Château Cantinot

  Along the right bank of the Garonne River is the appellation Premier Cotes de Blaye, an up-and-coming appellation gaining a reputation for excellent wines at fair prices.  Conscientious wineries here are producing contemporary style Bordeaux – full bodied fruit driven wines with controlled tannins at a fraction of the cost of wines from the prestige Bordeaux AOC’s.

Yann and Florance Boucasse bought the 50 acre Chateau Cantinot in 2002 and since then have dedicated their efforts to creating a top shelf wine to rival the best Bordeaux chateaux.  Using traditional practices (as was the custom before big production pressures turned many wineries into factories), Yann and Florance Boucasse have restored the vineyards to a healthy state by pruning back the vines to produce less – but more intense – fruit.

But that is only part of the story.  They’ve also hired consulting winemaker Olivier Dauga, former technical director for vinticulture at Chateau Sociando Mallet and Chateau La Tour Carnet (4eme Grand Cru Classé).  Under his guidance, they implemented manual harvests and sorting tables to hand select only thehealthiest fruit.  Each distinct parcel is vinified separately, which allows the unique characteristics of each parcel to emerge.  In addition, they’ve brought in small, temperature-controlled oak fermentation vats from Burgundy.

Andreas Larsson, World’s Best Sommelier 2007, selected Chateau Cantinot as one of his signature collections, andhe named the 2005 “One of the top new generation of Bordeaux wines.”  He described the 2005 Chateau Cantinot as “delicious; young and deep color, the nose leans toward elegant showing dark plums, cassis and leather.  The palette has great freshness and dark dense fruit, a nice and complete spiciness, very long aftertaste.  A regal wine with lots of potential.”

Savvy sommeliers in Paris have taken notice too, adding Chateau Cantinot to wine lists at Taillevant, the Hotel du Louvre, Hotel George V, and Le Crillon. 

The Chateau Cantinot is an approachable blend of 55% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% CabernetFranc that is oak barrel aged for 15 months.  It can be enjoyed right away or cellared for up to 10 years.  The Boucasses’ sister property, Haut Boutet, produces an earthy, approachable blend of 80% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Malbec. 

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