2022 Chateau Haut-Jaugue Blanc Saint-Emilion 750 ml

Some of the most rewarding wines in Bordeaux carry names nobody recognizes. Château Haut-Jaugue Blanc is one of them: a Saint-Émilion with no grand reputation preceding it and no centuries of estate lore to lean on—just what's in the glass.

The driving force here is Maison Ginestet. Founded in Bordeaux in 1897, the house once counted Châteaux Margaux, Cos d'Estournel, and Clos Fourtet among its holdings, and today it makes its living doing one thing exceptionally well: finding the region's under-the-radar gems before anyone else does. Haut-Jaugue Blanc is that kind of find—a wine made for Ginestet by the Ridet family, drawn from the Right Bank, where clay and limestone soils define the appellation.

Saint-Émilion is Merlot country, and its wines lean plush, round, and generous rather than austere. This is a textbook example: 80% Merlot fleshed out with 20% Cabernet Franc, the latter lending lift, perfume, and a little backbone. It's the sort of Bordeaux that welcomes you in rather than making you wait.

It also comes from a singular year. 2022 is going to go down as an absolutely legendary year in Bordeaux. “A Place Beyond Praise” is how Vinous titled their report on the vintage, in which they declared: “The 2022 vintage serves as a timely reminder that when Bordeaux fires on all cylinders, it is untouchable.” It was a warm, sunny year that gave lush textures, plenty of fruit, and surprising vibrancy given the solar nature of the year.

None of this stayed quiet for long. Tasted blind against the world's best, the wine earned recognition at the Decanter World Wine Awards—no small feat for a bottle without a famous label to trade on. That's the reward of following a house like Ginestet down the less-traveled roads of Bordeaux.