SILVER SPOON VINTAGE
“One of Bordeaux’s greatest virtues is its ability to transcend time. Since its earliest days, Bordeaux’s natural inclination towards longevity coupled with crowd-pleasing volume has enabled devotees to build cellars and plunder mature vintages with almost wanton abandon.” Neil Martin Vinous Media.
The 2010 vintage:
One for the record books of the century, the 2010 Bordeaux vintage triumphed with unanimous praise upon its legendary release over a decade past.
Known for their practice of holding back vintages to maturity, this small but high-quality Lalande-de-Pomerol producer crafts some best-in-class wines that are often tough to find but remarkably rewarding. De Viaud remains a family-run property of the Bielle family and is a great reference-point for classic claret in the modern era.
Domaine de Viaud is located in the heart of the underrated appellation of Lalande de Pomerol.
The history of the estate dates back to the 18th century. The estate was the property of Montesquieu, the famous French philosopher and highly influential political thinker of the time, and author of The Spirits of Laws.
The property was purchased by Marius Bielle in 1955. Marius was a respected winemaker on the right-bank. He owned a few estates in the neighbouring appellation of Fronsac that he sold a few years later in order to focus on Domaine de Viaud.
Marius mastered his terroir of rich clay, sand and gravel and as the years went by, he acquired numerous new plots scattered all over the appellation bringing the overall vineyard size to 16 Ha with 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.
Just after purchasing Domaine de Viaud, Marius suffered from 5 terrible vintages, where yields were minimal from 1955 to 1960. As a result, Marius decided to keep a significant amount of stock back during exceptional vintages in order to have significant volume to sell in the difficult years.
This philosophy lives on today and Domaine de Viaud continue to store impressive volumes of strong back vintages in their cellar.
2010 Domaine de Viaud – Lalande de Pomerol – Bordeaux
$59.95 per bottle – 6 packs or 12’s.
The 2010 has a fragrant bouquet: blackberry and forest floor, a touch of black truffle, clean and pure perfumed fruit mixed with sage & sandalwood. The palate is medium bodied with noticeable velvety tannin, good structure and with plenty of tobacco and creamy nuances on the finish. There’s plenty of substance here.
