2015 Le Haut-Medoc d'Issan

Château d’Issan is a 123-acre estate in Cantenac, Bordeaux. Seventy-four of the estate’s acres are in the Margaux appellation. It is a third growth estate according to the 1855 Bordeaux classification. D’Issan traces its history to the 12th century, but it was in the 17th century that an important Bordeaux politician named Essenault acquired the property and gave it his name. The estate name was later shortened to d’Issan. Since 1945 d’Issan has been owned by the well-known Cruse family of Bordeaux, which also owns Château Pontet-Canet, Château Laujac, Château Haut-Bages-Liberal and other Bordeaux estates as well as a negociant business. The vineyards are planted to 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Merlot. About 110,000 bottles of Château d’Issan are produced annually. The second wine is Blason d’Issan.

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.