Enclos de Viaud, A Discovery in Bordeaux

The 2010 and 2012 show vibrantly rich fruit with tendancies toward the blacker end of the fruit range. The 2011 shows the most perkiness, both in its redder fruit character as well as its refreshing acidity and lower alcohol. The 2014 white is fresh and highly drinkable.

Enclos de Viaud 2014 Bordeaux Blanc Sec 12%, $18
This pale yellow wine with star bright reflections has a moderately bold nose with scents of cilantro, honeysuckle, gooseberry and candlewax. Its palate is bright and fresh with zingy acidity, rather light body and and a medium-minus finish. There’s a lovely hint of waxiness woven into the otherwise lithe texture. Engaging and quaffable, this is as easy to drink with food as without. It may hold, but there’s little reason to wait. 86 

Enclos de Viaud 2010 Lalande-de-Pomerol 13.5%, $35
This wine on its own shines a youthful light. Beside its younger siblings, it’s more obvious to see its (attractive) advancement. Its palate dances with barbecue spices, old leather, chipped bark and mashed mulberries. It’s drinking very well now and should not only hang on but also develop well for the next 2-3 years. 88

Enclos de Viaud 2011 Lalande-de-Pomerol 12.5%, $35
Strikingly more youthful and perky on the nose than its one-year-older sibling, this wine has an attractive leafiness. However, there’s the sibling-esque richness of well-moderated extract on the palate. The 2011 also shares a kinship with the 2010 in its tobacco-based notes. Still, there is more: coriander, ripe black cherries and licorice. The palate’s flavors are more expansive than the wine’s weight, and there’s great levity in the wine’s flavors and mouthfeel. 87

Enclos de Viaud 2012 Lalande-de-Pomerol 13.0%, $35
This wine starts with a pleasant note of roasted black plums on the nose. The next layer brings in poppingly ripe blueberries, the kind in a cobbler coming straight from the oven. Yet, there is a surprising note of dusty earth in this wine. To my nose, it’s almost reminiscent of the dried earth of Brunello. The tannins are similarly dusty though hardly as demanding. This could be sipped without food, though a meal would surely enhance it. The finish lingers longer than the other two vintages, and it’s by far the most compelling of the red trio, perhaps due to its youthfulness or perhaps due to its vigorous integration of all parts. 90