9/27/25 - 

Though the warmth and humidity of Summer have not fully faded away, with October around the corner, we're beginning to think about Fall. What better way to prepare than with an assortment of wines from Bordeaux and Southwest France! Today we highlight a Chambers Street exclusive Chateau Brandeau from Castillon-Cotes de Bordeaux, along with the exquisite wines from Clos du Jaugueyron in Margaux and Haut-Medoc, and the elegantly crafted wines of Elian da Ros in the Cotes du Marmandais. 
 
We've included several returning favorites and store staples from Bordeaux to round out the offer!

Château Brandeau
 
An exclusive to Chambers Street Wines, we started working with the Chateau Brandeau wines a few years ago, and are excited to share the new vintages from the young Julien Voogt, who is producing classically styled Bordeaux along with some fun, lighter-bodied takes on the local grape varieties. Julien came to Bordeaux by way of Belgium after bouncing around the world studying winemaking. After spending two years at Chateau Meylet (A long-time biodynamic estate in St. Emilion), he was hoping to find vines farmed with a similar approach, and was delighted with the opportunity to take over the farming and winemaking at Chateau Brandeau. 
 
The property is located in Salles-de-Castillon, within the Castillon Cotes-de-Bordeaux appellation, and is mainly composed of clay-limestone hillsides facing south, particularly suitable for the cultivation of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which make up most of the vineyard plantings. The vineyards are all within one property, without any neighbors in conventional agriculture, so it is truly its own tiny ecosystem. As Julien writes: "More than a terroir, it is a living place in the heart of unspoiled nature. The vast majority of the parcels of vines are in one piece and surrounded by woods, hedges, meadows and fruit trees offering a superb place, ideal for organic farming and the balance and diversity of fauna and flora." (Chateau Brandeau website)
 
Harvests and sorting are all done by hand, and fermentations range in style depending on the spirit of the wine. Julien employs carbonic maceration with whole clusters, short, 'infusion' style macerations, and more traditional, longer macerations with a bit more extraction. The variety of these approaches is what is so compelling about the wines, as the styles range from very juicy and quaffable, to a more classic and "predictable" fuller-bodied Bordeaux profile. As Julien explains, "we choose short extractions and vatting for fresh fruit wines and longer and more intense for our plots offering us the ripest and richest musts." The wines are not fined or filtered and see only a small addition of sulfites at the bottling.

Clos du Jaugueyron
 
Michel Théron and Stéphanie Destruhaut, the couple behind the Bordeaux estate that is often referred to simply as Jaugueyron, have long provided some of our favorite Left Bank, Cab-heavy reds, along with their unique all-Merlot Margaux 'Nout.' Their wines are defined by youthful accessibility, along with healthy structure and fruit that foreshadows obvious, long-term development.
 
The estate is roughly 7 hectares, with property inside the communes of Arsac, Cantenac and Margaux. All vines are farmed with organic and biodynamic practices. A combination of soils, parcels grown on loose sand and gravel, in addition to parcels on sites with more clay, allow for flashy, dark mineral tones and tender red and black fruits. From their Haut Médoc bottling to the flagship Margaux, vintage after vintage, Michel and Stéphanie's wines display a purity and freshness. Don't get us wrong, the wines are hearty, but they're also brimming with life. Oak (when used) doesn't mask the natural flavors and structure that the soil and other environmental factors contribute - it accentuates them. New wood is used, with precision, in combination with old barrels. Fermentation is done naturally and little sulfur is used during the process. These are truly exquisite, old-school Bordeaux.

Elian da Ros
 
From a 2020 Chambers Street article by Pascaline Lepeltier: "Even in France, the Marmandais region is quite obscure unless you are a rugby or a tomato aficionado. Upstream along the Garonne in the Lot-et-Garonne, barely 45 min drive from Sauternes, this softly rolling, peaceful area is historically a polycultural land of tobacco, grains, and tomatoes whose fame is due to early 19th century Italian immigration bringing with them seeds and agricultural know-how. The vineyards appear on the best hillsides but until recently their potential was ignored: before 1936 and the AOCs, they were blended with Bordeaux wines and afterwards, the two cooperatives vinified them as entry-level wines for supermarkets. It is only in the last 20 years and the creation of the Domaine Elian Da Ros that the Côtes-du-Marmandais has been known as a real, serious wine region. A third generation of farmers of Italian origins, he knew, when spending time in the small home vineyard with his Venetian grandmother and drinking her house-made sweet white sous-voile wines, that he would be a winemaker one day. Without any historical reference of the regional style, he just knew the importance of local Abouriou, a grape variety preserved during the creation of the appellation in 1989 in order to avoid making a pale copy of Bordeaux. But Elian also knew he had to discover the expression of Cabernets, Merlot, Malbec, Syrah, Sauvignon on these soils of limestone clays, boulbenes and gravels specific to the Marmandais. Inspired by the few years he spent at the Zind-Humbrecht estate, where he helped Olivier to set up biodynamics, he carefully chose his plots, converting them to organic then biodynamic, uprooting, replanting with high quality massale selections, creating a wine cellar and a barrel cellar. He grew at his own pace to reach today 22 hectares, divided into two main islands around the winery in Cocumont on the left bank of the Garonne. With the exception of Abouriou, which is 100% dedicated to this indigenous grape variety, all the wines are blends created with the greatest precision, from vin de soif to vin de garde. The sulfur doses are minimal, the wines are carefully raised on their fine lees. Today, the titanic work pays off, and the whole range radiates like a superb expression of a unique personality. They are to be discovered absolutely for any lover of true great Bordeaux or Loire Cabernet Franc on tuffeau.

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