Lately I tried the Chateau de Chantegrive 2002, coming from the Graves region near Bordeaux. The name comes from a small bird called “grive”, “thrush” in English, and “chante” means “singing”, so the Chinese name is rather good “”.
Very dark in color, the nose is typical from Graves, i.e. tobacco. This one is from the finest quality, mixed with spices, white pepper and exotic wood. I always try to imagine what the scents or taste of the wine would make me thinking of. In this case it would be like being in a cigar room in a nice private club with wooden shelves all around me made of exotic wood...This is a perfect place to start drinking this black nectar, that is quite austere at the beginning but shows a nice length and freshness. This would be the perfect place as well to let open the wine into a nice cristal decanter, and after over one hour of breathing, the tannins are much more round in the mouth, with hints of chocolate, liquorice and black cherries. Another perfect example of what some time in a decanter can bring to the wine. In this particular case, I would even recommend 2 or 3 hours.
Note that Chantegrive is also producing an excellent white, which is another attraction of this region.