Ten Year Old Claret For Christmas

Are you looking for something extra special this Christmas? We have a superb Ten Year Old Claret that is drinking perfectly now. Clarets made by the Grand Cru Classé age beautifully when cellared and depending on the particular vintage they each have a drinking window.

As these Clarets are meant to be aged in bottle they are not considered ready to drink until they have reached a certain level of maturity. Over the years the tannins in the wine become mellow, the flavours develop complexity and structure improves with greater balance.

These Clarets tend to be in high demand and fetch higher prices than Bordeaux wines meant to be drunk young. They may also need decanting as good Clarets often develop sediment by ten years of age or more.

However unlike decanting a young wine (which you do to let the wine breathe and develop flavour) you won’t have to decant and leave a mature Claret for any length of time. Just decant before you are ready to serve!

Our Ten Year Old Claret hails from Chateau La Fleur Morange, a tiny estate  in Saint-Pey-D’Armens, Saint Emilion. Owned by Véronique and Jean-François the wine has been receiving high acclaim from wine critics across the globe including Jancis Robinson, Oz Clarke and Robert Parker.

The wines have received many accolades since their discovery, not to mention a Gold at the Decanter World Wine Awards. Just recently the chateau was promoted to Grand Cru Classé status in the new Saint Emilion Classification of 2012 – a remarkable achievement for such a small estate.

The vineyards are rather special as they lie on unique soil: a combination of sand, clay and chalk over an iron oxide sub soil (crasse de fer), resting on top of limestone bedrock – the only complex mixture known to exist in Saint Emilion. The little vineyard also has the added rarity of having 100 year old vines. It’s the grapes from these vines that go into the Grand Vin and the 2002 comes highly recommended.

This Claret is impressively structured, sophisticated and supple. The 2002 is a superb wine and boasts a dark crimson purple colour with deep notes of raspberries, liquorice, blackberries, cassis, toasted oak, smoke and crushed stone.

It will pair well with game: venison, wild boar, pheasant, guinea fowl and partridge as well as roast beef, lamb and duck. Due to the wine’s dense complexity it enhances the fragrances and flavours of rich country casseroles, strong cheeses and even Asian cuisine.

We have reduced our Ten Year Old Claret by 15% especially for Christmas and the price is now £44.63 a bottle. We will not be able to hold the price at this level for long so if you would like to place an order please do so whilst this offer remains in place.

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