Maldoror, Chateau Fougas, Cotes de Bourg

Flowers, spice, forest leaf and red fruits come through on the nose with ease. The wine is fresh, fruity, spicy and packed with loads of crunchy deep, red fruits, green olives and a touch of vanilla in the finish. Give it a year or two to soften. Drink from 2023-2033.

Nase schön und sehr fruchtig, Kirschen. Geschmack kaum präsent, nach einer Weile aber sehr entfaltend, Johannisbeere-Sauerkirsche, längerer Abgang. Eher fein, nicht dominant.

Easy drinking, with roundness, sweet, black raspberry and chocolate, this is a nice, early drinker from the Cotes de Bourg.

Last of 6 bottles. I paid $15/bottle for this wine. This last one was perhaps the best of the six. Great structure and balance, very good complexity, with a med length finish and ample med acidity to make this mature wine quite tasty.

PnP and drank over 2 days. Tasty but going down the other side of the hill, certainly becoming oxidative with caramel notes on day 2. Tannins are resolved, slight astringency on the finish, some baked fruit notes remaining, nice med acidity, but just near the end of its nice drinking window. Drink up!

This was PnP and consumed over approx 1 hour, following some Calif Pinot and Syrah wines. This wine was a welcome departure from the super ripe and too-sweet fruit from the former. The color faded beautifully from med garnet at the core to light garnet or tawny rim. The aromas were first noted as barnyard and soil-driven aromas, med in intensity, and fully developed. Sme fruit sneaked out in the end, including black cherry and cassis, with some licorice and …

PnP this 10 yr old Cotes de Bourg Bordeaux this evening. This wine is 13% abv, and appears deep garnet in color, fading to a beautiful light brown edge at the rim. The legs drop quickly, and do not stain the sides of the glass, showing that this big red wine comes from a moderate climate, not a hot one. On the moderately intense nose, gorgeously ripe black cherries and plums are nicely meshed with tobacco, tar, smoke, pepper, and …

This is a budget-conscious Bordeaux that actually has a little age on it, and is developing quite nicely. Nose of cassis, ripe cherries, mint and some anise. On the palate, this wine has generous red fruits, followed by flavors of mushrooms, wet earth, and tobacco / leather. The tannins are a bit dusty, but quite tasty, and support the fruit with a good acid balance. There is a pleasant vegetal / herbaceous quality in the medium-length finish, which further adds …

Very pleasantly surprised by what a buddy had me convinced would be poor wine given the age and the 02 vintage. Surprisingly, this wine is showing far less age than I'd imagined, and the plush texture and acid are great. Lots of dirty change on the nose. On both the nose and palate, there's an herbaceousness that's nice, along with some sweet tobacco. I seriously wonder how much longer this could age. I'd guess at least 3 yrs. Would be …

- Brick color with medium forming legs and aromas of bell pepper, cherry, chocolate and vanilla. It's lacking fruit and has flavours of cherry, prune and mushroom with a light/medium body. Round texture with a medium finish - The color is dark brick red, with a slight fading edge. On the nose, the wine is fruit backward, with a more pronounced resiny, vanilla quality, then bing cherries. On the palate, the wine is medium/light bodied, with very round tannins and …

Nose of dark, pure fruit, plums and cassis. Medium bodied on the palate, nice fruit integration but tannins still a bit rough and pronounced. Certainly not displeasing, but will likley continue to integrate with another year or 2 of bottle age. Finish is moderate in length with a lingering oaky sensation, maybe mushroom and tobacco. Overall a good value for the $$.

Drank over three nights. First night was very tight so not great. Second night was more open but too acidic. Third night wine was nicely open and aromatic typical cab. Hold em if you can.

Big structured wine, surprising depth of fruit for RB 02, solid plums and cassis under a pretty hefty mantle of oak. Enjoyed with the steak, not so much solo. Revisited with our guests Monday, I liked better then, oak more integrated, no hurry on this one. B

Surprisingly full of plummy black fruit, with earthiness, a trace of tannin and oakiness. France gone sort of Napa Valley. An even bigger surprise was that this was all in a bottle for $5.