Laguna Cellar Wine of the Month - January 2024

Something Special for the Dry Month of the New Year

If the traditional pattern of the New Year celebration held for 2024, millions of bottles of champagne were just popped again.  Lots of bubbles!

Champagne gets the bubbles from the secondary fermentation that happens after bottling.   The bottling sets champagne apart from other wines, with conditions created for further fermentation in the bottle, with the yeast consuming the residual sugar in the wine, converting glucose and fructose into carbon dioxide and ethanol.  CO2 dissolves into the wine in the fortified bottle (the reason the champagne bottle is always heavier and thicker than the regular wine bottle).  Upon opening, CO2 is released and forms bubbles.

In our Wine of the Month Selection for January 2024, we present a 2010 vintage champagne produced for the Rothschild families. This is a joint project by all three branches of the Rothschild family: Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Mouton Rothschild, and Château Clarke.  The idea came after many gatherings at Domaine Barons de Rothschild, where extended families spend time together. They came to the realization that there was always Champagne served as a starter.  Why shouldn't there be a Champagne by Domaine Barons de Rothschild? In 2005, their first vintage champagne was launched.

The 2010 vintage Champagne Barons de Rothschild consists of 60% Chardonnay primarily sourced from Côtes des Blancs Grands Crus and Premiers Crus, and 40% Pinot Noir from La Montagne de Reims. The 2010 Champagne Barons de Rothschild Brut is a complex wine for all occasions.  It's perfect as an aperitif or the featured wine at a Champagne meal.  It also pairs nicely with light dishes, shellfish, scallops, and rockfish.

The rest of the January selection includes the second labels from Château Pichon Baron, Château Cos d'Estournel, and Château Smith Haut Lafitte. The second wine tradition by Bordeaux producers refers to the practice of producing a secondary wine label from a particular estate or château. Bordeaux, a renowned wine region in France, is famous for its classification system, which ranks estates based on the quality of their wines. The top-tier wines are often referred to as the "first wines" or "grand vins."

The second wine tradition emerged as a way for Bordeaux producers to maintain high standards for their flagship wines while still utilizing grapes from the same estate. These second wines are typically made from younger vines or batches of wine that are considered slightly less exceptional than those used for the primary, top-tier wines. Second wines are often crafted to be more approachable at a younger age compared to their first wine counterparts. This means consumers can enjoy the wine earlier without the need for extended aging.

Les Griffons de Pichon Baron 2018 - "The 2018 Les Griffons de Pichon Baron is a blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot, to be aged 12 months in barriques, 30% new and 70% one year old. Production represents 20% of the harvest this year. Very deep purple-black in color, it comes bounding out of the glass with frisky cassis, chocolate-covered cherries and boysenberries scents followed up by notions of dried Provence herbs, moss-covered bark, charcuterie and tapenade. Full, rich and opulent in the mouth, it has bold black fruit and savory expressions, with firm, grainy tannins and a long, meaty finish." - Lisa Perotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate, Rating: (90-92)+

Les Pagodes de Cos 2016 - "The 2016 Les Pagodes de Cos is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.5% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and a splash of Cabernet Franc, delivering 13.02% alcohol and matured in 30% new oak. It has an intense bouquet with aromas of blackcurrant, bilberry, graphite and a touch of sea salt (just a nod to the Gironde Estuary perhaps?). The palate is medium-bodied with crisp tannin, quite sleek in the mouth with plenty of black fruit tinged with graphite. It has a little more persistence compared to the 2015 Pagodes last year from barrel, very harmonious with a twist of bitter black cherry and tobacco on the finish. Very fine—drink from two or three years in bottle." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate, Ratings: 90-92, Drink: 2020-2035

"The 2016 Les Pagodes de Cos is blended of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46.5% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot and 0.5% Cabernet Franc. It has a deep garnet-purple color and opens with notions of warm cassis, black cherries and smoked meats giving way to scents of charcoal, underbrush and cloves plus a waft of new leather. Medium to full-bodied, it fills the palate with generous black fruits and some compelling red fruit sparks, supported by ripe, grainy tannins and finishing long and spicy." - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, The Wine Advocate, Ratings: 92, Drink: 2020-2033

Le Petit Haut Lafitte 2016 - "The 2016 Le Petit Haut Lafitte is a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot matured in 20% new oak. It has a well-defined bouquet with mulberry, cranberry, pressed flowers, and a touch of undergrowth; it is neatly defined though not powerful, but it does demonstrate commendable precision. The palate is medium-bodied with crisp and firm tannin, quite tensile and energetic (more so than the Les Hauts de Smith) with impressive structure and length on the almost Pauillac-like, graphite-infused finish. Do not ignore this little gem from Château Smith Haut-Lafitte, because it always punches above its weight." - Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate (4/28/2017), Ratings: 91-93, Drink: 2021-2038