Ch. Meyney
Grand Vin
Saint Estephe
2016

The producer

Saint Estephe estate, Chateau Meyney, has some of the oldest vineyard land in Medoc. The modern history of the chateau started in 2004 when Credit Agricole purchased Meyney, along with other chateaux in the commune, and Hubert de Bouard of Angelus started consulting for the estate in 2013. Chateau Meyney’s vineyard land consists of one single 51 hectare parcel, which is lying not far from Chateau Montrose. Vineyards are planted with a majority Cabernet Sauvignon, along with Merlot and Petit Verdot, and the average age of the vines is around 40 years.

Meyney has since the 2010s often been hailed by Bordeaux critics as being one of the best value for money wines of the region, a position which they have maintained to this day. Jane Anson in her Inside Bordeaux guide finds the estate of similar to fifth growth quality, although Meyney was not classified in the 1855 classification.

The wine

Chateau Meyney’s grand vin is composed of a majority of Cabernet Sauvignon, along with around 30% Merlot, and a generous 10-15% of Petit Verdot. The vines are on average 40 years old. Fermentation takes place in concrete vats and is followed by ageing for around 15 months in 30% new French oak barrels. These are wines of medium bodied and velvety black fruit concentration which tend to always be ready to enjoy earlier than many other wines from the region, but equally has the potential to age.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.