Bordeaux needs to show the world more high-quality, inexpensive wines like these. In fact, some would argue that the future of this over-inflated
region depends on it.Since the cru classé châteaux have long since decoupled themselves from reality in terms of pricing, it’s up to the many petits châteaux and the switched-on producers from the satellite appellations to convince the consumerthat good value can still be had. Five generations of the Garde family have run Domaine de Grande Ormeau, seeing it through two world wars and the phylloxera scourge. It’s one of the older continuously run estates on the RightBank. Though overthe years the family have added more estates to their portfolio, Grand Ormeau is still their ‘home’, as it were. The vines are spread overtwo primary soil types: clay and deep gravel. The combination gives wines ofrich plum fruit that have a firm, underlying minerality. Mostly Merlot but with a touch of CabernetSauvignon, this is an ideal crowd-pleasing claret.
france