Croix de Labrie 2018

Château Croix de Labrie is owned by genuine artisans vignerons and husband-wife duo, Axelle and Pierre Courdurié. The micro-plots cover an area of 5.1672 hectares (12.75 acres). The vines are organically and biodynamically farmed, managed like in Burgundy by climate and terroir. The wine is then fermented plot-by-plot in vats and aged in small barrels and big casks. Axelle is the only person who prunes the vineyard and manages all production up until winemaking, living her whole year in step with her vines. She has a deep love of nature, respects its bounty and is extremely demanding of herself. Her husband Pierre helps with winemaking and distribution. Handcrafted, with very limited production, they operate on a human scale. Croix de Labrie is the original “Garagist” estate, and a hidden gem usually regarded as the small Le Pin.

“Wow!” James Suckling seemed at a loss for words when he tasted the “complex and exotic” Château Croix de Labrie, which he went on to award an impressive 98-points and regarded as among the Top 100 Wine of the World. Strolling the vineyard with Axelle and Pierre, three American MWs suffered from the opposite affliction—they couldn’t stop gushing. They geeked out over the tiny estate’s thrilling soils and 100-year-old vines, until the normally loquacious proprietors finally laughed, cut them off, and summed it up perfectly: “Yes, we have f*****g good terroir.” Axelle paused before adding, "plus we lucked out!" The bold, opaque purple Croix de Labrie is a beacon of its prime Saint-Émilion terroir. 

With ideal exposure right on top of the plateau, just east of Troplong Mondot and Pavie, the area shifts from chalk-laced clay in one block to iron in another. The meticulously farmed terroir shines through with each swirl and every sip of Croix de Labrie. Their vineyard sits on astéries limestone soils cut with bands of iron, complete with giant fossils strewn through what was once an ancient seabed. The free-draining porousness provides real depth and density to the finished wine—terroir-driven structure echoes that of its $450+ Pavie next door neighbor. Mature vines range from 45-to-100-years of age, and high-density planting provides small berries, contributing to this wine’s impressive structure.

A Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux whose reputation is growing faster than perhaps any other on the Right Bank, James Suckling continued praise of Croix de Labrie ‘s “great result for a hand-crafted wine” in his 98-point review, while Jeb Dunnuck called Croix de Labrie “stunning stuff” and “another killer wine from this tiny, family-run estate that readers should snatch up.” Walking around the tiny five-hectare estate, it becomes immediately clear why Robert Parker himself has said that Croix de Labrie is “always one of the sexiest wines from Bordeaux,” producing “one of the most decadently hedonistic and luxuriously fruity wines. It also possesses undeniable complexity, texture, and class.”