2015 Chateau Goubau Castillon Cotes de Bordeaux France 750 ml

At $4500 a bottle, Jacques Thienpont’s Le Pin is not what you’d call a weeknight wine. The tiny production, obsession-worthy Pomerol is more like a family heirloom. 

If you’re like us, and crave the riches of Thienpont’s golden touch but not a mortgage-level price tag, consider his under-$25 alternative—it’s more serious, refined, and age-worthy than half the $50 bottles on the market right now. Pedigree doesn’t lie. 

From the family behind Le Pin, the 2015 Château Goubau is decadent, offering the luxuriousness of perfectly ripened Merlot. The nose is downright regal—ripe dark berries layered with fine leather, cigar smoke, and dried autumn leaves. On the palate, cassis and black cherry appear, etched with a classic lead pencil note, savory olive tapenade, and a hint of sweet black licorice. The tannins are plush and fine-grained but firm enough to age another five years. 

We could go on, but suffice it to say in a lineup of $23 wines—today’s price after a 18% discount—the 2015 Goubau stands way out. Bring this to a dinner party and watch it steamroll pricier bottles that thought they were classy, rich, and massively concentrated. 

Perched at the highest point in Bordeaux, Château Goubau is located on the Saint Philippe d’Aiguille plateau. Just a short drive east from St. Émilion and Pomerol, the vineyard shares the same clay and limestone soils as these Right Bank all-star appellations—perfectly suited for growing Merlot. 

The natural fit is exactly why Thienpont, the modern master of Merlot, chose it. Old vines at Goubau are farmed 100% biodynamically, cooled and watered by the clay in the soils. The chalky limestone deposits imbue the wine with an elegant mineral backbone.

Aged for 18 months in new French oak, the 2015 Goubau emerges from the glass like a finely polished ruby. It could easily pass for St. Émilion Grand Cru, but with its sub-$25 price tag it is never off-limits, no matter the place, no matter the time. Buy this by the CASE, laying down a few bottles for the next several years. After popping the first cork you won’t even remember the Le Pin…