2008 Château Larrivaux

Château Larrivaux was founded in 1581 on pristine property that included hundreds of acres. A château and other buildings were constructed, and by the early 19th century there was also a cellar for winemaking. Today the descendants of the founding family live on the property and run the estate, which is notable for many reasons, including the fact that it has been managed and owned for all of its history by women. Château Larrivaux is today owned and maintained by sisters Armelle Carlsberg and Sabine Carlsberg, and managed by Bérangère Tesseron, Sabine’s daughter. The 45 vineyard acres are planted to 59 percent to Merlot, 28 percent to Cabernet Franc, and the remaining acreage to Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. Wine Advocate has complimented the estate, calling one vintage of the flagship wine “a very well-crafted, delicious Haut-Médoc from the neighboring property to Lafon-Rochet.” Vinous called a recent vintage “expressive...classy, restrained.”

Bordeaux is the world’s most famous fine-wine producing region. Even non-wine drinkers recognize the names of Bordeaux’s celebrated wines, such as Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild. Located near the Atlantic coast in southwest France, the region takes its name from the seaport city of Bordeaux, a wine trading center with an outstanding site on the Garonne River and easy access to the Atlantic. Like most French wine regions, Bordeaux’s first vineyards were planted by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago, then tended by medieval monks. Aristocrats and nobility later owned the region’s best estates and today estates are owned by everyone from non-French business conglomerates to families who have been proprietors for generations. Bordeaux has nearly 280,000 acres of vineyards, 57 appellations and 10,000 wine-producing châteaux. Bordeaux is bifurcated by the Gironde Estuary into so-called “right bank” and “left bank” appellations. Bordeaux’s red wines are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. It also makes white wines of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. There are several classification systems in Bordeaux. All are attempts to rank the estates based on the historic quality of the wines.