UNESCO
We have talked about vineyards in St Emilion before, that receive the UNESCO accolades. 1999. UNIVERSAL RECOGNITION FOR SAINT-ÉMILION AND A MAJOR WORLD FIRST FOR A WINEGROWING REGION It was 20 years ago that the eight villages belonging to the Jurisdiction of Saint-Émilion were listed as a world heritage site, on the grounds of their “cultural landscape”. Through this listing, UNESCO granted recognition to the exceptional character and the universal importance of Saint-Émilion’s vineyards. This was an accolade for this area steeped in centuries of history. And it brought tremendous recognition for the men and women whose enthusiasm has helped to preserve this thousand-year-old winegrowing region, its landscapes and soils over the centuries.
Chateau La Renomee (Yes I know the logo has 2 M’s and the label has One M??) is a Negociant wine. They bottle the wine at the Chateau In St. Emilion. The grape source is however from vineyards that are part of the Farming Society known as S.C.E.A or long french version=SCEA=société civile d’exploitation agricole” that created the wine. The vineyard sources for Chateau La Renomee are part of this agricultural Society that also happened to be recognized by UNESCO. Good pizza can’t be made with bad ingredients and good wine is all about good farming or viticulture…well grown and nurtured grapes.
2014 Chateau La Renomee St. Emilion Grand Cru
This is as straight forward as you can get with everyday value Bordeaux. The vineyard is all sustainable. The soil type is Limestone, Clay and gravel. All grapes are hand harvested. The vineyard grows about 90% Merlot Grapes and 10% Cabernet Franc. Average age of the vines is 38 years old. They use Cement and Stainless steel for Fermentation and ageing is done in French Oak with only 25% or less being New and 75% being used. 2014 was a mediocre vintage for many spots in Bordeaux especially Right Bank but St. Emilion Grand Cru shined and produced some quality to price ratio Bordeaux even more so than Pomerol. Let’s Review
My Review
This wine was even better the second day which is normal for Bordeaux this young. It needed over 2 hours to show all the nuances of the wine. 13.5% ABV, the wine is a nice dark garnet with slight variation on the edge as it is only 5 years old. Once the wine opened I got classic St. Emilion aromas of Potting Soil, Bell Pepper, Minerals, Lots of Black Currant, Plum and Cedar. On the Palate…100% Bone Dry. After tasting all these New World Wines at my job especially from California, it is so refreshing to taste BONE DRY Zero Residual Sugar Wines! Nice acidity on the mid palate driving the flavors of lots of plum, some bright and juicy red fruits with hints of Jalapeno coming from the Cab Franc, dark chocolate and a tannic and slight spice with sweet oak nuances on the finish. A solid effort. A solid wine. Although I can guarantee you this will not make the Top 100 Wines of the year on anyone’s top 100 I will score this a solid 87 Points out of 100 as it is the exact kind of wine I could drink with a meal every single night of my life. I think it will show even more fruit and less tannins in another few years but very drinkable now with that 2 hours of aeration.
My Summary
At $21.99 for a Bone Dry St. Emilion of this quality it is certainly going to be a Bordeaux Recommendation from me and for me ( I need to buy a few more of these) Pairing with a simple Roast Chicken, Hamburger to even a Pizza or some mildly aged cheeses would all work. The more the wine consumer gets a palate for these types of wine and away from the Sugar Bombs that the New World palate loves, the more health benefits you can reap from Red Wines and Resveratrol without raising your sugar levels in your blood or waking up with a sugar hangover. At this price point most consumers can have a couple of bottles of this lying around for dinner time. You can get 2-3 days out of a bottle especially if you vacuum pump the air out. In fact on day 3 it will probably even taste better. It all comes down to it takes good methods of farming to produce good grapes to make good wines. This is a good example.
Grape-fully yours, Larry
Not A Bad Little Home To Live In
Larry The Wine Guy 