Chateau La Tour Carnet Grand Cru Classe, 2005, Haut Medoc

This bottle showed a gorgeous crimson colour from edge to edge in the decanter. The pungent bouquet was of lightly aged dark and red fruits—not primary exactly but not heavily tertiary, either. The palate was packed with the same dark and red fruits. There was excellent structure and balance here, and the mouth had a pleasing silkiness. The wine had concentration and weight, and there were plenty of ripe, dusty tannins left. 13.5% abv.

When to drink: 2012 to 2030

Château La Tour Carnet is a Left Bank Haut-Médoc estate and one of the ten châteaux designated as Fourth Growths in the 1855 Bordeaux classification. The estate, and some of the structures of the château, date back to the 12th Century. La Tour Carnet makes both red and white Bordeaux blends but only the red wines carry Haut-Médoc on the label – the white carries the broader Bordeaux Blanc AOC.

In 1999, Carnet was bought by French businessman Bernard Magrez, who owns a number of wine labels in and out of Bordeaux, including the Pessac-Léognan winery Château Pape Clément. Magrez increased the property size of Carnet as well as the percentage of Merlot in the vineyards.

The estate, which lies west of the Saint-Julien appellation, just outside the town of Saint-Laurent-Médoc, now has 73 hectares (180 acres) under vine. Plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are almost equal and are rounded out with small plots of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

The proportions of Merlot has also increased in the Château La Tour Carnet wine itself – a trend becoming more popular on the Left Bank. The plantings of white grapes are relatively small and include the varieties Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Sauvignon Gris.

The grand vin Château La Tour Canet has a production of roughly 15,000 cases annually. The estate also produces a generally Merlot-dominant second wine: Les Pensées de La Tour Carnet.