Chateau Haut -Sleves 2010, Graves(WS88, DD90)
Château Haut-Sèlve ranks among the 5 best properties under the appellation Graves. The vintage 2010 is rich and complex with a nice balance between the woody flavours and the fruit. Intense, deep and complex, this Graves offers much pleasure rare to find at this price range ! The nose shows mineral dark(Blackcurrant from 50% cabernet) red fruits(red plums from 50% Merlot) and a whisper of baking spices. The palate is rich and rounded with a seam of minerality with dark red fruits and medium acid. Ample and reasonably well-integrated tannins adds to texture contributing to a smooth and long palate. Layers of smoke, herbs, red fruit and berries. Unusually powerful for a Graves. Will age for well for another 2 to 3 years.
The Château Haut Selve is located just south of Pessac-Léognan and its grapes produced some of the most esteemed wines of Bordeaux in the 18th century. In the 19th century it met the fate of many vineyards- wiped out by phylloxera and subsequently abandoned. In 1993, Jean-Jacques Lesgourgues bought the land and built the first new winery in Graves in the 20th century, replanting the vines and starting from scratch. WS88, DD90, Medaille d’Or 2013(Concours Challenge International and Paris).
I pair the tasting with Chateau Castera Medoc CB 2007. Surely, the modernity of Chateua Hut Selve 2010 is superior.