French tennis

Château Graville-Lacoste 2009 Graves (Bordeaux) – So reliably solid, greens and whites atop a bed of hay. A little dash of salt, a little sprinkle of white pepper, and a lot of good clean fun. (8/11)

In-Grave-ings

Dubourdieu “Château Graville-Lacoste” 2008 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) – Green and almost minty, but turning more to lemon curd and salt on the palate. The wine’s a bit of a helix right now, and probably needs some time to screw itself together. (7/09)

Matt

Dillon “Les Plantiers du Haut-Brion” 1974 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) – Molten aluminum, creamy, and very long. A touch of brown sugar hints at the age, but this has held up extremely well. Very, very good wine, but drink up. (12/08)

Louvière blinds

Lurton “Château La Louvière” 1979 Graves Blanc (Bordeaux) – Young-tasting, believe it or not. Lime with hints of Sprite – the wine’s a bit slurpy – but this eventually resolves to tonic and sorbet. Filaments of metal drift through the finish. Precise. Very good, but almost excellent. (12/08)

Henri

Dubourdieu “Graville-Lacoste” 2007 Graves (Bordeaux) – Simple lemon-lime, grapefruit, tonic, and salt. Direct, clean, and pure. Drink nowish. (7/08)

No Émile?

Coutet 2000 Graves “Cuvée Frédéric” (Bordeaux) – Wet stones, ripe green and yellow fruit. Very mineral-infused. Quite good. (2/07)

Du-bour-dieu-be-do

Dubourdieu “Château Graville-Lacoste” 2003 Graves (Bordeaux) – Fat lemon-grapefruit without any mitigating structure or lightening, Some heat on the finish. More like fruit juice than wine; it’s not a fruit bomb, it’s just one-note (or perhaps half of a note) and rather tedious. (1/08)

Henri

Dubourdieu “Château Graville-Lacoste” 2005 Graves (Bordeaux) – Restrained, showing less fruit than any vintage within memory, but with a long, piercing crispness on the finish. I don’t think it’s damaged in any way, I just think it’s still too wound-up and youthful to judge. There’s a hint of green apple lingering about. (8/07)