Chateau Brillette, Moulin de Médoc, 2006, Grand Vin de Bordeaux, Red wine from France

4,5 points

This wine is much nicer than I expected! Spicy, dark berries, very dry, with strong tannins, but still very enjoyable. There is tobacco and even a note of bitter chocolate. The wine is full-bodied and quite potent. However, somehow it’s like a volcano that just can’t explode due to being covered by a huge layer of stones. You’re always expecting that something might still happen with this wine, but it doesn’t. For what it is: it’s good wine! A Bordeaux blend which is affordable, made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and little bit of Petit Verdot. In other appellations, the winemaker would add Cabernet Franc, which of course could make the wine a bit more elegant. This certainly wasn’t the intention of this maker; therefore it’s a rather bulky if not a fat wine. If I were asked what’s missing, I would say: some elegance.

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Moulin de Médoc – according to the name, this was once the place where the farmer brought his grain, the mill for this region. Moulin de Médoc is sort of between Haut Medoc and Medoc, perhaps another reason why the wine is somehow not so typical.

I doubt that you’d be able to find this vintage anywhere very easily, although it was actually not a very good vintage. It’s a solid and recommendable red from Bordeaux without any extras. Anyone who is in the mood for a classic kind of solid Bordeaux would make no mistake buying this wine. I think aging ten years is certainly fine for this wine, and that it wouldn’t get significantly better if you kept it in the cellar much longer.

If you need more information about the winery, just have a look at their dull webpage: http://chateau-brillette.fr/.