1997 Potensac, Médoc

This wine is beautifully aromatic, filled with forest floor and potpourri. The palate still shows lovely raspberry and blackberry, along with toasted spices and more potpourri. Again, please decant this wine for two-plus hours so the acidity, so prominent on the first pour, becomes a background note. This wine is up there with the 1997 Langoa-Barton.

One of the very best properties in the Medoc, Chateau Potensac has been owned for many years by the Delon family of Leoville Las Cases in St. Julien. The quality of the wine can be attributed both to the superb character of the terroir at the Chateau and to the additional resources made available through its long association with a top second growth. The 1997 Potensac is one of the best I have tasted from this vintage. It is surprisingly youthful in character, displaying a deep purple to red color, a very floral nose with elements of new wood, and pleasingly ripe, sweet red and black fruits. Like most Medoc wines, it is a broad shouldered effort, very structured and firm. It needed a good hour in a decanter, and really started to shine about 2 hours into a meal of grilled ribeye steak with asparagus and roasted potatoes. At a price comfortably below that of the classified growths, this lovely wine should prove immensely satisfying to any lover of good claret.

Cinnamon and I are on a very strict diet, and one of the most important parts of that diet is eating steak and drinking claret on Friday nights. Bordeaux is magic with steak. I know that many of you might think it is less than cutting edge, but this pairing is a classic for a reason. Recently we picked up ¼ of a steer from Fred Manas at Double Bar O ranch in Esparto, CA and this past Friday we indulged in a T-Bone from our haul. We gave it four days of dry age in the fridge, added salt and pepper and tossed it in the cast iron pan. We let it rest with a dab of black truffle butter on top and made some fries and a salad to go with it. The 1997 Potensac, Médoc, $26.99 is one of the most youthful 1997’s I have tasted, and needed the hour that we gave it in the decanter. It is very, very dark, and if I had tasted it blind I am positive I would have missed the vintage. That being said, I think the wine has a lot of charm now as well as power. This is a virile wine with plenty of strict tannin and acidity, but with plenty of black currant fruit to balance it out. It was perfect with the steak, but I would not trifle with this wine with finger food. It got better and better as the night went on and by the last glass was quite layered and complex. This is a steal and $26.99. If there is a steak in your future, don’t miss it!

Jim Barr pressed a bottle of this into my hand on Tuesday. As instructed I decanted it an hour before drinking with some superb grilled lamb chops for dinner.
Forget "Sweet-tooth" Parker's ratings, forget the vintage and buy some.
One of the most enjoyable wines with red meat that I have had this year.
A throw-back to when wines were 13% and balanced. Lovely length and plenty of dark fruit lingers on...this wine still has a few years of ageing potential in bottle.
Excellent value for money when the 2005 is on the shelves for $40+