Brandeau 2020 Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux

The house red if you will, Chateau Brandeau is a classically dark-fruited yet elegant and balanced Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux. Majority Merlot (80%) from slopes on clay, with old vines Cabernet Franc from clay and limestone soils. Julien feels this wine offers a true expression of the terroir of the estate, "sans artifice." Maceration is for about 4 weeks, with light extraction, some occasional punchdowns and light pumping over. Aging is for 16 months in 5000L foudres. Note, there's no new oak here, or even small second use barrels. Perhaps this is what he means by "sans artifice" as we do get a very pure expression of smooth cassis fruit from the Merlot, a lovely touch of the Cabernet Franc on limestone for mineral complexity in the finish, and the neutral aging that allowed the wine to develop slowly and preserved the fruit notes. This is, in the end, the idea for the wine, that it would show the fruit, with the subtle complexity of the aging in large foudres without the taste of wood. A great, no nonsense $20 bottle of Bordeaux!