wine-info
Frederic Borderie
Château Les Combes & Château Les Gravières de la Brandille
Frederic Borderie, in his late 30s, is one of our stars. How often does a wine get applauded by Jane MacQuitty in The Times and Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times on consecutive weekends? - yet Fred’s 2005 Cuvée Prestige enjoyed that acclaim in December 2010. His grandfather started with just 10 hectares of vineyards, since built up to 40 near the cellar in Saint Médiard de Guizières. Fred has wide wine-making experience: having studied in the Loire and Rhône, he has also worked in the USA and Australia.
When we visited we were excited to see that every wine he made from the two family owned estates he runs - Château Gravières de la Brandille and Château Les Combes - was superb. We list his two whites and a rosé along with two reds here. He was especially pleased with his 2009 reds, although he had lower volumes than usual. He is quite matter-of-fact about them being the equal - both in quality and longevity - of more expensive wines from grander apellations. Modestly he ascribes their success to his vineyards being on gravelly river terraces of the Isle river, an underrated terroir with some similarities to the Médoc and Graves.
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