JJ Buckley's Tuesday Night Bordeaux at La Folie

I attended a most enlightening Bordeaux tasting a couple weeks back, courtesy of JJ Buckley Fine Wines, an outstanding online purveyor of wine based out of the SF Bay Area.  The event was held at the well known French restaurant La Folie, which also provided the nibbles that were served alongside the wines that night.  Tuesday Night Bordeaux aimed to prove to its lucky attendees that good to outstanding quality wine can be had in Bordeaux at affordable prices.  All of the wines were $35 and under, with most falling into the $25 and under range.

Le Wine Buff - EnjoyBordeaux.comThis event aligned perfectly with my work as Le Wine Buff for EnjoyBordeaux.com, as such we helped promote the event and I arrived under the auspices of that project.  I also was able to be a part of the event thanks to Paige Granback (Twitter) of JJ Buckley.  I was immediately enveloped in a warm hug after arriving by Paige and my usual vinopanion in crime, Thea (Twitter, Twitter2, Twittter3) of Luscious Lushes.  They quickly got me up to speed on the proceedings and I dived into the wines.

JJ Buckley Tuesday Night Bordeaux @ La FolieSkipping the whites since I was late (later to be regretted), I started off with the 08 Château Le Gay Bordeaux Festival Rosé, which was a wonderfully crisp, light red fruited quaffer and extremely affordable at under $10. JJ Buckley had a really neat pouring station setup that night, separated by the traditional split of Bordeaux wines.   Station I featured Left Bank wines, historically are Cabernet Sauvignon based blends that also feature the other four (rarely five, with Carménère) Bordeaux varietals of Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.  Stations II & III had Right Bank wines, blends  that usually feature Merlot or Cabernet Franc as the dominant varietal.  Station IV had a couple tasty sweet wines, typically served with or as desserts.

JJ Buckley Tuesday Night Bordeaux @ La FolieA few highlight wines for me were the Château des Fougères La Folie de Montesquieu Graves 2006, Château Roque le Mayne Côtes-de-Castillon 2005, and the Château La Tentation de Richelieu Fronsac 2005. All featured what I’ve come to expect from French Bordeaux at virtually every price point; namely great balance between the fruit, tannin and acidity of the wine, complemented by savory and earthy notes, finishing long with wonderfully smooth mouthfeel.  These four showed all of these characteristics, and then some!  Additionally, finishing with the C2006 Château La Fleur Des Pins Bodeaux Blanc, poured by JJB Private Client wine buyer Alex Shaw (WL), was a very fine choice. Pineapple, dried citrus blossom and diesel notes in the nose combined with the citrus, sweetness and crisp acidity in the mouth to make for a very tasty nightcap.

I also chose many of these wines as some of my affordable holiday wines picks for this season, which I gave for this article on Yahoo! Shine.  While I was not credited in the article, all of the holiday wine choices, links and subsequent tasting notes are mine.  A very big thank you to Paige and everyone else at JJ Buckley as well as all of the staff at La Folie for a very enjoyable wine tasting and food pairing session!

Please feel free to unearth the full reviews of all of the high quality, yet affordable Bordeaux wines that I tried (which were only SOME of the wines being poured) that school night, from JJ Buckley’s (WL) fine wine buyers.  If you would like to list them in your own WineLog, they are all tagged with “JJBuckley2009TuesBDX“.  If you were there as well, tell me your favorites in the Comments below.  Enjoy!

Station I- Left Bank:

Château Le Gay Bordeaux Festival Rosé 2008

Château La Bernadotte Haut-Médoc 2006

Château Potensac Médoc 2006

Château Lalande Borie Saint-Julien 2006

Château Meyney St. Estèphe 2006

Château des Fougères La Folie de Montesquieu Graves 2006

Station II – Right Bank:

Château de La Cour d’Argent Bordeaux 2006

Château Roque le Mayne Côtes-de-Castillon 2005

Château La Tentation de Richelieu Fronsac 2005

Château Bolaire Bordeaux Supérieur 2004

Station III – Right Bank Part Deux:

Château Vray-Croix-de-Gay Pomerol 2006

Château de Fonbel St. Emilion Grand Cru 2006

Station IV – Sweet Wines:

Château La Fleur Des Pins Bodeaux Blanc 2006

Château Climens Barsac Les Cypres de Climens 2006

Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo

View posts by Vinopanion: Ward Kadel - @drXeNo
Ward Kadel - @drXeNo is the founder of Vinopanion wine blog, former West Coast Ambassador & Staff Blogger for WineLog.net and former Le Wine Buff for Bordeaux.com (CIVB). He will try any and all wines and tends to write about the parts of his life that include wine...like virtually all of it! He and his wife grew up in Napa and Sonoma and they still live in the Napa Valley. Check out the wines he's recommended with his WKBadges. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram and Like #Vinopanion on Facebook. Contact him: "Ward at WineLog.net". Ward happily accepts samples but does not guarantee a review, positive or negative.

1 Comment

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ward Kadel – drXeNo, Paige Granback. Paige Granback said: RT @drXeNo: Tasty *and* affordable Bordeaux in the same bottle? You frickin' bet! http://bit.ly/8fQIWR @WineLog @JJBuckleyWines @Bordeau … […]

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