Orders are available for pick-up at Restaurant Nicholas at 160 Route 35 South Red Bank, NJ 07701 during the following times:
Monday: 9:30-3:30; Tuesday – Friday: 9:15am – 9:00pm; Saturday: 11:00am – 9:00pm; Sunday: Closed
$75.00 $66.00
Chateau Lagrange is one of Bordeaux’s ultimate comeback stories. The gorgeous Saint-Julien winery is one of just fourteen Third Growths from the historic 1885 Bordeaux Classification, and it boasts a long and illustrious history. It’s considered one of the ‘crown jewels of Bordeaux’ by many, but for a large portion of the mid-1900’s, it fell into a period of mediocrity.
Then, in the early 1980’s, the Japanese liquor giant Suntory bought the Chateau and decided to dump millions into the winery in an attempt to return it to its former glory. The French weren’t thrilled with the foreign interference, but no one could argue with the money they spent to fix the place up. Even with all the millions of dollars spent, their greatest decision was to give the winemaking duties to Marcel Ducasse. He immediately helped right the ship before launching the winery to never-before-seen heights.
Nowadays, there are few Chateaux in all of Bordeaux, let alone the coveted Saint-Julien AVA, who could boast a resume as impressive as these guys. In the 2018 vintage, their excellence was on full display with a hit parade of big scores led by a 97 from Jeb Dunnuck and a 95 from Parker’s Wine Advocate.
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97 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
The flagship 2018 Château Lagrange is a more dense, backward, serious wine, offering an unevolved yet incredibly promising bouquet of cassis, blackcurrants, scorched earth, graphite, and violets. A big, rich, full-bodied Saint-Julien, it delivers thrilling purity of fruit, plenty of background oak, ripe, silky tannins, and a great mid-palate. This is serious stuff, but it’s going to require patience. Hide bottles for 7-8 years, count yourself lucky, and enjoy over the following two decades.
95 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, the 2018 Lagrange explodes from the glass with bombastic notes of crème de cassis, chocolate-covered cherries and baked red and black plums with suggestions of rose oil, cedar chest, pencil lead and hoisin. Medium to full-bodied, the palate has fantastic vibrancy for the ripeness, packed with juicy black fruits and compelling tension with a finely grained texture to support, finishing on a lingering mineral note. Nicely done!
94 Points, Decanter
Beautiful reflections through the body of this wine, with fresh acidity, and an attractive sense of uplift through the palate, although the actual fruit is a little subdued right now, which as it opens shows damson and bilberry. There is real tannic frame, and build-up on the finish as you see just how concentrated these dark fruits are. Drinking Window 2026 – 2044
93 Points, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate – 93 Points, Jeb Dunnuck
“Vignon’s 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape delivers even more than I hoped for based on a previous sample. Hints of garrigue, roses, cherries and raspberries appear on the nose, while the palate is full-bodied, silky and long, with an intense, almost briny finish. The assemblage is 50% Grenache, 10% each Mourvèdre and Syrah, plus smaller proportions of seven other permitted varieties, while the élevage includes foudres, demi-muids, concrete and wooden tanks, plus terracotta amphorae.”
With seemingly infinite access to some of the absolute very best vineyards in the most choice AVAs in the valley, the Wagner’s set out to make Quilt– a Cabernet blend from a patchwork of the top sites in Napa (Oakville, St Helena, Atlas Peak, Coombsville, Calistoga, and Howell Mountain.) The brand new 2021 edition is a beauty – deeply concentrated, rich and a truly show stopping Cabernet. It’s a dark, hedonistic blend that combines elegance with power and pairs the two together effortlessly.
Winemaker Patrick Brunet’s tiny Domaine Robert estate consists of 50-60 year old vines, deeply rooted in the granitic soils of Fleurie. What I love about him is that every vintage brings something new but it consistently stays excellent. For his 2022 cuvee, Patrick produced a concentrated, structured Beaujolais that’s roaring out of the gates but with the bones to improve in the bottle over the next decade. This is always a fantastic bottle to have around.
90 Points, Wine Spectator
Domaine Jaume Vinsobres Altitude 420 is an old-vine Grenache-Syrah blend from vineyards planted in Les Collines at some of the highest points in the Rhône. The Jaumes have farmed these dizzying elevations at their estate in Vinsobres for 100+ years. The 2020 is one of his best yet, pristine and fresh, a bowl full of berried-up fruit yet with the tension and length that belies its humble price. Incredible bang for the buck, tailor-made for anyone’s house red, and a slam dunk for any kind of meat on the bone.