2010 Château Carignan Cuvee Prima

Château Carignan is in Carignan de Bordeaux. The 375-acre estate includes 195 acres of vineyards planted to 65% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The estate’s history dates to the 15th century, when it was given to one of France’s leading military leaders by the King of France. It was owned by numerous military and business leaders over the course of the next several centuries and is today owned by Andy Lench, an American wine importer specializing in Bordeaux. The estate produces Merlot-based red blends, a 100% Merlot, white and rose wines.

Bordeaux is the world’s most famous fine-wine producing region. Even non-wine drinkers recognize the names of Bordeaux’s celebrated wines, such as Margaux and Lafite-Rothschild. Located near the Atlantic coast in southwest France, the region takes its name from the seaport city of Bordeaux, a wine trading center with an outstanding site on the Garonne River and easy access to the Atlantic. Like most French wine regions, Bordeaux’s first vineyards were planted by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago, then tended by medieval monks. Aristocrats and nobility later owned the region’s best estates and today estates are owned by everyone from non-French business conglomerates to families who have been proprietors for generations. Bordeaux has nearly 280,000 acres of vineyards, 57 appellations and 10,000 wine-producing châteaux. Bordeaux is bifurcated by the Gironde Estuary into so-called “right bank” and “left bank” appellations. Bordeaux’s red wines are blends of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec. It also makes white wines of Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. There are several classification systems in Bordeaux. All are attempts to rank the estates based on the historic quality of the wines.