This estate, based in the Gironde port village of Lamarque, has produced a richly textured, chocolate and bitter-cocoa-flavored wine. That is only a problem at the moment, because ripe black-currant fruits are developing under the structure to give density, concentration and a serious wine as it ages. Drink from 2021.

One of the most successful Cru Bourgeois I was able to taste is the 2015 Château Malescasse which comes from an estate located between Margaux and Saint-Julien. A rough blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 5% Petit Verdot, this beauty boasts a deep ruby/purple color as well as loads of ripe dark fruits, chocolate, bay leaf and exotic spices. Medium-bodied, nicely concentrated, with ripe tannin and the upfront, sexy charm of the 2015 vintage, give bottles a couple years in the cellar and enjoy through 2027.

Tasted at the Cru Bourgeois annual tasting, the 2015 Malescasse felt broody and saturnine on the nose, mulch-like aromas percolating through the black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, quite austere in style and old-fashioned but it pulls it off well. Don’t approach if you want bags of fruit, but personally I adore the pencil shaving finish and its old school sensibility. Tasted September 2017. - Neal Martin