Wine Review of 2010 Château La Louvière Rouge, Grand Vin de Bordeaux from Pessac-Léognan, France
Score: 93-95/100
Château La Louvière is a well-respected winery of the Pessac-Léognan appellation, South of Bordeaux in the Graves area.
Viticulture at La Louvière dates back 700 years, with records showing the first plantings in 1310. The Chateau was built in a néo-classique style during the 18th Century.
The property has now belonged to André Lurton since 1965, also owner of several estate around Bordeaux including Château Couhins-Lurton, Cru Classé de Graves for its white, and Chateau Bonnet in Entre-Deux-Mers.
La Louvière covers, on gravelly soils, 46 hectares (113 acres) of vineyards for red wines (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot) and 15 acres of white grape varieties: Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
2010 Château La Louvière red is made from 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot 30%, 3% Cab Franc, and 3% Petit Verdot, aged in French oak barrels (40% new).
So, How Good is 2010 Château La Louvière?
Tasting Notes
This Bordeaux red comes in a very dense and dark red color, nearly black to the core and dark red to the rim.
The nose is deep and captivating, given you do allow the wine to breathe for some time before pouring. Make sure you decant a good hour before serving.
If you do, La Louvière Rouge will reward you with immensely deep aromas of dark cherry and dark cocoa, some coffee combined with black pepper and nutmeg. Both filled with notes of torrefaction, toasted-to-nearly-burnt hazelnut, with vibrant fruity aromas of blackberry and black cherry.
Both vivid and lively it is to smell at, from the fruity character, but it is also stunningly deep and intriguing!
The palate is utterly dense, as well as dry and savory.
Yes, fruity flavors of blackberry provide some richness and a sense of sweetness to it, but the whole is mainly oaky, savory, and spicy. Loads of vanilla and dark caramel, come with dry and raw spices such as nutmeg and clove flavors.
Tannins are a little rugged at this stage. The wine’s texture is smooth overall, although dense and concentrated, with edgy phenolics that it is drying and feels raw overall.
Overall
A stunning Bordeaux wine 2010 Chateau La Louvière is, filled with deep concentration of fruit and oak flavors combined in a complex manner, and harmonized somehow by a wealth of raw spices flavors.
This is a wine built for aging…
Yes, it is 7-8 years old already at the time of tasting, but it does still feel dense and somewhat dry and austere at this stage. One can certainly sense though, that given another 10-15 years, it will turn into the kindest sort of Bordeaux wine, complex and layered, deep and profound, and it will then reveal it is a wonderful piece of terroir and winemaking expressions combined, from a great vintage.
Buy some if you’re patient enough. Hold on to it if you’ve got some in your cellar. A stellar wine to come, but not yet… Enjoy between 2025 and 2035.
Cheers 🙂
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