The Angels Sing - Yves de Launay of Château l'Angelus

Bordeaux is France’s largest fine wine producing region and produces one of the most collectible categories of wine in the world. Located in Southwest France and only a short distance from the Atlantic Coast, Bordeaux has a classic maritime climate with rainfall coming anytime during the year. It is the unpredictability of the weather, and the impact of that weather on ripening grapes, that has traditionally given Bordeaux so much variation in quality from harvest to harvest. With modern viticultural techniques and improved winery technology, it is rare for a vintage these days to be an outright disaster. Some harvests are better than others, some favor one subregion over another, but Bordeaux consistently produces enjoyable wine. Whether consumers can afford it is another issue – pricing in the region can have significant ups and downs and every year producers scramble to sell what they make at a price the market can afford.

This rollercoaster of pricing and quality has led Bordeaux to fall in and out of favor with wine lovers. That said, for many consumers, Bordeaux represents one of the world’s great red wines that, because of the climate variability, has traditionally been a blend of up to five red grape varieties – mainly Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc with small amounts of two hard-to-ripen grapes, Petite Verdot and Malbec.

Several rivers in Bordeaux define the region’s geography and explain its popularity. For centuries, Bordeaux wines had a much easier time getting to market than many French wines because Bordeaux is a port city on a large river. Since the 1200s, Bordeaux wines have been famous not only for quality but also because of their availability.

Many consumers think of Bordeaux as quintessential Cabernet Sauvignon and it has a dominant presence on the Left Bank of the Gironde River, but more than half the grapes in the region are Merlot. Merlot and Cabernet Franc form the basis of most wines in the area on the Right Bank of the Dordogne River, and that is the area sending us this episode’s postcard, specifically Saint Emilion, a large region anchored by its namesake, one of France’s most beautifully preserved towns from the Medieval era. Saint Emilion where much of the soil has a significant clay content is perfect for Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

For us consumers and Bordeaux lovers, Saint Emilion has special advantages. Merlot is more approachable than Cabernet Sauvignon when it is young, the wines mature faster and most of the wines of Saint Emilion are significantly less expensive than the top wines of the Left Bank. This week's conveersation features French-born Yves de Launay, the Exectutive Vice President, US, of Saint Emilion Château l'Angelus. Yves has spent his entire career marketing luxury products and especially wine. Her's an ideal person to gives us a snapshot of Bordeaux, and Saint Emilion, in particular. In this conversation we talk about Bordeaux's pricing ups and downs, what consistutes quality in Bordeaux wine and the long and illustrious history of Château l'Angelus, one of the top properties in Saint Emilion. What makes Angelus so special? Tune in to find out!

And to find out even more about Château l'Angelus, you can check out the property's excellent website:

https://www.angelus.com