2016 Chateau L'Eden Medoc Bordeaux 750 ml

“Overall, this is just a delicious Médoc for early drinking that you gladly polish off, maybe quicker than you expect,” declared Vinous in their incredibly apt review of today’s 2016 Château L’Eden, an enchanting claret that was instantly drained during our weekly judging panel. Amidst red blends from around the globe, Château L’Eden overdelivers from start to finish. 

Attractive and polished, the 2016 Château l'Eden bursts with black fruit, cocoa, tobacco, and classic Left Bank gravelly-earth notes. It’s one of our top Bordeaux buys of the year and a Best Buy according to Wine Enthusiast. From prime Bordeaux real estate, this is a true steal from an area better-known for its $250+ bottles.    

We first discovered the wine late last year when we made the drive from Mouton Rothschild North along the Gironde Estuary toward Saint-Christoly, the home of this estate, which Vinous called “superb” in its inaugual release.

The owner of a local café had given us a tip about this little Bordeaux “Eden.” The story is a familiar one: Husband and wife Amélie and Fabien Faget had dreamed of owning their own winery. Faget, the technical director for Château Meyney in Saint-Estèphe, would routinely make the same lazy drive to Saint-Christoly eyeing the 20 acres of truly privileged ground that finally became available in early 2016. Wasting no time, the Fagets swooped in, and even produced their first vintage that year. 

The dream-chasers among you know that once you get that feeling—like you’re staring down your little slice of life’s “Eden” and it feels right, you pounce. For some, that might be the dream of owning a cabin in the woods in New England or securing membership to a private golf community in Palm Beach. For others, it’s starting a cattle ranch in the midwest, or settling into a high-rent ski town like Aspen—for many people we know, it’s starting a winery and making their own wine. 

The French-born Fagets are like so many of the American dreamers we know who have lusted after their own slice of Napa. But for Amélie and Fabien—for whom passing by First Growth Bordeaux estates is a daily routine—their dream could only be realized on the same hallowed ground. Luckily for them, the opportunity arose. Lucky for us, they made plans to sell a portion of their wine to the U.S. market. 

Faget’s longtime experience with the windy climate of the northern Médoc meant he knew just what needed to be done to deliver a sensational first vintage. Working with the property’s 40-year-old Merlot and Cabernet vines, he set about revitalizing the soils and building up canopies near the edges of the vineyard through sustainable farming practices—thus encouraging the densely-planted vines (5,000 per hectare) to compete more with themselves and less with the constant winds off the Gironde. Faget was able to harvest tiny, thick-skinned berries with loads of flavor backed by classic Bordeaux structure.

Aged in a combination of 30% new French and American oak, with daily punch-downs during maceration to extract softer tannins, it’s a recipe that will see most of the estate’s 4,500 cases empty quickly into the cellars of the local Bordelais, before trickling into famous Michelin-starred French restaurants in towns like Lyon and Paris—the price and quality, after all, will make it an unbeatable value and point of local pride. Of the few cases imported to the U.S. we suggest scooping up at least 12 bottles  from our allocation and preparing your best steak frites while thinking about your own personal “Eden.” Just be warned: it’s a deliciously affordable wine, even for lavish dreamers.