2015 Chateau Dauzac

ABOUT THE WINE
A relatively obscure Fifth Growth, the history of Dauzac goes back to 1671, when the farm was sold to an order of Carmelite nuns. A succession of notable owners followed, until the Great Depression forced the sale of the estate at auction to an ice-cream manufacturer, Jean-Jacques Bernat. He brought a number of innovations to the estate, including temperature-control for the fermentation-vats. In 1988 the estate was purchased by the current owners, an insurance company, MAIF. They lacked the expertise to manage the property, though, and so Andre Lurton (owner of La Louviere and Couhins-Lurton in Pessac-Léognan) took over the running of the estate until the 2014 vintage. A large estate, at 120 hectares, of which only 45 are planted to vines.

TASTING NOTES
Medium-bodied, with a supple texture; cherries and earth on the palate. Not especially complex, but this will come with bottle-age. Drinking well already, this will likely be at its best 10 years from vintage.

FOOD PAIRING
A versatile wine for pairing; a fine, punchy pairing for a beef-burger...

FRIARWOOD SAYS
The estate includes an experimental 0.6hectare block of own-rooted Cabernet Sauvignon vines farmed biodynamically; the rest of the vines on the estate are relatively young though, at an average of 20 years.