

Founded in 1650 by Jacques Verdery, one of our direct ancestors, Château Grand Village is the birthplace of our family of vignerons. Château Grand Village is a harmonious and rich wine, centered around a precise tannic spine. Harvested on the clay- limestone soils of Grand Village, this wine is considered today as the Village of Lafleur. 75% Merlot, 25% Bouchets (Cab Franc).

The Guinaudeaus are now focused on the best 11 hectares out of the 20, frost making that focus easier. The bouquet is very open, offering red cherry and raspberry fruit, transparent and quite floral in style, revealing hints of rose petal. The palate is medium-bodied, very saline, quite granular in texture, and vibrant on the elegant, mineral-rich finish. Just a delicious Grand Village that needs a couple of years in bottle. 90-92 Neal Martin

This has enticing aromatics of violet, peony, lilac. There is a focus on acidity and tannic structure that makes it more serious than your average AOC Bordeaux, and overall this is an elegant Grand Village, more subdued than in recent years, but with well-expressed brambled red fruits. They are increasingly focusing on limestone expression, as they uproot the heavier clay plots, and you feel it in the architecture and motion through the palate. Harvest from September 29 to October 7. 89 Jane Anson

The 2021 Grand Village is bright, saline and bursting with energy. There is a bit more Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) in the blend, and that very much comes through in the wine's aromatic presence and shape. Rose petal, spice, mint, dried herbs and orange zest race out of the glass. There is a bit of nervousness in the tannin, but that just adds to the wine's drive. The 2021 is a fabulous Grand Village. 89-91 Antonio Galloni.