Your Sommelier – March 2017: Bordeaux

Your Sommelier is a subscription box company that focuses on the best kind of alcoholic drink – wine. Every month, you receive three bottles of French wine – each box is focused around one region of France and the vineyards and wine from that particular region.

This box isn’t just for people that are wine experts – each box comes with tasting cards full of information not only about each individual region, but also on each individual wine, meaning it is perfect for all. The tasting card tells you all about what food to pair the wine with, the producer of the wine, the type of grapes it is made from, its region and a bunch of other interesting information. You also get an attractive binder in your first box so you can keep all your cards together.

The subscription box allows you to discover new wines at a very affordable price – you can choose either the Amateur box at £36 per month or the Expert box at £60 per month. Both boxes include 3 wines per month – the only difference is that the Expert box includes much more upmarket brands, meaning you can really widen your expertise and impress your friends!

If you like any of wines in the box, you can re-order them through your Your Sommelier account with a 20% discount – so not only do you get the joy of trying new wines every month, but you also have discounted wine for the future – yay!

For this review, I received the Amateur box, which was perfect for me – I enjoy wine, but tend to stick to the brands I know and if I’m honest I normally just reach for whatever is on offer in the local supermarket. I was excited to try wines that experts think good enough to be put in the box, so couldn’t wait to taste them! 

This month’s box was focused around Bordeaux, a region in the South-West of France. Bordeaux is extremely well known for its wine, and the tasting card tells you all about the history of the region and how it became such a well known name as a location for fine wine. It was interesting to learn that if a wine states it is ‘Bordeaux Blend’, that means it has at least two of the typical Bordeaux grapes in it.

The first wine I reached for was the Château Dubois Gramont 2015 AOC Bordeaux Blanc. I didn’t even know that you could get white wine from Bordeaux – I’ve only ever seen this region on labels of red wine in the past. All I can really say about this wine is – wow. It was extremely impressive! It came out a firm winner not only after I had taste tested it myself, but also when multiple family members had a sip (or two…or ten…).

The wine is made from vines planted on a beautiful clay and limestone terroir, and tastes absolutely beautiful. It has a delicate taste with fruity notes that power through – without being too over bearing. It wasn’t overly dry which was perfect for me as I am not a fan of the drier white wines. I found this wine very easy drinking and thoroughly enjoyed it – I would happily pick up a bottle of this if I ever saw it!

When comparing this wine with cheaper varieties, you could clearly tell the difference. It’s like drinking bottled water as opposed to unfiltered tap water.

A bottle of Château Dubois Gramont 2015 AOC Bordeaux Blanc is £10.95 on the Your Sommelier website.

The next wine we reached for was the Château Lamartine 2011 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux. My partner’s eyes lit up when he saw that the box had red wines – he’s recently converted from only drinking rose wine to only drinking red! I’m personally not the biggest fan of red wine at all – I don’t find it very easy to drink and just don’t enjoy the taste of it. So as not to let my personal preference on the wine cloud the review, Taylor kindly stepped in to put this wine to the taste test!

Château Lamartine 2011 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux is a dry red wine, made mostly of merlot grapes. It has a very fruity taste, and is extremely easy drinking – there is no harshness or sourness to it. Cheaper varieties of red wine can have an almost ‘vinegary’ taste to them – I’m glad to say that you don’t get this whatsoever with this wine. You can definitely understand why Your Sommelier chose to put this wine in their box – it’s the perfect example of how the right wine can truly make a difference!

In fact, Taylor liked this wine so much he ended up finishing the bottle in one sitting!

A bottle of Château Lamartine 2011 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux  is £11.60 on the Your Sommelier website.

The last wine in the box was a bottle of Château du Relai de la Poste 2012 Bordeaux Côtes de Bourg, which is best served with a beef burger or Sunday roast (yum!). This is a dry red wine made from both Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Whilst Taylor did of course drink (and finish!) this bottle, he did note that it was a little dryer than the Château Lamartine 2011 Castillon Côtes de Bordeaux and out of the three wines in the box, this is the only one that we probably wouldn’t pick up again if we saw it on the shelves. That being said, it was still great to get the chance to taste some different wines to usual!

A bottle of Château du Relai de la Poste 2012 Bordeaux Côtes de Bourg is £12.00 on the Your Sommelier website.

The overall value of wine in this month’s box was £34.55, meaning the box priced at £36 per month is dead on the wine’s actual value. Seeing as these wines have been expertly curated into a box for subscribers, as well as the masses of information that comes on the tasting cards, I think this is excellent value for money. Why pay £100’s for a wine tasting session when you can bring the wine tasting session to your very own home!